Juan Baron, who was scheduled to be sentenced this week in the 2022 death of a 73-year-old Hawaii Loa Ridge man, wants to change his March 18 guilty plea.

Instead of holding a sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Circuit Court Judge Catherine Remigio will hear the 25-year-old Colombian man’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea in the death of Gary Ruby, whose body was found in a cement-filled bathtub.

Baron’s new attorney, Randall Hironaka, filed the motion on Monday.

In March, Baron pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree identity theft, and charges for the theft of Ruby’s luxury home and car.

Baron had agreed to a plea deal with the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office, which would have guaranteed he would be eligible for parole, and both the state and the defense agreed to recommend a 20-year minimum term of imprisonment.

Baron’s then-attorney Myles Breiner had told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that he submitted a plea offer in October 2023 following the termination for misconduct a month earlier of the deputy prosecutor on the case.

Breiner told the Star- Advertiser in 2023 that he would resume his motion to dismiss the case against Baron if the prosecutor’s office rejected the plea offer.

In March, the prosecutor’s office agreed not to ask the court for extended sentencing, meaning life with no parole, if Baron pleaded guilty to the charges.

Myles S. Breiner &Associates filed a motion to withdraw as counsel on June 5, which was granted June 14.

The motion to change his plea says, “Mr. Baron has asserted and maintained his innocence.”

It argues, “Baron did not knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily waive his constitutional rights and, as this involves attorney-client privileged information, it will be discussed at the hearing on the instant motion.”

The motion argues that the maximum sentence Baron was guaranteed under the plea agreement is significant.

Because of the potential severe consequences, “it lends plausibility and legitimacy” to his request for plea withdrawal, the motion says.

It also cites case law that says his being a youthful defendant and lacking in English-language proficiency may support that he was poorly equipped to give thoughtful consideration to a plea’s implications.

Baron was 23 at the time of Ruby’s death.

Breiner said last week that he stands by what he did on behalf of Baron, but given what is at stake he was not surprised by Baron’s decision to change his plea.

“It happens,” and is not that unusual, he said. “He has a right to due process.”

Breiner said that according to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the parole board, the average sentence is a 25- to 50-year sentence for the charges that Baron is facing. He said in the plea deal, however, the parties agreed to a 20-year-minimum term, “substantially less” than what the parole board might give Baron.

“He will die in prison,” Breiner said, if Baron is tried and convicted or if the Hono­lulu Prosecutor’s Office does not again agree to similar terms in another plea deal.

If he had taken the deal, Baron could have received a minimum of 20-year prison term, been credited with two years for time already served, and possibly paroled while he was still in his 40s.