Petition fraudster Clayton Walker surrendered yesterday, pleading guilty to two of the twelve felony counts filed against him for faking signatures on his failed U.S. Senate nominating petition in 2014. His surprise plea deal got him out of the additional charges he incurred for skipping court a few weeks ago.
Some defenders of Walker’s fellow petition fraudster Annette Bosworth will squawk that the state is giving Walker preferential treatment by giving him a plea deal but refusing to offer Bosworth the same break. The state offered no such preference to Walker. Yesterday, Walker plead guilty to two felony charges. Prior to her trial, Bosworth refused to settle for anything less than the opportunity to plea to misdemeanor charges that do not exist in state law.
In other words, Walker admitted he broke the law. Bosworth refused (and continues to refuse) to make such an admission.
Thanks to Walker’s sudden bout of sensibility, we can now file away two cases that establish that yes, oaths matter, and that the citizen watchdogs who investigated the Walker and Bosworth petitions in 2014 did South Dakota a service in defending the integrity of the electoral process.
perhaps a better lawyer(s) could have gotten boz a DISORDERLY CONDUCT, class 2 misdm. deal, with a factual basis for her plea: lewd press conference (i know, which lewd behavior??)! talk about upsetting the public peace :)
The Bosworth Crazies, John McCain’s new word for the tea party extremists, will likely claim this is a “war on women” because Walker is a male republican.
They might do that Roger. But if memory serves me correctly (which it may not), Walker ran on the Democratic Party ticket some years before trying to run for Senate as an Independent.
I’m curious to see Walkers sentencing to see how it compares with the Bozworth case. Specifically I wonder if the judge will go easy on him because he did plead guilty.
Pleading guilty indicates some willingness to accept responsibility for his actions. Pleading guilty also spares Walker the dangers of taking the stand and saying lots of silly things that make him look worse. Walker hasn’t demonstrated any political savvy, but he’s finally cutting his losses.
Ken,
Generally speaking, when a perp pleads guilty and admits to a crime they are likely to get a lighter or even a suspended imposition of sentence if they meet all the criteria.
Walker did previously run as a Democrat, but what matters is his party affiliation when the crime was committed.
Earlier online version of Walker plea deal story has lots more detail, on timing of plea deal.
http://www.capjournal.com/news/walker-gets-mid-trial-plea-deal-on-electioneering-charges/article_e572e0de-3094-11e5-87ed-378308428db1.html
you know, on some level it has to be frustrating for someone to generate millions in donations, only to pay it all out on fees and legal bills.