O’Keefe to Plead to Misdemeanor?
UPDATE: Of course, I should make it clear that we don’t know he is pleading guilty. We know only that the government has reduced the charges to the misdemeanor level, so that he is no longer an “accused felon.” (That won’t stop Brad Friedman from using that phrase, of course, because Brad Friedman and the truth are strangers.)
But I think the smart money is on a plea. No jail time, misdemeanor. He gets his tape back and we eventually get to see it, and see with our own eyes what I have argued all along: that O’Keefe never intended to tamper with any phones. That he was simply engaged in another characteristic undercover investigation.
Time will tell.
O’Keefe, others plan to plead guilty
From NBC’s Pete Williams
The four men arrested in January for their stunt to embarrass staffers in the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) are prepared to plead guilty, legal sources say, in return for reduced charges.
Federal prosecutors today filed misdemeanor charges against the four. James O’Keefe, who became a media sensation last year for his videos involving ACORN employees, and three others were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses. Two of them went to her office pretending to be telephone repairmen. The charges said all four were in on the plan.
Because the charge is a misdemeanor — and not a felony — the maximum sentence is six months in prison and a $5,000 fine.
The government dropped its earlier, more serious, charges of tampering with government phone lines.” – source- msnbc.com 3/26/10
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 3/26/2010 @ 1:36 pmhttp://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/03/26/2243986.aspx
Oh noes, you mean they’re not going to be summarily frog – marched to the Federal Pen, as so many of our breathless Trolls have been expectorating over the past two months? I demand an investigation into this gross miscarriage of justice!
Dmac (ca1d8c) — 3/26/2010 @ 1:40 pmmoney sez they go the distance and judge gives 6 mos. On the other hand, if you’re someone like James Arthur “Death” Ray, you get your bail reduced 5-fold and get to return to your mansion in Malibu.
yeah, that’s justice.
Enoch_Root (9548cd) — 3/26/2010 @ 1:53 pmMy guess is no contest, punished by agreement not to enter the Senators office building.
Steve G (7d4c78) — 3/26/2010 @ 2:04 pmPatterico – does Breitbart remain an unindicted co-conspirator?
JD (aad7c1) — 3/26/2010 @ 2:06 pmI can’t believe they would plead to anything other than a minor fine. The trial would be kind of fun, but not for them.
Mike K (2cf494) — 3/26/2010 @ 2:07 pmThe comment page seems to be fixed now.
Mike K (2cf494) — 3/26/2010 @ 2:07 pmIronic that you posted so recently about the power of the jump. I smell another episode tomorrow, at papers across the nation. Something along the lines of:
O’Keefe to Plead Guilty in Landrieu Wiretap Scheme.
Matador (176445) — 3/26/2010 @ 2:09 pmPuts paid to EricPWJohnson’s silly horse manure.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/26/2010 @ 2:11 pmWhoa! The site is smokin’ now.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/26/2010 @ 2:13 pmIf entering federal property under false pretenses is a misdemeanor, then I suggest that every member of Congress commits this every day in session, as they all pretend they know what they’re doing.
Some chump (c2555f) — 3/26/2010 @ 2:20 pmStat Max is “not more than 6 months”, meaning this is a petty misdemeanor.
Probably a fine and probation if all have no criminal history.
The guy that looks like the biggest idiot in this whole affair is David Shuster, who ran down to the New Orleans and breathlessly reported on “Watergate II.”
The other guy greatly disappointed is John Dean, as this would have been his meal ticket for repeated bookings by Olbermann.
Shipwreckedcrew (96a8a6) — 3/26/2010 @ 2:24 pmO’Keefe to Plead to Misdemeanor? – EricPWJohnson Hardest Hit.
daleyrocks (718861) — 3/26/2010 @ 2:30 pmNo, the one person more disappointed than the above asshats is our own EPW, who will shortly drop by and tell us all how he predicted exactly this denouement, no contest. Except that he didn’t.
Dmac (ca1d8c) — 3/26/2010 @ 2:32 pmWoah, something’s weird here – that last comment was mine.
