NORRISTOWN — On the day he was supposed to be sentenced for raping a 13-year-old girl who was in his company at an Upper Providence Township location, a Delaware County man who previously admitted to the act had a change of heart and told a judge he wants to withdraw his guilty plea.
The sentencing hearing for Barry Cunningham, 44, of the 1100 block of East 8th Street, Eddystone, abruptly came to a halt on Tuesday when he expressed to a Montgomery County judge that he now wants to fight the sexual assault charges.
Given Cunningham’s decision, defense lawyer George M. Griffith Jr., who was court-appointed to represent Cunningham and who negotiated a plea agreement on behalf of Cunningham, asked Senior Judge Thomas C. Branca for permission to withdraw as Cunningham’s lawyer. Griffith, without revealing any specific defense strategies, explained Cunningham wanted him to take a defense position that he could not “ethically adopt.”…