Craig’s lawyers move to withdraw guilty plea

Lawyers for Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) attempted to withdraw his guilty plea for soliciting sex in an airport bathroom, arguing Wednesday to a Minnesota appeals court that the case was not fully investigated.

Craig, who did not attend the hearing, was charged in August 2007 with disorderly conduct for soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. He pleaded guilty at the time.

{mosads}Attorney William Martin told the three-judge panel that a district judge failed to sign Craig's plea petition, and that there is "no factual basis" for such a plea.

The three-judge panel issued no decision Wednesday, and has up to 90 days to issue one.

Judge Natalie Hudson questioned Craig's challenge and whether a signature was legally necessary. Martin responded that the complaint filed against Craig was incomplete and unclear.

"The backbone of the judicial system is that a person should not be entitled to go into a courtroom and plead guilty if there are not sufficient facts to support that plea," Martin said.

Martin noted, for instance, that the charge against Craig cites that he had motioned to the arresting officer with his fingers through the wall separating the two bathroom stalls. He described that as merely "conduct that is consistent with someone that is anxious to go to the bathroom."

Craig is retiring at the end of this year. He was rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee in February for dishonoring the Senate.