Source: St. Paul Pioneer-Press
The undercover police officer who busted U.S. Sen. Larry Craig in a gay-sex sting in an airport bathroom stall couldn't have been offended by the senator's notorious foot-tapping -- after all, the officer invited the action by tapping his own foot, lawyers for the congressman said in a brief filed Tuesday.
Those lawyers also contend the Idaho Republican should have his guilty plea to a disorderly conduct charge thrown out because what he did last June wasn't a crime. The reason: The state's disorderly conduct statute says the conduct in question has to alarm or anger others -- plural -- and Craig's actions affected just the undercover officer.
"In short, the facts here simply do not constitute the crime of disorderly conduct," the lawyers wrote in a 96-page brief. "The conduct ... viewed in its worst light, does not rise to the level of disorderly as that conduct is contemplated under Minnesota law."
Despite Craig's voluntary guilty plea, if the facts don't support the charge, the plea is inaccurate and should be thrown out, the brief contends.
The filing with the Minnesota Court of Appeals is the latest in what has become perhaps the biggest misdemeanor case in Minnesota court history. Lawyers representing Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, which is prosecuting the case, have a month to file their reply.
But Patrick Hogan, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, was ready with a non-legal reply.
"Facts are resilient, and Sen. Craig's continued transparent efforts to escape them don't change the truth of his behavior in an airport restroom, or the fact that he admitted guilt last August," said Hogan.
Craig's Minnesota legal saga began June 11 at a layover at the airport. He went into the men's room in the Northstar Crossing and, according to undercover police Sgt. Dave Karsnia, the senator engaged in several foot tapping and hand motions - and some furtive eye movements - routinely used by men soliciting gay sex.
Craig was in one stall, and Karsnia was in the stall next to him. Their feet touched. The officer said Craig swiped his left hand under the stall divider three times, with his palm facing upward, a motion the officer said was a clandestine signal used by men seeking sex.
The officer responded by displaying his badge under the divider, which prompted Craig to cry out, "No!" The senator exited the stall and was escorted to the airport police office. Craig pulled out his Senate business card there, showed it to the officer, and said, "What do you think of that?"
Craig was charged with one count of "interference with privacy," a gross misdemeanor, as well as misdemeanor disorderly conduct. In proceedings done via phone calls and mail, Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and paid $575 in fines, and the state dropped the privacy charge.
In late August, Roll Call, a newspaper on Capitol Hill, published a story about the arrest and guilty plea.
When his case became public, Craig responded by saying he had "overreacted and made a poor decision" by pleading guilty.
"Let me be clear: I am not gay and never have been," he told reporters. He went on to blame his plea on a newspaper, the Idaho Statesman, which had been investigating his sex life.
Full article: TwinCities.com - Craig's new defense: The cop started it