Sen. Craig Files To Withdraw Guilty Plea

Idaho Republican Says He Was Under Extreme Stress From Reporters

(AP)  Sen. Larry Craig filed court papers Monday seeking to withdraw his guilty plea in an airport sex sting, arguing that he entered the plea under stress caused by media inquiries into his sexuality.

Craig, an Idaho Republican, pleaded guilty in August to disorderly conduct following his June arrest in a sting operation in a men's bathroom at the Minneapolis airport. A police report alleged that Craig had solicited sex from a male officer at the airport, which the senator has denied.

In a "state of intense anxiety" following his arrest, Craig "felt compelled to grasp the lifeline offered to him by the police officer" and plead guilty to the disorderly conduct charge in hopes the matter would not be made public, said the court papers filed in Hennepin County District Court.

The filing said Craig panicked and accepted the plea rather than seeking the advice of an attorney. As a result, Craig's guilty plea was not "knowingly and understandingly made," and the evidence against him insufficient to support the plea, the papers said.

Craig's attorney, William Martin, cited pressure from Craig's hometown newspaper, the Idaho Statesman, which spent months investigating whether Craig engaged in homosexual encounters. Craig has denied such suggestions and accused the newspaper of conducting a "witch hunt."

When his guilty plea became public, Craig came under intense pressure from Senate Republican leaders and other colleagues in Washington to resign. He first announced he would resign Sept. 30, then said he was reconsidering that decision. A spokesman later said Craig had dropped virtually all notions of trying to finish his third term, unless a court moves quickly to overturn the conviction, unlikely before the end of the month.

---

Sen. Craig Files For Dismissal Of Bathroom Guilty Plea
Police Report On Bathroom Arrest of Sen. Larry Craig

---

Patrick Hogan, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which runs the airport and handled the prosecution of the case, said the prosecutor will oppose Craig's motion.

"We do feel we have a strong case, and he's already made his plea, and it's been accepted by the court," Hogan said. "From our standpoint, this is already a done deal. Mr. Craig was arrested and signed a guilty plea, and from our standpoint, this case is already over."

Craig's three-page guilty plea includes acknowledgments that, "I understand that the court will not accept a plea of guilty from anyone who claims to be innocent," "I now make no claim that I am innocent...," and, "I did the following: Engaged in conduct which I knew or should have known tended to arouse alarm or resentment ... ." Craig signed the bottom of each page.

Craig was sentenced to pay $575 in fines and fees and was put on unsupervised probation for a year, with a stayed 10-day jail sentence.

To reverse his guilty plea Craig would have to convince a judge that there was a "manifest injustice" in case. Often that includes sentences that were harsher than the one anticipated in the plea bargain, but that didn't happen in Craig's case. Legal experts have said such motions are rarely brought, and when they are they are rarely successful.

Motions to withdraw a guilty plea are usually heard by the same judge who heard the original case, usually at least two weeks after they're requested, court officials have said.

In exchange for Craig's plea, the prosecutor dropped a gross misdemeanor charge of interference to privacy. If he is allowed to withdraw his guilty plea, the prosecutor would have the option to re-file the dropped gross misdemeanor interference with privacy charge, which stemmed from an allegation that Craig peered into the bathroom stall occupied by the undercover police officer.

A conviction on that gross misdemeanor charge could bring a jail sentence of up to a year, although it would be unusual for a defendant to receive the maximum sentence.

Many Republicans have urged Craig to say for sure that he will resign. That would spare the party an ethics dilemma and the embarrassment of dealing with a colleague who had been stripped of his committee leadership posts. It also would negate the need for a Senate ethics committee investigation, which GOP leaders had requested.

[hwk_i67]

There''s a new one-"The media made me do it!" lol

What a buffoon. Bye Sen. Craig. We''ll be looking for you on Oprah touting your new book in the next few months.

