Sen. Craig files paperwork to rescind sex-sting guilty plea
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Sen. Larry Craig sought to undo his guilty plea in an airport sex sting Monday, claiming he admitted to the charge in a panic to avoid triggering a story about his sexuality in his hometown newspaper. Craig had denied to editors at the Idaho Statesman that he was gay just weeks before his June 11 arrest in the bathroom of the Minneapolis airport. The paper didn't run a story, but Craig thought his arrest would change that. Craig's attorneys wrote that "faced with the pressure of an aggressive interrogation and the consequences of public embarrassment, Senator Craig panicked and chose to plead to a crime he did not commit." Craig's affidavit said he decided on the day of his arrest to plead guilty to whatever charge was eventually filed against him. The timing could become important because more than a month and a half passed between Craig's June 11 arrest and Aug. 1, when he signed a guilty plea to a disorderly conduct charge. Craig's actions, his attorneys argued, were influenced in part by police Sgt. Dave Karsnia, who arrested and interrogated the senator. Karsnia told the senator he could resolve the case by paying a fine, and added, "I don't call media." Prosecutors will oppose Craig's motion, said Patrick Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which brought the charges. "From our standpoint, this is already a done deal," he said.
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