Did Craig plead guilty before or after 6:05pm CST August 1st?

[goodhue]

Did he sign the document before or after the 35W bridge collapse?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. Um... care to enlighten us where you're going with this line of investigation?

[goodhue]

4. well the local press pretty much stopped covering anything but the bridge collapse

so it would be convenient timing if he wished the plea to go unreported

[AlCzervik]

6. so are you implying he decided to plead guilty during that time because he

thought it wouldn't be covered? If thats what you're saying then i think you are wrong.

[goodhue]

7. well it seems he thought it wouldn't be covered

if so, why?

[AlCzervik]

12. i don't know but do you really think a man that wasn't intelligent enough to lawyer

up all of a sudden got smart enough to figure out he should plead guilty at that time?

[high density]

11. You must be using some of that Chinese tinfoil

that has a high concentration of lead in it... Or something.

[goodhue]

22. yes well

I've been concentrating on this ever since I read WCCO reporter Jason DeRusha's comment:
"The plea deal at the courthouse happened the week after the bridge collapse. So the usual suspects who would have tipped someone off were too busy with other things to even concentrate on this."
http://www.minnesotamonitor.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2319

[onenote]

25. actually, what this shows is that the WCCO reporter doens't understand what happened

The 'plea deal" didn't 'happen" the week after the bridge collapse. The incident occurred on June 11. The arresting officer swore out a complaint two weeks later on June 26. That complaint was sent to Craig on July 26 and he signed his plea on the first, presumably while in DC, and sent it by mail to the court, where it was received on the 8th.

edited to corrected typo in date craig signed plea

[goodhue]

27. no the reporter is referring to the news of the plea at hennepin county

derusha understands what happened
craig signed the plea on august 1st
the plea was entered on august 8th (it could well have been received days earlier)
the august 8th entering of plea went unnoticed because all media was focused elsewhere
(plus star tribune had recently axed a lot of reporters)

[Lint Head]

2. I know it was after Elvis died.

[hisownpetard]

21. Elvis DIED????!!?? I saw him yesterday at QuikCheck, buying a lottery ticket!!

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

3. After.

But what in the world would that have to do with a bridge collapse? :shrug:

[goodhue]

5. that is my theory

but what is the evidence?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

8. What Theory?

What theory do you have?

[goodhue]

10. that he signed the plea on the evening of august 1st after bridge collapse

heartless bastard

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

14. Oh You've Got To Be Kidding.

Hell, you were probably posting here the night of the collapse, as were tons of others. Those posts (if not yours, then theirs) were FAR more meaningless then his signing a plea bargain (which actually is a pretty serious life event, in his case, so I'd say he was justified even). So were all DU'ers heartless bastards too?

Sorry, but this is really silly.

[goodhue]

18. maybe i'm kidding

but i am curious as to when precisely he signed plea and why
and i sincerely believe craig plea story would have broken earlier but for bridge collapse

[alfredo]

28. I do believe someone spiked the story. We already know he's

an opportunist asshole, otherwise he wouldn't be a Republican.

[AlCzervik]

15. according to google he pleaded on august 8th.

[goodhue]

19. yes but he signed the document on the 1st

[AlCzervik]

20. i think it's a coincidence and i'll leave at that.

sometimes things just are what they are.

[Bitwit1234]

9. He can't withdraw his guilty plea

Someone in the Minnesota papers said that you can not withdraw a guilty plea. I don't remember what they call it, but they said you have to have some kind of extra proof or something and in Craig's case it does not exist. So he might with draw his resignation, he can't withdraw the guilty plea and he will always have that criminal record.

[ruggerson]

13. That's it!

He blew up the bridge, to divert attention away from pleading guilty. Brilliant!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. Be Thankful

If that was Bush he would have invaded Iran...

[Ioo]

16. How can you "fight the allegations" they are not allegations once you plea

that you did them....

[onenote]

23. there is no connection between when he signed the plea and the collapse

The bridge collapse occurred at 6:05 pm. Craig's plea was signed and dated on the first. Was it before or after? Hard to say. If it had been done in person, it almost certainly would have been before 6:05 pm since court hours would be over by then. But its my understanding that he submitted his plea by mail -- in other words, he signed it either in DC or Idaho. WHich probably explains why its date stamped as having been received by the court on the 8th.

So its not plausible that there is any connection between the bridge collapse and the timing of Craig's plea.

[goodhue]

24. well either he knew about the collapse at the time of the signature or he didn't

[onenote]

26. I'm guessing he signed it before. But since he was mailing it in, what difference did it make?

He mailed it in. It was going to take days before it got to the courthouse.

[marlakay]

29. actually i thought it got gonzales off the news

I kept wondering if someone leaked his story in just to get that off...and now congress back in session, iraq stuff on tv....gonzo forgotten and craig gets his job back???