When Sandra Rogers stood before a Lake County judge in 2004 and admitted to attacking her ex-husband and his wife with a sledgehammer, it was because she wanted to spare her children the prospect of having to testify against her, her lawyer said.

Now, more than seven years into her 30-year prison term, Rogers wants to take back her guilty plea and have her day in court.

Rogers claims the two men who prosecuted her — both now Lake County judges — misled her attorney about an incriminating statement she was said to have made, prompting her to admit guilt.

But at a hearing last week, one of those ex-prosecutors, Judge George Strickland, said there was plenty of other evidence of Rogers’ involvement in the crime that she and her lawyer knew would come out if the case went to trial.

Read more at the Chicago Tribune.