After a 29-year-old Hutchinson man was found competent after being sent to Larned, he then decided he wanted to withdraw his plea.

Joshua Bietka, who entered pleas to numerous criminal cases and had faced sentencing, had been found incompetent after an evaluation by Horizon’s Mental Health Facility in Hutchinson. Judge Joe McCarvile had then ordered him to Larned State Hospital for another 60-day evaluation. Although, he has some mental issues, they found him competent.

His attorney then told the judge that his client wants to withdraw the pleas he made, but didn’t have a written motion ready. Deputy District Attorney Tom Stanton told Judge McCarville that he should have the motion in written form. The judge agreed and gave the defense a deadline of November 19 and set a hearing for November 30.

Bietka had entered the pleas as charged in each case, the most recent for charges of felony interference with law enforcement and battery of a law enforcement officer. This after he apparently resisted being taken into custody on a number of warrants back on February 23.

In one of two cases where he failed to appear, he was convicted of aggravated assault, when a Hutchinson woman says she was in fear of her safety when he allegedly came at her with a vehicle. That allegedly occurring on October 8, of last year.

The other case, it involved him allegedly being in possession of methamphetamine. In this case, a South Hutchinson Police Officer saw him in the lobby of the Trails West Motel and knew he had an outstanding warrant. After the officer confirmed the warrant, he was arrested and in one of his pockets was clear bag with a white crystal substance that tested positive for meth. It was allegedly around a gram.

Bietka and Lisa Teeters were arrested back on December 21, of last year for a meth distribution case occurring at the same South Hutchinson Motel.

And then there is the earlier case where he was allegedly caught selling meth in October of last year at a car wash across from K-Mart on East 30th in Hutchinson.

He entered pleas to two counts of possession of meth with intent to sell, one being within a thousand feet of a school, two counts of possession of methamphetamine, conspiracy to distribute meth, two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to package, two counts of no tax stamp, possession of Hydrocodone, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, aggravated assault, interference with law enforcement, and misdemeanor battery of a law enforcement officer.

So, any sentencing is on hold and will depend on how the judge rules in a motion to withdraw his plea.