Dmac
Dmac (ca1d8c) — 3/26/2010 @ 2:32 pmAlso, some reporting is INACCURATELY reporting that the “charges were reduced.”
In federal court, the charging document is either an Indictment or an Information — not a criminal complaint.
The criminal complaint’s only purpose is to establish district court jurisdiction by a showing of probable cause that a crime might have been committed for the purpose of issuing a warrant and to hold the subject in custody pending indictment, or establish conditions for release on bail.
So, to be accurate, O’Keefe and the other were never “charged” until today when the Information was filed. The fact that the Information charges them with a crime different than was set forth in the criminal complaint does not mean the charges were “Reduced.”
Shipwreckedcrew (96a8a6) — 3/26/2010 @ 2:37 pmdmac, it only says “you” to “you”. It says “comment by dmac” for the rest of us.
I can picture an angry Uncle Sam sternly pointing out which comments I have made in the future. Comment by YOU.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 3/26/2010 @ 2:37 pmyes/no. since this is a multiple defendant case and so flimsy it could be that one (or even three) of O’Keefe’s co-defendants may be planning to take a plea bargain but nothing can be known about O’Keefe’s decision. Personally, for political reasons, if I were O’Keefe I’d stick it out and argue that the conduct alleged does not raise to the legal requirement for false pretenses while if I were one of the co-defendants I’d take any reasonable plea. Given the paucity of case law on 18USC1036 there is nothing locking a court into deciding that the conduct fits or doesn’t fit the standards of false pretenses; usually, as a matter of law, for a false pretenses charge to stick requires some harm to the party deceived although this is uncertain with regards to entry under false pretenses instead of theft by false pretenses,- generally speaking, it is not a crime merely to lie as long as you don’t intend to harm people who rely upon your lie.
max (383bf5) — 3/26/2010 @ 2:51 pmMaybe they should charge every salesman and lobbyist that ever passed through the doors… also that lazy assed janitor who arrives under the pretense of working, but really just sits in the break room eating everyone elses food from the refrigerator while writing down some fiction on his timecard.
Steve G (7d4c78) — 3/26/2010 @ 3:10 pmDustin, thanks for the tip.
Dmac (ca1d8c) — 3/26/2010 @ 3:21 pmGuys with hardhats are a loser. A pretty girl in a super-mini is a winner. 😉
nk (db4a41) — 3/26/2010 @ 3:26 pm-_-
nk (db4a41) — 3/26/2010 @ 3:27 pmYes, Giles > O’Keefe, generally, but that’s blessing with faint criticism.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 3/26/2010 @ 3:32 pmPatterico – What are the details on the radio show you mentioned? Did that chickensh*t Friedman agree to appear or is he too embarrassed?
daleyrocks (718861) — 3/26/2010 @ 3:37 pmRefresh my memory… were they dressed in telephone repairmen costumes?
GeneralMalaise (cbc4cc) — 3/26/2010 @ 3:46 pmHolder must be on his way out. Otherwise he would have fixed this and asked for capital punishment.
daleyrocks (718861) — 3/26/2010 @ 3:57 pmYou may be right about the Holder’s “on the way out” thing, daleyrocks. But if one asks oneself how much longer the man (Obama) who’s thought by some to be so intelligent can put up with such an inept AG (Holder), one may be reminded (as I was) that Janet Reno remained firmly entrenched through one feeble-minded decision after another during the Clinton regime.
GeneralMalaise (cbc4cc) — 3/26/2010 @ 4:12 pmSo much for Watergate II: Electric Boogaloo, I reckon.
Techie (43d092) — 3/26/2010 @ 4:13 pmGeneral – Didn’t Hillary and Janet have a thing going on?
daleyrocks (718861) — 3/26/2010 @ 4:43 pmI’ll try to post later re the radio show but yes, Friedman pussed out. Apparently Larry O’Connor’s show is not “legit” because it is too partisan — unlike the Mike Malloy show I appeared on with him which is the epitome of fairness and balance.
He will take a few blows tonight.
