Legal News

Larry Craig?s Plea to Withdraw Guilty Plea Denied, Again

By Dan Slater

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, takes the oath of office during a mock swearing in ceremony in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 7, 2003. (AP/Evan Vucci)

Remember Larry Craig, the U.S. Senator who was caught in 2007 in an airport bathroom sting operation? How could you not. Sgt. Dave Karsnia was in a stall and said Craig peered in for more than two minutes from three feet away. When the next stall opened, Craig went in and then tapped his foot and waved his hand under the stall - behavior indicative of an interest in a sexual encounter, a complaint filed against Craig said. Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.

Craig tried to withdraw his guilty plea, but Minnesota judge Charles Porter, a member of the Law Blog Moustache Society, found Craig had entered the guilty plea “accurately, voluntarily and intelligently” and that it was too late to withdraw his admission.

Lawyers for the Idaho Republican gave it another shot at the state Court of Appeals. But, back in September, we noted that the three-judge panel appeared skeptical of Craig’s appeal. Indeed, today the court denied his appeal on the grounds that the court should’ve allowed him to withdraw his mail-in guilty plea. The court also rejected Craig’s claim that the state’s disorderly conduct statute is unconstitutionally overbroad. Here’s a report from the Minneapolis StarTrib.

The court also wasn’t buying Craig’s First Amendment argument. Even if Craig’s “foot-tapping and the movement of his foot toward the undercover officer’s stall are considered speech, they would be intrusive speech directed at a captive audience and the government may prohibit them,” Chief Judge Ed Toussaint reportedly wrote in the opinion.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on December 09, 2008 (boomark / email).