Arthur Whitfield’s attempt to reverse his prison term using Post Conviction Relief has been kept alive – barely – by State Superior Court, which has granted the 55-year-old former Josephine man pauper status, meaning he can have an attorney represent him at public expense.
Whitfield is serving life in prison without the chance of parole for shooting his former girlfriend, 35-year-old Holly George, eight times in December of 2013 at her home in Derry. George died weeks later. After repeated mental health evaluations, Whitfield pleaded guilty in June of 2016 to second degree murder, burglary, and firearms offenses, saying he wanted to spare George’s family the ordeal of a trial.
Now, however, he says he was coerced by his public defenders into pleading guilty. Judge Christopher Feliciani denied that appeal in October, saying that Whitfield’s apology to the George family showed that he knew what he was doing when he pleaded guilty. He also ruled that Whitfield has exhausted his right to representation at the public’s expense, but the Superior Court rejected that portion of his ruling, saying Whitfield had been previously granted pauper status and that status had not been revoked by the court.
The appellate court’s ruling is limited to Whitfield being able to proceed as a pauper. The court received the original records of the case this week.
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