This afternoon at the federal courthouse in downtown Seattle, Charles Alan Wilson, 64, pleaded guilty to leaving a string of irate voice mails for U.S. Senator Patty Murray around the time that health care reform was signed into law earlier this year, telling Murray "there's a target on your back now" and saying things such as: "There's people gonna come at you with fucking both fucking barrels, bitch. You fucking Pike Street whore."

Under the terms of Wilson's plea agreement, the U.S. Attorney's office will not ask for him to be sentenced to more than 30 months in prison for threatening a federal official, the specific crime to which he pleaded guilty today. (In order to prevent the threatening voice messages from being read aloud in court, Wilson also affirmed today, via stipulation, that the government had correctly transcribed his invective.)

The maximum sentence for the crime of threatening a federal official is normally 36 months in prison and a $250,000 fine. And, in fact, a federal judge could still give Wilson that maximum sentence; the 30-month-maximum deal only covers the actions of the U.S. Attorney and Wilson.

A retired carpenter from Selah, just outside of Yakima, Wilson has been having weekly counseling sessions, and has been under electronic monitoring and a home curfew between the hours of 6 p.m. and 8 a.m., ever since being arrested for threatening Murray in April. Judge James P. Donahue today allowed for that curfew to be loosened slightly so that Wilson can provide early-morning assistance to a friend who owns a car wash, and also have dinner with his neighbors in the early evening. But Judge Donahue demanded that the electronic monitoring continue.

Wilson's sentencing hearing is now set for Oct. 8.