A Quad City man, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 years in prison for a drunk driving accident that killed two of his friends, wants to take back his guilty plea.
Mitch Gayer, 25, says his former attorney Gerry Schick did not provide proper counsel and urged him to plea guilty.
"He led me down the wrong road," Gayer testified at his motion hearing in Rock Island on Friday afternoon.
The accident on November 27, 2013 killed Jamie Sedam and Clayton Carver on a country road in Milan.
He and his new attorney, Katherine Drummond, say that Gayer was not told he would have to serve 85 percent of any sentence he received, and claim he was told he would likely receive probation.
"I did not find out what 85 percent meant until I come here in the county jail and talked with other inmates," he testified.
He says he suffers from a head injury from the crash, which also almost killed him.
He says he has no memory of the accident.
Family members of the victims say they hope the case does not get re-opened.
"Every time we go back into court and it just kind of opens the wounds. It's just hard. It's difficult. I was hoping maybe some kind of ruling could put it to rest," said Vicky Sedam.
Judge Tom Bergland says he will decide on the motion to vacate Gayer's guilty plea within the next 30 days.