Minnesota Lawyer Blog

This joke practically writes itself, but a motion for an enlarged brief has been filed in the Sen. Larry Craig case.

Truth be told, it's the Metropolitan Airports Commission, not Senator Craig, with the apparent problem in its brief size. The MAC says it needs the extra room to address all the novel issues raised by Craig and his amici in their briefs.

"Despite honest efforts, I am unable to abbreviate the text to the extent required by the Minnesota Rules of Appellate Procedure while giving proper attention to the issues raised by both factions in this appeal, and I wish to provide the Court with all information and analysis necessary to make an informed decision," writes the MAC's attorney, Christopher P. Renz.

No word yet from Craig on his stance on this. It is widely expected that he will be understanding of the difficulties inherent in trying to keep within a very confined space.

In what can only be described as a case of very strange bedfellows, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a brief supporting Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig’s petition to withdraw his guilty plea.

The ACLU argues that “[c]onvicting someone of a crime on the basis of conduct which may not be made a crime is a manifest injustice if anything is.” The senator should be allowed to withdraw his plea to correct this injustice, the ACLU says.

It looks as if famed Washington D.C. attorney Billy Martin (a.k.a. William Martin) may be making a personal appearance in Minnesota. He's been admitted pro hac vice to represent (who else?) U.S. Senator Larry Craig. Martin's most recent famous client is Michael Vick, who is now residing in a minimum security prison in Leavenworth Kansas after receiving a longer sentence than prosecutors requested.

The Pioneer Press reports that when it asked Minneapolis attorney Thomas Kelly for comment on the appellate brief he had filed for his client, U.S. Senator Larry Craig, Kelly responded:

"Never drive over to St. Paul to have a filing with your puppy in the car. She's barking at every strange sound and smell."

Craig, of course, is seeking to overturn his guilty plea to a disorderly conduct charge stemming from events that transpired in an airport bathroom. The Pioneer Press article said that Kelly declined to elaborate on the remark.

Idaho Senator Larry Craig's statement of the case in his appeal from the denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea to a disorderly conduct charge is available here.

I saw Matt Lauer's exclusive interview last night with Idaho Senator Larry Craig on NBC. Well, I saw most of it, anyway. Unfortunately, it was on opposite the Red Sox's playoff game against the Indians, so I kept flicking back and forth. (The Sox lost, by the way. Uggh.)

Between channel hops, I was unable to come to a firm conclusion whether Craig did what he was charged with in a bathroom stall at the MSP airport bathroom (something of a "he said/ he said," I guess). But I must admit I found myself oddly amused by the name of the NBC show that directly followed the interview -- "The Biggest Loser."

Hmmmm. I will let you insert your own joke there.

Hennepin County District Court Judge Charles Porter has turned back Larry Craig's motion to withdraw his guilty plea.

Craig, for those of you just back from Mars, is the Idaho senator who was busted for disorderly conduct in a men's room at the airport. He mailed in his guilty plea and then attempted to rescind it when the press got word.

Porter found the plea was accurate, voluntary and intelligent. The judge observed that the prosecutor advised Craig to obtain counsel and that Craig waived that right.

The full text of the opinion is available here.

If it’s true that we learn something new every day, then many of us learned lots of new things during the recent kerfuffle over U.S. Sen. Larry Craig’s arrest in June at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. For instance:

* It’s not a crime to make a pass at someone in a public place, but it could be a crime to engage in conduct that elicits “alarm or resentment” in others. Asking for a phone number in a bar: OK. Implicitly offering sex in an airport bathroom: Not OK.

* There’s an intricate sequence to soliciting sex in a public restroom that involves tapping feet and placing objects in front of the bottom of the stall door. There are ancient Balinese mating rituals that are less elaborate. Wouldn’t an ad on Craigslist be a lot less trouble?

* Apparently, the MSP men’s room is a hotbed for the type of “cruising” of which Craig is accused. As a result, police have made numerous arrests in such cases in recent months. In the dozens of times I’ve used airport bathrooms, I’ve somehow managed to elude these menacing overtures.

* A guilty plea can be withdrawn, but only if the accused can prove his due process rights were violated or that he was coerced into the plea.

Maybe readers better versed in the law and/or anonymous sexual encounters knew these things already. But I didn’t, and I’m glad to look on the fix Craig has found himself in as a valuable learning experience.