Accused Brentwood landlord seeks to withdraw guilty plea

Brentwood landlord Wilson Milord wants to withdraw his guilty plea and stand trial in connection with the carbon monoxide deaths of three tenants at a West Babylon house, his attorney said Thursday.

Milord, 50, had been on the verge of having to act as his own attorney at trial before he pleaded guilty in June to criminally negligent homicide and grand larceny. His attorney, David Scudieri of Manhattan, said Thursday Milord was "very scared" when he believed he would have to represent himself.

"He entered the plea because he was afraid he was going to have to go to trial on his own without benefit of counsel," Scudieri said.

In a separate development, Milord was remanded to jail Thursday when County Court Judge James Hudson said he had failed to cooperate with Suffolk probation officers.

Hudson reset Milord's cash bail to $750,000. Milord had been free after posting $500,000 bond in October, 2008.

His sentencing was postponed to Oct. 13, when Hudson said he also will decide whether to allow Milord to withdraw the plea.

Scudieri said he was hired by Milord last week, replacing attorney Albert Dayan of Kew Gardens, who had represented Milord when he pleaded guilty.

Dayan said Thursday Milord risks going to prison for the maximum 5 to 15 years if he is tried and found guilty. Under the plea deal, Milord faces 1 to 3 years in prison.

In June, Milord admitted to having installed a gas-powered generator at a Sunrise Highway house he owned after the Long Island Power Authority cut electricity to the house over nonpayment. Prosecutors said Ricardo Pearce, 27, Tanisha Armstrong, 25, and her daughter, Talani Johnson, 4, died in November 2007 from fumes caused by the generator.

Explaining why he jailed Milord, Hudson cited a letter from a probation supervisor saying Milord postponed an August meeting with a probation officer, then gave vague answers to their questions at a meeting Tuesday. The letter said Milord's reluctance to cooperate prevented probation officers from completing a mandatory presentence report by Thursday. "The court is disturbed by what appears to be your lack of cooperation" with probation officers, Hudson told Milord.

But Scudieri said the report was delayed because it was "near impossible" for Milord, a native of Haiti, to retrieve required documents from that country because of the earthquake there earlier this year.

Milord cooperated with probation officials, but his postponement of the August meeting "could be equated with failure to cooperate" with authorities, Scudieri told reporters.