Senator accused in groping incident pleads no contest

State Sen. Dan McKeon has pleaded no contest to a charge of disturbing the peace related to an alleged groping incident.

McKeon was due in Lancaster County Court Wednesday morning for an initial hearing, but instead his attorney filed the no contest plea.

Despite the plea and McKeon waiving his right to appear, the Judge Matthew Acton did not accept the waiver and ordered him to be in court Dec. 17 at 9 a.m.

McKeon, who is from Amherst and represents District 41, was originally cited in October for public indecency stemming from an incident that occurred at an end-of-the-year party at the Lincoln Country Club in May.

Lancaster County Attorney Pat Condon announced Tuesday that prosecutors had downgraded the charge to the offense of disturbing the peace, which is a Class III misdemeanor. The previous charge of public indecency was a Class II misdemeanor under Nebraska law.

A legislative staffer alleged that McKeon made a lewd comment and then grabbed her buttocks.

That staffer did not report the incident to law enforcement until September.

McKeon’s attorney, Perry Pirsch, disputed that allegation, saying in a news release last month that McKeon made a bad joke and touched the staffer on her back, not her buttocks.

“Earlier this year, at the end-of-session gathering, Senator McKeon made a single remark – a joke – to a staff member about her planned trip and hoping she and her husband would receive a ‘Hawaiian lei,’ or words to that effect, and he then patted her on the back,” Pirsch said in the news release. “It was meant in jest and nothing about his action was in any way sexually charged or lewd; just a bad pun.”

Pirsch said nothing about the interaction fits the legal definition of public indecency, which is defined as “a lewd fondling or caressing of a person.”

McKeon apologized for the incident in a letter to his accuser, saying he was, “deeply sorry for my actions at the end of session.”

Nonetheless, Gov, Jim Pillen has called for McKeon to resign, something the senator has said he will not do.

The legislature's Executive Committee met earlier this week to decide if McKeon will face any sanction or discipline, but it delayed making a decision because only six of the 10 members were present.

Chair Ben Hansen told reporters the board will reconvene at a later date, possibly as early as Saturday, before taking any action.