No deal, says man in 'Mad Hatter' case
He had agreed to plead guilty to several bank jobs in North Jersey, but now maintains he is innocent.
NEWARK, N.J. - The man suspected of being the "Mad Hatter" responsible for 18 bank robberies in North Jersey scrapped a plea agreement yesterday.
"I do not wish to go through with it," James G. Madison, 50, of Maplewood, told Judge Jose L. Linares in U.S. District Court in Newark.
On Aug. 14, the judge said, Madison and prosecutors signed a deal that called on the defendant to plead guilty to six counts of bank robbery.
"He changed his mind?" Linares asked.
"Yes," said Madison's public defender, Donald L. McCauley. "He maintains his innocence."
McCauley declined to comment after the brief hearing.
In a Passaic County Jail interview published in Tuesday's Star-Ledger of Newark, Madison said he was the bandit known for wearing a variety of hats, adding that there had been "mitigating circumstances" involving bills and a low-paying job. "I'm not saying I'm some Robin Hood," he told the newspaper.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shana W. Chen told the judge that prosecutors would seek a new indictment. Currently, the only count against Madison involves a bank robbery in Union Township.
Under the rejected agreement, he would have acknowledged committing 18 robberies that netted about $60,000 between September and July, an official with knowledge of the case said Monday on condition of anonymity.
Madison was released last year from a halfway house after serving nearly 20 years in prison for the bludgeoning death of a girlfriend.