Jailed YouTuber Lane Myers surprised friend, follower, foe and fool on Monday as he accepted a surprise plea deal at a hearing aired on the Pima County website to no restreamers or in person witnesses.
Details came late Monday afternoon on Mark “The Reluctant Prophet” Kelly’s YouTube channel that Myers took a plea deal in the form of a poll Kelly put up on his YouTube community page.
Offering no details, Kelly’s announcement was followed by frantic research from everyone who had apparently missed the hearing. The hearing was listed in Myers’ file over on Arizona’s eAccess site, along with a new listing for a July 1 sentencing date.
In our case, since we were late in making the search, the search on publichearings.sc.pima.gov page reflected Tuesday’s hearings and listed a phantom hearing for Myers, based on a previous non-cancelled hearing for his initial hearing to disqualify Judge D. Douglas Metcalf from hearing the case.
A call over to the courthouse by Judy, our intrepid reporter in the area, confirmed the phantom listing and confirmed the next hearing was on July 1. No one could confirm or comment on Myers’ plea deal.
None of Myers’ usual supporters, including Josh “This is a Public Service” Gray, had coverage of the hearing nor any real idea of what was going on, other than Kelly, who put up a second poll stating that Myers took a plea deal and pled to two felonies. No further details were provided.
Once the plea deal minute notes were released late in the afternoon on Tuesday, it was revealed that Myers essentially took the same deal as he had rejected less than a month ago and presumably would be facing the same sort of sentencing.
Myers pled guilty to Stalking Distress/Fear, which is a class five felony and one count of Aggravated Harassment, a class six felony. The class 6 charge brings a presumed year in prison or two years as an aggravated charge. The class 5 charge brings a presumed two years in prison, with 2.5 years for an aggravated charge.
Prosecutor Rachel Stiles had already announced that Myers’ prior felony convictions would be considered in sentencing, and a robust probation monitoring system must be in place before Myers is released from jail.
According to the minute notes, both the July 14 presentence hearing and July 22 trial have been vacated. Myers’ will not go free during the period that he awaits sentencing. There was apparently an extended debate about release conditions and Myers’ associate attorney Mark “The Shark” Resnick unsuccessfully argued modifications to Myers’ release conditions.
Myers inquired about doing interviews from jail and it was ordered that Myers was still under an order preventing him from saying his victim’s name or engaging in any conduct directed at the victim.
In recent interviews with both Michael Ehline and Liberty Troll, Myers ignored the previous order. Going so far as naming the victim on Liberty Troll’s interview and challenging prosecutor Stiles to “do something about it.”
It is unclear what sentence Myers will ultimately receive in exchange for his plea deal. The victim previously testified that she would not be comfortable with Myers’ release until “robust probation monitoring” was in place.
His previously rejected plea deal would have been for approximately four and a half years in jail, with probation eligible for both charges. Prosecutor Stiles did indicate that both charges would be considered aggravated and that his past felony convictions would be considered in his ultimate sentence.
The prevailing opinion among early commentators seems to indicate a strong belief that Myers will get credit for time served and get a large, suspended sentence. Probation would be immediately available, and Myers would be free by mid-July at the latest.
Myers’ next court appearance is on July 1, 2025, our court reporter Judy will be attending the hearing live.
