Balducci pleads guilty

The suspense about whether Tim Balducci is cooperating with prosecutors in the Scruggs scandal is over. He is. Balducci changed his plea from not guilty to guilty last night (note the date of the filing, although this was not on PACER when I checked it late last night -- interesting timing, coming just hours after his arraignment at 1:50 p.m. December 4 where he pleaded not guilty). Click here to see the plea agreement. You may also want to note that the arraignment was not held in Oxford before Magistrate Judge Allan Alexander, like the other defendants, but rather in Aberdeen before Magistrate Judge Jerry Davis -- perhaps Alexander was busy, perhaps there is another explanation why the arraignment was held in a place that is almost two hours away from Oxford. [UPDATE: I'm told by