Published: Saturday, January 12, 2008
Senator appeals ruling on his plea
Larry Craig says he was only picking up tissue from the floor.
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, won't give up the fight. In the latest round of legal maneuvering to clear his name in a Minneapolis airport sex sting, Craig asked the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Tuesday to reverse a lower court's decision preventing him from withdrawing his guilty plea to disorderly conduct.
Craig invoked many of the same arguments he has used before: he's innocent, was pressured by airport police to cop a plea, and is a "dedicated public servant who continues to serve the people of Idaho with honor and distinction."
But he also says in a 27-page brief that he couldn't have violated Minnesota's public disorder law because the law "requires that the conduct at issue have a tendency to alarm or anger 'others' " -- plural. And he alarmed or angered just one cop.
The brief said Craig's guilty plea failed to support the legal definition of disorderly conduct as "offensive, obscene, abusive, boisterous or noisy." Craig only quietly tapped his foot and passed his hand under the bathroom stall partition, which undercover Sgt. Dave Karsnia took as a well-known gesture by those soliciting sex. Craig said he was picking up tissue off the floor.
The state of Minnesota has 45 days to respond to Craig, who has decided to keep his Senate seat until his term ends next January.
Craig invoked many of the same arguments he has used before: he's innocent, was pressured by airport police to cop a plea, and is a "dedicated public servant who continues to serve the people of Idaho with honor and distinction."
But he also says in a 27-page brief that he couldn't have violated Minnesota's public disorder law because the law "requires that the conduct at issue have a tendency to alarm or anger 'others' " -- plural. And he alarmed or angered just one cop.
The brief said Craig's guilty plea failed to support the legal definition of disorderly conduct as "offensive, obscene, abusive, boisterous or noisy." Craig only quietly tapped his foot and passed his hand under the bathroom stall partition, which undercover Sgt. Dave Karsnia took as a well-known gesture by those soliciting sex. Craig said he was picking up tissue off the floor.
The state of Minnesota has 45 days to respond to Craig, who has decided to keep his Senate seat until his term ends next January.
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