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Eye On Boise

Craig’s motion: He panicked over newspaper investigation

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig has filed a 39-page motion to withdraw his guilty plea in Minnesota to misdemeanor charges stemming from a restroom sex solicitation sting, and is requesting that the court hear oral arguments on the motion. Prominent in Craig’s motion is his concern over the Idaho Statesman newspaper’s months-long investigation into charges raised last year by a blogger that Craig had engaged in homosexual sex. The paper hadn’t published anything as a result of the investigation. Then, the motion details, Craig was arrested in a men’s room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.

“Despite Sen. Craig’s denial of any inappropriate behavior, he was panicked that such allegations would be made public and that they would provide The Idaho Statesman with an excuse to publish its baseless article. While in this state of intense anxiety, Senator Craig felt compelled to grasp the lifeline offered to him by the police officer; namely that if he were to submit to an interview and plead guilty, then none of the officer’s allegations would be made public.”

The motion, filed in Hennepin County District Court in Minnesota, says “it would be manifestly unjust not to allow his guilty plea, entered in a state of fear, to be withdrawn.”

Click here to read the full text of Craig's motion.



Eye On Boise

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