Craig attempts to change Guilty plea

[MysticCat]

Well, apparently what he filed with the court this go around does, in fact, say that he mailed the plea in rather than appearing in court. I doubt that, alone, will have much affect though -- I'm guessing that between discussions with the prosecutor and boilerplate that I would expect is on the form, just the fact that he mailed it in won't help him too much.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Well, apparently what he filed with the court this go around does, in fact, say that he mailed the plea in rather than appearing in court. I doubt that, alone, will have much affect though -- I'm guessing that between discussions with the prosecutor and boilerplate that I would expect is on the form, just the fact that he mailed it in won't help him too much.

Wouldn't MAILING a plea show much more calculation then a verbal plea? To mail it, he would have to write it down and sign it, and put a stamp on it, and stick it in the mailbox, with chances all along the way for him to change his mind. A verbal plea could be a heat of the moment snap decision. He could have walked into the courthouse with every intention of pleading innocent, and at the last second with the pressure on and all of the charges laid out, changed his mind.

[MysticCat]

^^^ Maybe, or maybe not. If he was actually in court, the judge would not only question him but could observe his demeanor to see if it actually matched what he was saying or if he showed signs of duress, coercion, caprice, etc.

Plus, while I would guess that what he signed had all the "I understand that by entering a plea of guilty . . . ." language, and while I assume that his signature had an attestation that he had read and understood all of that, is there anybody who hasn't signed a document where we say we read and understood all the boilerplate, but we really didn't? In open court, the judge would be able to ask all of those questions and satisfy himself or herself that Craig really did understand it all and knew what he was doing in entering the plea.