The case against Matthew Cordle has already hit an obstacle; Cordle has decided to plead "not guilty." If you recall Cordle took responsibility via a YouTube video and vowed to plead guilty. With this latest development this seems more and more like Mr. Cordle was attempting to garner leniency with the video rather than actually doing the right thing.

The Dispatch says that Cordle appeared yesterday afternoon before Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Julie Lynch, but she postponed Cordle’s arraignment, saying it would be inappropriate to proceed unless he immediately pleaded guilty.

Lynch said she was told that Cordle would plead guilty. However, his attorneys had said yesterday that he would plead not guilty before Lynch, so the case could be randomly assigned to a trial judge before whom he would quickly plead guilty.

Cordle’s failure to enter a plea “calls into question the validity of being so forthcoming in his YouTube video” about his intent to plead guilty, the judge said after the brief hearing.

She said talks revealed that prosecutors wanted a maximum prison sentence of 8 1/2 years, while Cordle’s attorneys wanted about four years. Lynch said his attorneys balked when she would not commit to a sentence. They declined to comment about any discussions.

Cordle’s attorneys and Prosecutor Ron O’Brien rejected suggestions that judge shopping was involved, saying his case will be randomly assigned to one of the 17 Common Pleas judges, including possibly Lynch

I guess that 8 1/2 year sentence that prosecutors wanted scared the "guilty" out of him.