Defendant Aleem Saint Claire pleads guilty to two aggravated robbery counts; sentencing reset

In the 252nd District Court on Jan. 29, defendant Aleem Saint Claire pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated robbery, both first-degree felonies arising from alleged incidents on Aug. 15, 2023. The court confirmed that Saint Claire and counsel waived formal reading of the indictments and that paperwork marked as State's Exhibit 1 contained his signature.

Judge asked Saint Claire whether he was pleading guilty freely and voluntarily; Saint Claire answered, “Guilty.” The judge also asked whether the pleas were based on actual commission of the offenses; the defendant affirmed that was the case.

Court and counsel described the agreement the parties reached: if the court follows the agreement, Saint Claire would receive 10 years of deferred probation in each case, a $1,000 fine in each case, and dismissals in other cause numbers listed by the parties. The judge advised Saint Claire that, if she follows the agreement, he or she would be waiving or giving up any right to appeal and warned of potential immigration consequences for noncitizens, saying a plea “may result in your deportation, exclusion from admission to the country, or denial of naturalization under federal law.”

The judge found Saint Claire mentally competent and that the pleas were entered freely and voluntarily. The court reset the matters for sentencing so the probation department can complete a pre-sentence report; the judge warned that jail incident reports and future behavior in custody would be considered at sentencing and that violations of probation could lead to a lengthy prison term.

Next steps: the court will receive the pre-sentence report and return to sentence Saint Claire at a later setting. The judge explicitly told the defendant to use the intervening time to comply with jail rules and avoid additional incident reports.