During a change of plea hearing at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 20, 2020, Associate Judge Kenneth Govendo sentenced Appleby to time already served.
The defendant was further ordered to pay a court fee of $25 within 30 days.
The government was represented by Assistant Attorney General Robert Glass while the defendant, who appeared in the custody of the Department of Corrections, was represented by his court-appointed counsel, Assistant Public Defender Jean P. Nogues.
Despite his guilty plea, Chief Prosecutor John Bradley said Appleby continues to challenge the revocation.
Appleby has argued that the preliminary hearing was unlawful, but the Office of the Attorney General said the issue was moot because the final revocation hearing proved the violation.
“This conviction reconfirms the position of the attorney general that Appleby is a dangerous person,” Bradley said. “He committed a murder, was released on parole, assaulted his girlfriend, and then tried to tamper with her testimony by trying to get her to lie under oath before the Parole Board.”
Bradley said he will forward this information to the Parole Board for consideration should Appleby be considered again for parole.
In August, Superior Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja dismissed without prejudice the lawsuit that Appleby filed against the Corrections officials and the Board of Parole. Dismissal without prejudice means a lawsuit can be refiled.
Appleby was convicted on Nov. 11, 1996 of first degree murder and was sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment, with a minimum term of 10 years to be served.
While serving his jail term, he escaped from prison, but was apprehended and convicted of a new offense. He was sentenced to an additional three years’ imprisonment with two years suspended. The sentence was to run consecutively to the 40-year sentence in his murder case.
Appleby was granted parole in February 2011, but it was revoked in December 2012 after he violated its conditions. He was again paroled on Sept. 9, 2019, but was arrested on March 25, 2020 on a parole violation warrant.
