Craig lawyers argue to overturn plea in *** sting
Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, seeking to wipe away an embarrassing criminal
conviction in an air****t men's room *** sting, put his hope Wednesday
in the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
By BRIAN BAKST
Associated Press Writer
ST. PAUL, Minn. =97
Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, seeking to wipe away an embarrassing criminal
conviction in an air****t men's room *** sting, put his hope Wednesday
in the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
An attorney for the retiring Republican argued that he should be able
to withdraw a misdemeanor disorderly conduct plea he quietly entered
last year following an arrest during a flight layover. The attorney,
Billy Martin, told the three-judge panel that Craig's behavior was
"as
consistent with innocence as it is with guilt."
The appeals court has 90 days to issue a ruling, which means it will
come before Craig leaves the Senate. After initially saying he would
resign after the incident became public, Craig decided to remain in
the Senate until his term ends this January.
A district court judge refused to invalidate the plea last year,
prompting the appeal.
Craig didn't appear at the St. Paul court building where oral
arguments were held, and the only time his name was mentioned was
when
the lead judge announced the case.
On the senator's behalf, Martin described the encounter in the
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Air****t bathroom in which Craig
first stood outside an occupied stall and then made allegedly
suggestive motions from an adjacent stall.
Martin refuted the conclusions of an undercover police officer
conducting a sting of men cruising for gay ***. The officer said
Craig
peered inside his stall, tapped a foot next to his and swiped a hand
beneath the divider - all invitations for a desired ***ual encounter.
Craig's fidgety behavior, Martin said, was merely reflective of a man
"anxious to go to the bathroom." He attacked the disorderly conduct
law, saying it requires "others" to be affected and not just one
person.
Prosecutor Christopher Renz rebutted each of Martin's arguments and
concluded that the record shows Craig committed "multiple
instrusions"
of another person's private space. Craig's decision to loiter outside
the occupied stall was part of a pattern, Renz said.
"Upon one check it's occupied," Renz told the court. "You can wait
until the stall is open."
Martin also took aim at the mail-in guilty plea bearing Craig's
signature and said a judge should have determined whether there was a
sufficient basis for arrest before permitting the senator to enter
the
plea.
Judge Thomas Kalitowski pointedly asked whether Craig lost his chance
to contest the arrest on the record by going through the long-
distance
plea process.
"Didn't appellant waive the right to a colloquy when he signed the
form?" Kalitowski asked, going on to imply that Craig "waived his
right to appear. He waived his right to speak."
After the hearing, Martin told re****ters that Craig's position
shouldn't hamper his ability to clear his name.
"We would hope that the fact here that the case involves a sitting
United States senator would make it no different than a case
involving
an average citizen," he said. "Every citizen deserves the protection
of our laws."
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