What Larry Craig should have done: Plead not guilty

A recent court case demonstrates that Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, should have pleaded not guilty to charges of disorderly conduct when he was arrested in the restroom at a Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport restroom in June 2007. 

A Minneapolis man was arrested the same month in the same restroom after responding to the same advances — an undercover officer’s foot-tapping. He was acquitted by a jury last week.

Craig has been trying to get his guilty plea withdrawn using the same argument lawyers for the Minneapolis man used to clear him of charges.

Defense lawyer Jeffrey Dean argued that the officer’s actions started the communication “which led to my client finally doing what the officer communicated my client to do, which was look into his stall, at which point they arrested him. We feel that that is misconduct and abusive and this would’ve never happened had the police never started all of this,” Dean told the Pioneer Press.

Craig’s lawyers are seeking an appeal to a Hennepin County District Court ruling denying Craig’s request to have his guilty plea withdrawn.