OLATHE, Kan. — A man who pleaded guilty to raping a Johnson County sheriff's deputy withdrew his guilty plea Wednesday.
"He advised me he wishes to withdraw his plea," Zane Todd, the attorney for Brady Newman-Caddell, said at the hearing.
The move surprised some in the courtroom. Newman-Caddell pleaded guilty May 24, 2018, to charges of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of rape and aggravated criminal sodomy.
The attack on the deputy happened in October 2016 as the deputy arrived for work at the Johnson County Jail in Olathe.
Newman-Caddell and another man, William Luth, spotted the deputy in civilian clothes at a convenience store not far from the jail.
They followed her and snatched her outside the jail. The men covered the victim's head and neck and drove around assaulting her, officials said. She was let out of the men's car in Lee's Summit.
Luth is currently serving more than 41 years in prison for orchestrating the attack.
Both men also face charges in Jackson County for raping another woman in February 2016 at an Independence apartment.
"He is the kind of person who wants to control his victims, and this is just another way of him exerting control over us," said Taylor Hirth, the victim in the Jackson County case.
Hirth was expected to address the court Wednesday but didn't get the chance after Newman-Caddell withdrew his plea.
"We're all struggling. It's been really difficult for each of us, and I think seeing the impact that it's had on each other when each of us has done the best we could to prevent it from happening to the next girl, it's really difficult to see how we've been failed so many times in the process," Hirth said.
On Thursday, Hirth will be in a Jackson County courtroom to face Luth, who's expected to plead guilty in her case.
"It's been a really difficult past couple of days because I've had to write an impact statement and really relive a lot of the stuff that I've pushed down for three years now," Hirth said.
In the Johnson County case, Newman-Caddell will be appointed a new attorney after Todd withdrew from the case.
"People like this can't keep doing what they're doing. They can't get away with it," Hirth said.
41 Action News does not typically identify victims of alleged rape or sexual assault unless they grant permission.
Newman-Cadell will be back in court on Feb. 7. He remains jailed on a $1 million bond.
