In what could only be described as snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, YouTuber Lane Myers inexplicably accepted a plea deal to plead guilty to two of the twenty charges he’s facing in Pima County, Arizona, only to have the plea deal withdrawn by Judge Danielle B. Liwski after Myers would not declare his guilt for one of the two charges.
Myers was in Liwski’s court initially for a hearing to go over Myers’ motion to exclude trial judge D. Douglas Metcalf from proceeding as judge in the trial previously set for multiple charges of from his alleged harassment and stalking of the wife of a Tucson City Prosecutor.
The YouTuber has been held in the Pima County Adult Correction Facility since March of this year, when he picked up a second set of charges when he allegedly violated his bond conditions from the first set of charges.
He has displayed an antagonistic approach to his dealings with Judge Metcalf and recently was ejected from the courthouse for allegedly threatening the Judge. His filing contained his amassed grievances against Judge Metcalf along with a demand for Metcalf’s disqualification from hearing the case due to a “threat” made by Metcalf.
The motion to recuse Metcalf was originally to be heard by Presiding Judge Liwski on June 10, 2025. Inexplicably, on Friday Liwski moved the court date to May 27, 2025. Media requests were filed by Myers supporters Mark Brown and Mark Kelly were filed, which were to be held before the recusal hearing, and a mystery third hearing described by Liwski as a “plea change hearing” in her notices announce Brown and Kelly’s media hearings.
Brown and Kelly’s media requests were handled first at Tuesday’s hearing. Both men essentially repeated previous arguments that they made in front of Metcalf to allow video and audio recording of the proceedings.
Defendant Myers gave his opinion essentially agreeing with the men and said that video should be allowed in the courtroom. He argued that a generic ban on video recording should not be made as it would be punishing everyone for the bad behavior by those who would violate the rules of the Court in filming things they weren’t supposed to film.
After some consideration, Liwski agreed with Prosecutor Rachel Stiles that video recording would not be allowed but would allow audio recording within her courtroom. While Kelly declined to record audio, Brown immediately started an audio stream of the proceedings.
The motion to force the recusal of Judge Metcalf was heard next. That hearing started with defendant Myers demanding that the recently filed opposition to his motion to recuse the Judge be stricken from the record on a procedural basis as he received it past the deadline to receive such motions.
Judge Liwski declined to do so, and stated that while she would include it in the record, she would not rely on the reply in the judgment of Myers’ motion.
She then gave Myers over a half an hour to make his case. Myers essentially repeated his points from his motion, though admitted that his quoted “threat” by Judge Metcalf didn’t quite happen the way he quoted it. Regardless, he said it was still a threat and that Metcalf should be removed from the case.
Prosecutor Stiles was up next and also essentially stuck to the arguments she made in her motion opposing the recusal. After brief questioning by Judge Liwski, Stiles indicated that one of Myers’ complaints, that he was unable to properly file motions from jail, was not quite true as he had an advisory council and that the advisory council was able to file motions on his behalf.
This brought about a swift response from Myers in his final rebuttal. He said that Mark Resnick, his advisory council, was not a secretary and could not be expected to come to the jail to pick up his motions.
Ultimately, Liwski ruled against Myers’ motion to recuse Judge Metcalf, finding no signs of bias by the judge.
Finally, Liwski indicated that Prosecutor Stiles had scheduled a hearing for a possible change of plea. Both parties agreed that the change of plea should be considered as there was a plea deal on the table.
Stiles explained that even with a plea deal, Myers would receive some jail time based on his past felony convictions. The Judge added that the maximum length of time he could serve from admitting his guilt in the plea deal was the same as the minimum sentence he would receive if he was found guilty at trial.
Myers eventually agreed to the plea deal but said that he was only agreeing to it as his parents were going to be in town “next week” and that he wanted to be free before the sentencing period in order to see his parents.
Liwski stated that Myers would agree to plead guilty to a single count of stalking and a single count of aggravated harassment. She added that the actual sentencing hearing would be handled by Judge Metcalf and that Metcalf would also handle any probation violation hearings should Myers violate his probation.
Shannon Walker, the victim in the case, made a statement that she would not object to the terms of the plea deal, but had deep reservations about allowing Myers to be free while he awaited sentencing. She said she would be more comfortable with freeing Myers only after Myers’ probation was in place based on Myers’ prior alleged misbehavior when he was out on bond for the initial set of charges.
Myers continued to agree with terms of the plea deal up until the portion of where he needed to admit guilt to move forward with the plea. The jailed YouTuber would not agree that his actions by harassing the victim and encouraging his followers to bombard the victim with messages could cause her to reasonably fear for her life.
Attorney Resnick offered a compromise where Myers could admit guilt for the action without admitting that he caused fear to the victim. This was rejected by the court and the Judge pulled the plea deal after another lengthy diatribe by Myers.
Myers is scheduled back in Judge Metcalf’s court on July 14, 2025, for the final pre-trial hearing before his trial begins.
