Craig Moves to Retract Guilty Plea

Strategy could delay resignation and stave off ethics probe
By Colleen Barry,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 10, 2007 3:17 AM CDT
Craig Moves to Retract Guilty Plea
Boise, Idaho residents Cassandra White, left, and her mother Kristy White, hold up signs at a news conference where Idaho Sen. Larry Craig announced his plans to resign from the Senate on Saturday morning, Sept. 1, 2007, at the old Boise Depot train station overlooking downtown Boise. (AP Photo/Troy...   (Associated Press)

Toe-tapping Senator Larry Craig will file a motion today to retract his guilty plea to charges linked to allegedly soliciting sex in a public men's room. Minnesota law allows convicts to recant pleas if they can prove they were not intelligently made, but such strategies rarely succeed. The legal proceedings could delay Craig's scheduled Sept. 30 retirement and stave off an investigation by the Senate ethics committee.

Craig's camp hasn't said on what grounds he'll seek to overturned his plea, but various sources speculate that he'll argue that his mail-in court form didn't properly inform him of his rights, that he pleaded guilty to facts that did not constitute a crime, and that he didn't fully comprehend the consequences. If successful, Craig would likely move to have the charges dismissed. (More Senate stories.)

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