Court Grants Senator Craig Hearing On Taking Back Guilty Plea

A Minnesota court on Tuesday granted U.S. Sen. Larry Craig a hearing on his request to let him take back the guilty plea he made after his arrest in a men's room sex sting.

The Hennepin County District Court said the hearing would be held on September 26 at a courthouse in Edina, a town near Minneapolis -- just days before the September 30 deadline the Idaho Republican set for himself to resign if his name is not cleared.

Read the whole story: Reuters

Comments

[willfarnaby]

03:17 PM on 09/12/2007

REPUBLICAN n., cf. NAZI, PERVERT, CRIMINAL

[Crozier]

03:04 PM on 09/12/2007

My puzzlement with the Craig incident is why the police undercover sting did not require some overt sexual behaviours - erection and masturbation - an invitation to fellate or be fellated - and anal intercourse?

I suppose that the MSP airport bathroom in question did not have a hole at eye level on the partition? I assume that Mr. Craig had a wide stance to suggest masturbation or actual masturbation? Do you think that much of this activity was expunged in order to lessen his culpability?

Do you suppose that he is now required to lie further to save his marriage and his future reputation?

I tend to believe this.

In most states, I understand, the latter two would have increased the penalty to a felony class.

If this is pursued, how long before Larry Flynt gets the real goods on this self-loathing individual.

[ornery]

03:28 PM on 09/12/2007

Don't rule out the possibility they have him on video from this arrest, and possibly from earlier "stopovers".

[magen]

02:54 PM on 09/12/2007

Since when can a plea be "taken back"?

Who's this "judge"?

[IMPRISONBUSH]

02:25 PM on 09/12/2007

WILL HE HAVE TO FACE CHARGES OF THE CRIME HE WAS ARRESTED FOR ( SOLISTING SEX IN A MENS ROOM AIRPORT ) , IF NOT ITS ALL A FIX.
AND WILL SHOW THERE ARE TWO SETS OF LAWS AND THAT RELIGOUS CRIME GROUPS ARE JUST AS BIG AS CRINIBAL GROUPS ARE.

[autodefensa]

01:29 PM on 09/12/2007

Some commenters mistakenly assume that only gay men engage in restroom sex acts:


"Imagining that closeted gay men are the only ones involved in bathroom sex is naive, since it assumes that homosexual acts are synonymous with homosexual identity, which is silly....There's an age-old phenomenon known as 'trade,' an exchange between two men, at least one of whom is ostensibly heterosexual, in which the recipient of a blow job or the active partner in anal sex can walk away from his hanky-panky with plausible deniability. In other words, he can console himself with the belief that he is 'not gay,' because for some reason (misogyny, let's say) a lot of men think that whoever gets penetrated is 'the woman,' or more womanlike."

--James Hannaham, "Why bathroom sex is hot"

[autodefensa]

12:50 PM on 09/12/2007

One commenter on a previous thread wrote:

"This straight man does not accept blowjobs from any man, period. I also believe I am typical of most straight men."

If what he wrote is true, we're talking about a problem that is social, not individual.

A mouth is a mouth. Mouths don't have genders.

If puritanical men would loosen up and accept blowjobs from any consensual mouth, we could alleviate all the following social problems:

pornography
prostitution
sex trafficking
child molestation
rape

[davy]

07:59 AM on 09/12/2007

He better just slink away.

[Crozier]

07:13 AM on 09/12/2007

It seems that Senator Vitter will be outed for more prostitutional antics of the heterosexual variety according to Larry Flynt....the hypocrisy buster.

No, don't worry. The Regime needs Joseph Lieberman holding the balance of power in the US Senate. Vitter's seat is safe from a resignation and Democratic replacement by the Democratic governor.

Craig's case !!! The spin is clear. Ready, set and start repeating.

Senator Craig is a decent, God-fearing, heterosexually not, not gay, not gay, not gay man.

These calumnies from homosexual bathroom prostitutes in Washington DC, Minneapolis MN and Boise ID are all lies against this pious man with a wide stance and a cleanliness fetish with his ring finger hand.

