Judge Dismisses Misconduct Charge For Ex-Lawmaker Todd Courser

LANSING (WWJ/AP) - A judge has dismissed a misconduct charge against an ex-Michigan lawmaker who quit office in a sex scandal last year.

Republican Todd Courser still faces a perjury charge in the case in Ingham County Circuit Court.

Judge William Collette dismissed the misconduct in office charge Thursday. Courser's attorney Matthew DePerno argued there was no criminal element to the charge related to an alleged violation of a House rule, Mlive.com reported.

The Michigan attorney general's office plans to move forward with perjury charge and misconduct charges in Lapeer County.

Courser, a Republican who came into office with tea party backing, left office in disgrace after a botched attempt to cover-up an affair with Republican Representative Cindy Gamrat. He resigned last year in order to avoid expulsion over the issue. The House expelled Gamrat.

Courser is accused of soliciting an aide to send a phony email to cover up an affair with Gamrat. Charges against Gamrat have been dismissed.

In a recording uncovered in August 2015, Courser said he wanted his 25-year-old office worker to send an email about himself to Republican operatives, alleging that he had been caught having sex with a male prostitute behind a Lansing nightclub. Courser said on the recording that the email was designed to create "a complete smear campaign" of exaggerated, false claims about him so when his real affair with Gamrat, came to light, it would seem "mild by comparison."

Courser was initially charged with four felonies: perjury for lying under oath and three counts of misconduct for allegedly lying and instructing people to send out false emails; one misconduct charge has been refiled in Lapeer County. Gamrat was charged with two counts of felony misconduct in office.

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