Craig Files to Get Guilty Plea Dismissed

BOISE, ID -- Disgraced Idaho Senator Larry Craig Monday filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport's men's room, claiming he only pleaded guilty to avoid rumors he was gay to leak out in the press.

Craig's attorney Billy Martin filed the court papers in Hennepin County District Court asking for a speedy hearing to meet Craig's self-imposed deadline of Sept. 30 to resolve the criminal case. Craig has said he intends to resign from the Senate if the charge is not resolved by then.

In the filing, Martin argues that Craig's guilty plea should be waived because the undercover officer who arrested Craig promised the senator that he would not leak information on the arrest to media.

"While in this state of intense anxiety, Senator Craig felt compelled to grasp the lifeline offered 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," Martin says.

Martin also argues that Craig's conduct in the now infamous rest room incident was not a crime, no matter how the case is presented. Craig is accused of tapping his feet, bumping his foot into the foot of the undercover officer in the stall next to him, and swiping his hand under the partition dividing the stalls.

"Viewed in its worst light, [Craig's conduct] doesn't even rise to the level of annoying, much less disorderly," the lawyers write.

According to the Washingon Post, Minnesota legal experts consider Craig's effort a long shot and believe his best hope is for a judge to rule that the plea be withdrawn and then face a public trial at a later date.