Idaho Man Enters Alford Plea after Court Tosses Conviction

NAMPA, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho man has entered an Aflord plea to charges of lewd conduct after an appellate court vacated his sex crime convictions against two white female teenagers because the prosecutor interjected race by quoting lyrics from the Confederate anthem "Dixie."

The Idaho Press-Tribune reports that 47-year-old James D. Kirk entered his plea Friday in 3rd district court in Canyon County. An Alford plea is not an admission of guilt, but an acknowledgment that there is enough evidence to convict. In April 2013, Kirk was sentenced to 20 years in prison after the jury found him guilty of committing lewd conduct against a 17-year-old girl and sexually battering a 13-year-old girl.

An appellate court later agreed that a Canyon County deputy prosecutor erred in citing a song praising what the judges called pernicious racism, and that it might have influenced the jury.