PROVIDENCE -- A defense lawyer accused of bribing a witness not to testify refused a plea deal Tuesday that would have called for jail time.
A very distraught Donna Uhlmann elected to head to trial on charges that she participated in a scheme to bribe a convicted felon not to take the stand against the man accused of stabbing him.
Uhlmann rejected a plea agreement extended by prosecutors that would have asked for her to serve prison time.
Assistant Attorney General J. Patrick Youngs described Uhlmann's alleged crimes as "serious" and deserving of "some type of incarceration." He did not specify how much jail time the state would ask for at her sentencing if she entered a plea deal. There would, however, have been a "check mark" in her favor had she agreed to plead out by Tuesday, he said.
One of Uhlmann's alleged co-conspirators, fellow defense lawyer Gerard Donley, is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday by Superior Court Judge Robert D. Krause.
A jury in June found Donley guilty of conspiring to obstruct justice by bribing Michael Drepaul not to testify against the man accused of stabbing him, Donley's client Jamaal Dublin. Donley was convicted of all four counts: obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice, bribery of a witness and conspiracy to commit bribery.
He faces up to 24 years in prison at his sentencing and remains on home confinement at his house at 50 Betsey Williams Drive, Cranston.
Uhlmann and Dublin are set to go to trial Sept. 23 on the same charges.