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DeToma v. State

The defendant freely and voluntarily entered his guilty plea to the malice murder of his 5-year-old son.

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Gary M. DeToma, Sr., “DeToma” appeals from the denial of his motion to withdraw his plea of guilty to the malice murder of his five-year-old son, Gary, Jr. “Gary”. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

According to the factual basis for the plea that the State presented at the plea hearing, DeToma and his wife were in the midst of divorce proceedings and, in order to prevent her from exercising custody of his two sons, DeToma intended to kill both sons, and then himself. On the morning of July 12, 2012, he succeeded in killing Gary, first putting a pillow over his face and suffocating him, then placing a plastic bag over his head, and securing it with duct tape; either or both of these acts could have caused Gary’s death. DeToma began an attack on his other son, four-year-old William, but did not succeed in carrying it out; apparently DeToma had ingested sleeping pills and pain killers in a quantity sufficient for him to become temporarily incapacitated. Because DeToma had not gone to work that morning, a co-worker went to DeToma’s home and knocked on the front door. William responded and opened the door to the extent a chain latch allowed this to be done. The co-worker, realizing something was wrong, cut the chain on the door, entered the home, and found DeToma on a bed with Gary; the co-worker attempted to revive Gary, could not, and fled the home with William. Law enforcement officers arrived at the home, placed DeToma in custody and, some hours later, DeToma admitted to killing Gary.

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