Patterico (0b0812) — 3/26/2010 @ 5:01 pmGeneralMalaise, Reno survived so long while so inept because of Clinton’s own legal troubles that made them unwilling to go through a new confirmation hearing about an Attorney General where those issues would be the subject of questioning of the nominee.
At this point, Obama has no such exposure.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/26/2010 @ 5:04 pmOT a tad, but speaking of Breitbart, there’s an evenhanded look at him in Time… their go-to lefty critic of Breitbart is Eric Boehlert:
“The CPAC stuff was ugly,” says Eric Boehlert, who writes for the liberal website Media Matters for America. “He’s become known as the guy who yells at people in the halls. And his sites have little impact. The last time I looked, no one in the mainstream media had picked up the campaign Big Government has going against Obama’s education guy.”
*Who are these people who know him as the guy that yells in halls?
*What is his evidence that Breitbart’s sites have “little impact”? How does one measure this?
*So because he believes that a lack of MSM attention to Big Gov’t’s ‘campaign’ validates Breitbart’s irrelevance, the general public is to also assume that?
Shouldn’t someone whose livelihood involves media/media criticism, think more critically about this?
Dana (1e5ad4) — 3/26/2010 @ 5:05 pm“General – Didn’t Hillary and Janet have a thing going on?”
Comment by daleyrocks
Conjures quite a mental image… talk about the “beast with two backs”!
GeneralMalaise (cbc4cc) — 3/26/2010 @ 5:29 pmJD
Again with the total falsehoods – I said IF the word IF Breitbart had knowledge that O’keefe was going to do that stunt and O’Keefe was facing 10 years – andrew could be indicted if this turned out to be a serious stunt.
I still think that when they went into the GAO’s office and lied that they were repairmen that constituted a felony. They may have been unaware as to the security level of that building, this is true but Breitbart’s bombastic conduct and his weaseling about whether he knew about the stunt or if O’Keefe was an employee or not was posted.
BTW Allah Pundit and many others said the same things more or less that I did and after I mentioned it Andrew did finally shut up about the stunt itself and focused on the Acorn Tapes – which is fine – Acorn got totally what they deserved.
I wonder if community sevice vs imprisonment in Louisiana – which is better?
EricPWJohnson (d307e1) — 3/26/2010 @ 5:37 pmTrying to go back and rewrite your fatuous comments won’t work, EricPWJohnson.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/26/2010 @ 5:40 pmOT a tad, but speaking of Breitbart, there’s an evenhanded look at him in Time… their go-to lefty critic of Breitbart is Eric Boehlert:
While at the gym today I was listening to Larry O’Connor talking about that. I came home, saw Dana’s link, and clicked on it. Turns out the author of the piece is my pal Steve Oney. I had no idea.
I think it’s a pretty good piece. O’Connor mostly liked it too.
Patterico (c218bd) — 3/26/2010 @ 5:41 pmFox has cancelled “24” too. An angry week for conservatives. But then, David Frum knows the sting of that first hand.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 3/26/2010 @ 5:43 pmFox has cancelled “24″ too. An angry week for conservatives. But then, David Frum knows the sting of that first hand.
Thanks for the good news, DCSCA. 24 was definitely past expiration date!
Who knows what took place between Frum & AEI…certainly not you nor I…but at least it’s caused the deliciously witty Steyn to weigh in:
I’ve shared op-ed space with David in at least three countries. He’s a much smarter guy than I, and he’ll be around a lot longer. But there’s a strong sense of diminishing returns about these Frum flaps. David is becoming famous only for attacking fellow conservatives – Novak and Buchanan back in his end-to-evil days; then, Rush, Glenn, Sean and Sarah Palin; last weekend, it was Michelle Malkin for not mentioning his website by its name; and now AEI. At this rate, he’ll be picking fights with Barbara Bush by late spring.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 3/26/2010 @ 6:01 pmFox has cancelled “24″ too.
Oh, thank God. Talk about jumping the shark. Good news for conservatives everywhere who value smart writing, smart acting, and a well put together show. Past expiration date!
