Neal Puckett, Wuterich's lead attorney, said Thursday that the defense drew up papers two years ago that would have had his client pleading guilty to negligent dereliction of duty. They offered to do so again last year, he said.
Puckett said prosecutors rejected the offer because they wanted Wuterich to plead guilty to willful dereliction, which carries a longer jail sentence and would have required an admission that he purposely ignored his responsibilities.
I thought I read somewhere that only the prosecution was allowed to approach with a “deal”?
>> Neal Puckett, Wuterich’s lead attorney, said Thursday that the defense drew up papers two years ago...
That is certainly a revelation.
Between endless resources and political zealotry, I guess it’s no surprise those papers were never put into play with the prosecution.