Man arrested in same sex sting as Sen. Craig is acquitted

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(apologies if already posted)

StarTribune.com
Man arrested in same sex sting as Sen. Craig is acquitted

March 8, 2008

A Minneapolis man arrested in the same airport bathroom sex sting as U.S. Sen. Larry Craig has been acquitted. Vince Tuzon, 39, used a similar argument to Craig in pleading not guilty. Tuzon claimed he wasn't guilty because the police officer initiated the foot-tapping.nnOn Friday, a Hennepin County jury agreed with Tuzon.

"My client really feels that he was set up," defense lawyer Jeffrey Dean said. "He stopped in to use the restroom. He was using the toilet when he was essentially bombarded with overtures."

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The sting operation was conducted at a busy restroom in the Lindbergh Terminal of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport from May to August last year. It went along relatively quietly until it was divulged in August that Craig, a Republican from Idaho, was cited on June 11.

(snip)

Craig claims in his appeal that the state's disorderly conduct law is flawed. Airport lawyers say his guilty plea should stand. In that appeal, Craig's lawyers argue that police initiated the contact, which is the argument Tuzon used to be acquitted on Friday... Dean said Tuzon went into the restroom on July 5 to use the bathroom and was in a stall with undercover police on both sides.

The lawyer said one officer and Tuzon began tapping feet, "which led to my client finally doing what the officer communicated my client to do, which was look into his stall, at which point they arrested him. ... We feel that that is misconduct and abusive and this would've never happened had the police never started all of this."

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http://www.startribune.com/local/west/16420226.html