Who knows what took place between Frum & AEI…certainly not you nor I…but at least it’s caused the deliciously witty Steyn to weigh in:
I’ve shared op-ed space with David in at least three countries. He’s a much smarter guy than I, and he’ll be around a lot longer. But there’s a strong sense of diminishing returns about these Frum flaps. David is becoming famous only for attacking fellow conservatives – Novak and Buchanan back in his end-to-evil days; then, Rush, Glenn, Sean and Sarah Palin; last weekend, it was Michelle Malkin for not mentioning his website by its name; and now AEI. At this rate, he’ll be picking fights with Barbara Bush by late spring.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 3/26/2010 @ 6:01 pmFox has cancelled “24″ too. An angry week for conservatives. But then, David Frum knows the sting of that first hand.
Thanks for the good news, DCSCA. 24 was definitely past expiration date!
Who knows what took place between Frum & AEI…certainly not you nor I…but at least it’s caused the deliciously witty Steyn to weigh in:
I’ve shared op-ed space with David in at least three countries. He’s a much smarter guy than I, and he’ll be around a lot longer. But there’s a strong sense of diminishing returns about these Frum flaps. David is becoming famous only for attacking fellow conservatives – Novak and Buchanan back in his end-to-evil days; then, Rush, Glenn, Sean and Sarah Palin; last weekend, it was Michelle Malkin for not mentioning his website by its name; and now AEI. At this rate, he’ll be picking fights with Barbara Bush by late spring.
Dana (1e5ad4) — 3/26/2010 @ 6:03 pmEh, comment overkill… pushed the Submit button and nothing appeared (no You, no loading hourglass, nothing but a faded screen, pushed again… is this the new normal?)
Dana (1e5ad4) — 3/26/2010 @ 6:25 pmEricPW – when are you going to pay up on that bet? What in my comment above, was a falsehood?
JD (533be4) — 3/26/2010 @ 6:31 pmFrum’s wife does he husband no favors, by complaining about close mindedness in the Huff Po. I’ve found that Steyn has a much broader base of knowledge despite he’s an autodidact, and a self deprecating sense of humor, Then again, I’ve notice as the Grail Knight in “Last Crusade” has pointed our, that Frum has “chosen poorly”. His saving grace has been his continued support of Israel and Afghanistan, but we’ve seen that as a negotiable credential
ian cormac (349188) — 3/26/2010 @ 6:32 pmJust a reminder JD
“1.
Jody
I’d be the last person you’d want to say is defensive – Okeefe may go to jail for up to 10 years for what he did in New Orleans and hey – I’m more than okay with that
He’s a little racist turd who used child sex slavery as a topic to gain personal wealth and notoriety – not my favorite person – I have nothing against him but his conduct – he has to atone for that as we all do
Doesnt change what he uncovered – even someone has morally bankrupt and jaded as him must have been gobsmacked at the response he got from ACORN.
Doctored, edited or not – those tapes are some of the most disturbing footage ever in American Political History……………..
Comment by EricPWJohnson — 2/24/2010 @ 9:33 pm”
daleyrocks (718861) — 3/26/2010 @ 6:38 pmHuffpo is still calling it a “break-in” on their site. Pathetic.
Steve (6bd10f) — 3/26/2010 @ 6:42 pmThey are such…….. ugh.
And Patterico— let BradBlog go… he’s an insignificant bedwetter. We all know it. Move on…. I’m sick of hearing his name.
Seriously, wth are you talking about, O’Keefe knew how unethical ACORN had been, as it is the subject of 15-20 investigations into voter fraud, embezzlement et al. I don’t see how this particular
ian cormac (349188) — 3/26/2010 @ 7:04 pmcharge fits, put apparently Ahab in Massio (sic) seems to have labored to catch a guppy
#38. Who knows what took place between Frum & AEI…certainly not you nor I… Hmmm, David has shared his side of it for us all.
http://www.frumforum.com/so-what-happened
As to the cancellation of “24”, the trades note it was due to “a swelling budget, declining ratings and creative fatigue.” Symptoms Matalin and the Cheneys can well appreciate. They’ll get over it.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 3/26/2010 @ 7:14 pmDCSCA – Various AEI scholars have weighed in to label Frum’s version complete self-serving BS, which fits with Frum’s persona. I’ll leave it up to readers to decide.
