Craig waited too long to unravel legal mess

My daughter's friend Claire got a crash course in the responsibilities of elected office during her term as a student body officer at her junior high last year. When interviewed in the student newspaper about the most challenging aspects of being a student body officer, she said, "I'm an SBO every single day."

So as much as one may want to fly under the radar — say, plead guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge in connection to an arrest in a Minnesota airport restroom and hope it all just goes away — it's not going to happen.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, apparently learned this lesson a few months too late when he believed he could unravel his messy legal problems. Seems he didn't mean to plead guilty. He said he panicked. He figured his best course of action would be to plead guilty and make the whole ordeal go away.

Except in doing that, he closed the door to his legal options.

Most judges leave no wiggle room to weasel out of a plea agreement. One judge I knew in Colorado peppered defendants with questions for several minutes to ensure they were entering plea agreements with a full understanding of the consequences. He'd say things like "Is your mind clear today? Did you have anything to drink this morning? Did you take any drugs in the jail? Do you understand that by pleading guilty you are giving up your right to a trial?" So on and so on.

I sometimes had to suppress my laughter when Judge Phelps got on a roll like that. But he was creating a record so the defendant could not come back at a later time to try to renege on his or her guilty plea. The judge wanted to make sure the agreement stuck.

Craig didn't appear before a judge. He entered a guilty plea by mail. The three-page document informs the defendant that by pleading guilty he gives up the right to trial; the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses; the right to remain silent; the right to subpoena witnesses to appear on his behalf; and the right to a preliminary hearing.

Moreover, the defendant acknowledges that he enters his plea "freely and voluntarily and without any promises. ..."

The defendant is required to sign each page of the petition. And now he supposes the agreement can be undone? Monday morning, his attorney filed a motion to withdraw his plea.

The burning question in this whole ordeal is why didn't Craig get legal help when he was charged back in June? I'm not up to speed on how men hook up for sexual encounters in public restrooms, but I do think any competent defense attorney could have won this case. It's largely a he-said-he-said matter. Seemingly, a veteran U.S. senator would be given the benefit of a doubt.