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Kegan Kline’s lawyer wants to quit the case

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — When Kegan Kline walked out of a Miami county courtroom last Thursday, his lawyer, Andrew Achey was not at his side. 

Achey informed his client over the weekend that he is asking the court to remove him as his lawyer. 

During the court proceedings, Kline told the judge he had not seen all of the evidence and he needed time to reconsider his guilty plea. This information was new to Kline’s lawyer, who was heard saying this was a surprise to him.  

Court documents obtained by I-Team 8 indicate that Achey filed a motion with the court to withdraw as Kline’s counsel on Friday, less than 24 hours after the two were in court.  

Achey didn’t elaborate in court documents why he was stepping away. The court often allows lawyers to step away under certain circumstances, such as illnesses, financial burdens, or if the client is committing a crime.

But to have a lawyer step away so close to the finish line is rare.

“If the client insists on taking action that the lawyer had a fundamental, deep, gut, instinctual disagreement with — that is a circumstance,” said Jody Madeira, professor of law at Indiana University Bloomington Maurer School of Law.

In the letter Achey wrote to Kline announcing he was leaving, he didn’t offer a reason why. He simply wished him the best of luck and wrote that it had been a pleasure representing him.  

Madeira says, though, that with the stage that the case is at, chances are slim that the court will allow Achey to step away.

“I do think keeping in mind the critical stage we are at, the nature of this case, the difficulty of withdrawing from representation from criminal clients in general — I believe it might be one of those cases where the judge does not grant (Achey) that motion,” said Madeira. 

Prosecutors want Kline to get as much time in prison as possible by serving consecutive sentences. They argued in a court filing earlier this month that his crimes “do not consist of a single episode of criminal conduct, but instead constitute several crimes of violence.” 

Kline has admitted using the “anthony_shots” social media profile to get nearly 100 sexually explicit photos and videos from underage girls.  

Indiana State Police believe that the same account exchanged messages with Libby German the day before she and Abby Williams were murdered in Delphi in 2017

Kline was arrested in August 2020. At the time, Andrew Achey and Rhett Christopher Lee were named as Kline’s attorneys. I-Team 8 talked to Lee this afternoon, who says he remains on the case.  

Kline is due back in court on June 1, with his sentencing on July 27. But a change in legal counsel could delay those hearings.