Embattled Sen. Mark Udall prides himself on his record of environmentalism (even above and beyond what his constituents want).  So, that’s why we laughed when we exclusively obtained documents pertaining to Udall being charged with littering. Right about the time he started with Outward Bound in 1985, he was cited in Boulder (of course) for allegedly leaving “two or more items of litter on public property.” His lawyer asked for the case to be dismissed through six months of deferred prosecution.

Hang on.

Mark Udall had a lawyer for a littering charge?  We should all be so privileged.

Luckily he did. The lawyer helped him come up with the deferred prosecution scheme.  Here’s how it works.

Mark Udall would have admitted guilt to the judge and prosecutor, but instead of entering a guilty plea into the system, with the crime subsequently appearing on his criminal record, he was given the opportunity to complete what is essentially a probation period. Under deferred adjudication, if the probation period is completed without any problems, the prosecutor’s office dismisses the case as if it never happened and the guilty plea disappears, but if you screw up, the guilty plea is already entered and he would have been sentenced for the crime without any plea deal per the judge’s discretion.

Of course, a littering charge won’t make or break a campaign, but the charge is good for a laugh at Udall’s hypocrisy.  The environmentalist working for an para-environmental organization who littered and who was so privileged that he hired a lawyer to get him off.  Oh, this is just delicious.

See the rest of the documents here.