daleyrocks (718861) — 3/26/2010 @ 7:30 pmHe’s a little racist turd who used child sex slavery as a topic to gain personal wealth and notoriety – not my favorite person – I have nothing against him but his conduct – he has to atone for that as we all do
You’re truly a caricature of a person who allegedly has worthwhile things to say – go take your faux sense of moral outrage somewhere else, where it will be so much more appreciated. Media Nutters is looking for a few good fake conservatives, why don’t you give them a call?
You sanctimonious, duplicitous twit.
Dmac (ca1d8c) — 3/26/2010 @ 7:41 pmdscsa, did you like REALLY like 24 or something? You seem absolutely obsessed with the show. No one on the right seems to even care about it.
I guess Jeanine Garafolo just can’t help but destroy anything she touches.
Frum is to the right of many people still at AEI, and much of what he’s said has been proven false. Go to AEI and see for yourself that they have plenty of moderates. Frum is just lazy. That explains why he bashes Rush… it’s simple and requires no work.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 3/26/2010 @ 7:59 pmDana,
It’s not the new normal. They are still working on the website.
DRJ (daa62a) — 3/26/2010 @ 8:07 pmI think last season, it really ‘jumped the shark’ with the same hackneyed portrayal of a Blackwater
ian cormac (349188) — 3/26/2010 @ 8:08 pmlike organization, as the ‘tentacle of Ctuthlu’
or something to that effect
Eric – that was not what I asked. You bet someone 10 to 1 odds that Breitbart would be indicted. That thing you posted had nothing to do with that.
JD (506f9c) — 3/26/2010 @ 8:12 pmPatterico, Blogging Superstar 9:00 p.m. Pacific
PATRICK FREY (Patterico), famed blogger will join LARRY O’CONNOR for an in-depth interview on the bankruptcy and collapse of ACORN and the left-media’s complete mis-handling of the story.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stage-right
daleyrocks (718861) — 3/26/2010 @ 8:27 pm“…O’Keefe, a videographer famous for wearing a pimp costume in a stunt that embarrassed the ACORN community organizing group…”
– Michael Kunzelman (on Breitbart’s site; it’s from the linked article)
If Brad Friedman is being intellectually dishonest when he claims that O’Keefe never “posed” as a pimp (which he is, I would say), what does that make Kunzelman when he implies (as he does above) that O’Keefe actually wore the pimp costume to the ACORN offices? It’s a point that’s been parsed thoroughly enough that you think a person posting on Breitbart’s site would choose his words more carefully. Unless he wanted to imply that O’Keefe actually did wear the pimp costume to the ACORN offices. Which he didn’t.
Do you see what I’m saying?
Leviticus (30ac20) — 3/26/2010 @ 9:27 pmSo. . .he’s pleading guilty to what he self-admittedly does: entering places under false pretenses? Wow–I can see how the moonbats will view this as a major victory.
Mr. O’Keefe might want to take this to heart, though: it *is* illegal to lie about your reasons for entering certain locations–don’t give your enemies a free shot at you, even if they’re stupid and incompetent.
M. Scott Eiland (c552ec) — 3/26/2010 @ 9:36 pmAbout what I expected after all. Listen Morton Blackwell, stop knee-jerk apologizing all the time.
To Gawker Media (shuttup, a blog war would increase traffic) all I can say is “Told you so”
Jeff Barea (eff5e1) — 3/26/2010 @ 10:52 pmHere’s my suggestion for O’Keefe and his attorney’s:
Plead something in latin that means, “I am not admitting guilt, but I have better things to do (like expose government corruption) than argue with you folks about this”. Then state you will accept 6 months of house arrest in Polanski’s Swiss chalet (without polanski in it), funded out of Landrieu’s slush fund. It would be a better use of undesignated TARP funds than many other things.
MD in Philly (59a3ad) — 3/27/2010 @ 10:44 am