Plea Change Rejected in NJ Man’s Murder Case

A Pennsylvania judge has rejected a request from a New Jersey man to withdraw his plea in the 2011 killing of his parents.

Judge William Shaffer ruled Friday against 42-year-old Colin Abbott, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.

In February Shaffer sentenced Abbott to between 35 and 80 years in prison after his no contest plea to charges that he murdered his father and stepmother at their western Pennsylvania home, and then tried to cover it up by telling relatives they had died in a fiery car crash.

Authorities contend Abbott burned the bodies of Kenneth and Celeste Abbott, then scattered their remains about 50 miles north of Pittsburgh.

Abbott, of Randolph, N.J., claimed in the appeal that his attorney and court officials pressured him into the deal.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)