Over ten years after pleading guilty to a sex assault charge, a former Aledo man wants to withdraw his guilty plea in the 2006 case. Mercer County State’s Attorney Meeghan Lee confirms that Ryan Bell’s attorney recently filed a motion in Mercer County Circuit Court. Lee has already moved to dismiss the defense motion. No hearing date has been scheduled. The 31 year old Bell pleaded guilty to a Class 1 felony of criminal sexual assault in October 2006 and received a 20-year prison term the following May. The charge stemmed from a May of 2006 incident involving a 15-year-old girl at an underage drinking party in Aledo. Court testimony indicated the victim may have been drugged. Four juveniles were also charged in the case with aggravated battery and attempted criminal sexual assault. Three were placed on probation and one was sentenced to 90 days at a juvenile detention facility. Bell is currently incarcerated at the Vienna Correctional Center in southern Illinois. He has been denied in previous post-conviction relief attempts and appeals and was also denied executive clemency last summer.