Homosexuality is a sin and a choice and should again be a crime. Senator Craig is an opponent of the homosexual agenda and this valiant innocent man was the victim of liberal media types intent on destroying the reputation of this fine Christian man.

Although this heterosexual Republican majority love, love, love, Larry and his family, we feel that he should resign for the good of the party and the ability of another god-fearing and loving man to take his seat in the Senate.

[RecklessAbandonArteest]

03:25 AM on 09/12/2007

Well... this story should be kept alive, or resurrect itself, at least until September 26 when the hearing takes place.

The Judge will have the hearing on that day and then he or she has a time certain within which to make a decision.

Most judges take about two to four weeks to make a ruling [fed judges have no deadlines, they can take months to make a decision].

So that takes us into mid or the end of October when the sheet will hit the fan, again.

This story is just not going to go away.

And if Craig appeals the trial court's decision that will keep the story in the news through 2008.

Woot.

[RogerHWerner]

12:14 AM on 09/12/2007

Let me get this straight...

Larry Craig, an experienced US Senator, a man who has lived his life under pressure...a man who is purportedly innocent of any changes of misconduct in a Minneapolis men's room. This guy "cracked" under the pressure of an airport cop and a not very experienced one at that? Shit, it wasn't like he froze up at Heathrow or Ben Gurion airports, where the police and security give one cause to stress out but at the airport in Minneapolis. Oh brother what a crock of shit that is. Craig plead guilty to the lesser charge because he was likely doing something would be viewed as immoral by his supporters and he hoped to dodge the problem by a disorderly conduct charge.

Whatever, Craig is doing his party a disservice by helping the opposition party...let's keep GOP hypocrisy in the limelight for as long as we can. Goodness knows that the Idaho and or the national press will dig up on this guy: He has all but declared himself a political sitting duck.

[RecklessAbandonArteest]

12:02 AM on 09/12/2007

You know, judges are human too. They like their 15 minutes of fame just as much as anyone.

If I were the judge deciding to undo the plea I'd be real tempted to reverse it because then there would be an OJ or Michael Jackson media spectacle trial.

Exciting "trial of the century" events rarely, if never, happen in one's legal career, including time on the bench.

So I bet the judges in that Court are really tempted to reverse the plea so to put their little court on the map.

I suspect the local businesses in that town also would love to see the Craig matter go to trial. Talk about an infusion of cash into the economy.

[JackNasty]

11:54 PM on 09/11/2007

Before this is over, Larry Craig will be explaining to us how by use of a legal petition, he can unsuck a little soldier.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

11:36 PM on 09/11/2007

Is this a done deal?

Will the guilty plea be set aside so that the case can ultimately be dismissed?

Think not?

Consider this. Do Republicans have no influence over how judges rule in Minnesota?

After all, the Republicans deliberately selected Minnesota for their convention.

And, those in the Minnesota prosecutor's office as well as those in the judicial system know that a lot of Republican dollars are going to be spent now and during the convention.

[speakingtruth2power]

10:57 PM on 09/11/2007

I hope Craig drags this farce out for months and forces the GOP to kick him out or admit their acceptance of the gay lifestyle.

[barrycourage]

12:34 AM on 09/12/2007

Restroom sex isn't "the gay lifestyle."

Just like mass murdering isn't "the straight lifestyle."

[Crozier]

02:53 PM on 09/12/2007

Why is it difficult, unlike we Canadians, to understand that the expression is psychosexual orientation. It is a fixed and normative state for those attracted to the same sex on all levels of conjugality.

Lifestyle is a chosen way to live. It speaks to socio-economic choices based on a variety of categories, including education and environment, for example.

Why? The rightwingnuts use the term "homosexual" to lock in that you divorce sexuality from love and commitment...and you use "orientation" to imply that a fixed sexual orientation is a choice to behave abnormally in contradiction to all scientific opinion.

[Qbear]

09:35 PM on 09/11/2007

Larry,
When Mitch McConnell says you have to get out of the Senate, Larry, "say who you callin' queer...queer?"