[toldyouso21]

Craig cites what caused him to plead guilty as Press Stress--yet he offers no explanation for why he committed those acts in the Men''s room in the first place. Was it another kind of ''stress'' or some other odd ''urge''.

The key here isn''t that Craig was caught out--but that he wants a chance to wiggle out of the conviction, while never denying the actions. I imagine most drug dealers, prostitutes, gang bangers, pedophiles, drunks, murderers and thieves would like a do over for their convictions too--and I bet their stress factors for copping a plea could trump Craigs any day of any week.

[blitzder]

Party of GOPhers, sicko''s, killed 4000 US soldiers, another 40 thousand maimed and injured for a fanatic nut, who still laughs at us on TV. And the GOP Warmongers sit in toilets for a gay perverted quickie. Seems fitting for this bunch, Bush, Cheney, Foley, Haggard, the Neo-cons, thats where all of them belong, in the latrines of the world.

[lastdance2]

RE : lars008

Get off the Net

Lastdance

[lars008-2009]

THE CONTINUING SAGA OF DEMONIC-RAT CHINAGATE 2

HSU A NO HSU AT HEARING%u2026 LOL

Democratic Donor a No Show at Hearing
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070906/D8RFKG500.html
Dems Dirty Donor Norman Hsu Fails to Show for Bail Reduction Hearing Leading to Speculation He''s On the Run
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295828,00.html
china buys usa elections???
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=chinese+campaign contributions democrat
Big Source of Clinton''s Cash Is an Unlikely Address
Family''s Donations Closely Track Those Of Top Fund-Raiser
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118826947048110677.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news
Report: Hillary Clinton Big Money Donor Wanted for Grand Theft
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Hillary Clinton Big Money Donor Wanted for Grand Theft&btnG=Search
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,295031,00.html
Leading Clinton Donor Stays Below the Radar
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118835199704811801.html?mod=blog
''DIRTY CASH'' MAN FLEES
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03042007/news/nationalnews/pro_clinton_dirty_cash_man_flees_nationalnews_christine_field.htm

[socrates392]

Posted by lars008 at 11:17 PM : Sep 10, 2007

Lars008, the demonic rats are coming for you! They are circling your house. They will eat you unless you stop posting your hack cut-n-paste spam on CBS News. Quickly, throw your computer out the window. Never connect to the internet again. It is your only hope!

[lucasnico]

lars....way to stay on subject.
maybe we could take a whole page to list all of the republican *** scandals in the past year... nothing like family values!

[lars008-2009]

CHINES OWN DEMONIC-RATS AND BUY THEM THE ELECTIONS!!!

The tale of shady Chinese Clinton donors avoiding U.S. justice is a familiar one that dates back to the 1996 Clinton-Gore fundraising scandal known as Chinagate. The Clintons took millions in laundered foreign campaign donations from Chinese Communists in exchange for liberalizing trade policy with China, dropping pending indictments against influential Chinese figures, spots on a U.S. trade mission and overnight stays at the White House.

Many of the Chinagate donors were successfully prosecuted even though Clinton Attorney General Janet Reno blocked investigators%u2019 efforts at the Justice Department. More than 100 people connected to the fundraising scandal fled the country, however. Norman Hsu seems to be following their lead.
http://www.corruptionchronicles.com/2007/09/hillary_donor_flees_like_china.html

[name_verify]

If Craig is able to clear his name on a technicality, and he might, most conservatives dont want this guy to run for re-election. He is "odd".

[socrates392]

The problem with the f@gots is that they are mentally mixed up. They are out of touch with reality and reason.

What is clearly illogical for the sound of mind is makes a lot of ''''sense'''' to their warped minds of the perverted, deviant, and mixed up homos.
Posted by Agnim at 09:23 PM : Sep 10, 2007

Anyone who hates "homos" this much is probably pretty mixed up themselves. Where does your hatred of *** come from, Agnim? Are you trying to hide something? If I had to guess, I''d bet you''re writing from a closet somewhere . . . or maybe a bathroom stall! LOL!