The criminal case of King County Assessor Scott Noble is about to come to an end today. (A civil case may yet begin, depending on what his victims want to do.) Noble, as you may recall, got busted in January for making a U-turn on the freeway and crashing into a car with two women, who got injured. He registered a .22 blood alcohol level–nearly three times the legal limit.Today he’ll be pleading guilty to one count of vehicular assault. As part of the plea, he’ll be stepping down from his job (which he’d have to do anyway, as he can’t hold it after being convicted of a felony) and will serve his time in a county jail rather than a state prison. After Noble hired high-profile attorney John Wolfe, I checked in with local defense attorney Dan Fiorito (who does a lot of DUI cases) to ask about Wolfe’s strategy. Offering to resign, Fiorito said, might be Noble’s biggest bargaining chip. Fiorito’s thoughts today:”It doesn’t seem that out of the ordinary, especially considering the fact that he is entering this plea so early on in the process. From the state’s perspective, it is pretty straightforward. You remove an embarrassing situation for the Assessor’s Office from the headlines and move on. Noble has a felony on his record and will serve time. He will most likely voluntarily resign from office avoiding the awkwardness of a drawn out removal process. By accepting responsibility early, Noble probably maximized whatever leniency the State was willing to offer to him.”Like Ron Sims–who left his position mid-term under much prouder circumstances–Noble may be succeeded by his next-in-command, his chief deputy Richard Medved, who tells the Seattle Times he’ll run for assessor. Port of Seattle Commissioner Lloyd Hara says he’s also mulling a run.Update: It’s official.