Charles Wendell Colson was the chief counsel for President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1973 and while he was commonly named as one of the Watergate Seven, he was never charged with, or prosecuted, for any crime related to the Watergate break-in or its cover-up. After extensively investigating Colson's activities relating to Watergate, Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski attempted to make a deal with Colson in which Colson would agree to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge relating to Watergate, in exchange for which Jaworski agreed to recommend that he not be sentenced to prison. Colson's conscience would not let him plead guilty to a crime he did not commit. Instead, Colson counter-offered. Colson told Jaworski that he would agree to plead guilty to the crime of obstruction of justice, not in relation to Watergate, but in relation to the planning of the break-in at the office of Daniel Elsberg's psychiatrist. This was a crime of which Jaworski had no knowledge. Colson insisted also that Jaworski would not be constrained to recommend no prison time. At the sentencing, Judge Sirica sentenced Colson to the maximum prison term permitted under federal law.