By Erin Bamer | Nebraska Examiner
State lawmaker, also facing expulsion from Legislature, waives scheduled Wednesday arraignment
LINCOLN — After initially filing a plea of no contest that wasn’t accepted when he didn’t attend his hearing, State Sen. Dan McKeon of Amherst has changed course and now plans to fight the allegation against him.
On Tuesday, the day before his rescheduled arraignment on a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace, McKeon filed a new plea of not guilty and waived his formal arraignment. The court accepted the plea and set his next court date for Jan. 26, ordering him to show up.
A legislative staffer accused the state lawmaker of groping her at an end-of-session party in May. The Nebraska State Patrol received a report in September that McKeon had allegedly “made inappropriate contact with her buttocks with his hand, over the top of her clothing,” Patrol spokesman Cody Thomas said.
McKeon’s second arraignment was scheduled for Wednesday morning after his arraignment was delayed when he tried to file a no contest plea by written waiver. Lancaster County Court Judge Matthew Acton said a no contest plea must be submitted in person and postponed the arraignment one week.
A no contest plea would have allowed McKeon to accept any criminal penalties without formally admitting guilt and would waive his right to a trial.
McKeon’s attorney Perry Pirsch at one point called the disturbing the peace charge “a victory,” as the charge had been downgraded from public indecency, which the Patrol initially cited McKeon with.
Pirsch said disturbing the peace was more consistent with McKeon’s perspective of the incident and that he’d planned to plead no contest in hopes that he could put the matter behind him and focus on the upcoming legislative session.
Pirsch could not immediately be reached for comment about the changed plea.
McKeon has acknowledged that an exchange took place between him and a staffer after one of the Nebraska Legislature’s sine die parties this year, but argued his actions were not sexually charged. Pirsch has said McKeon “is guilty of nothing but a bad pun and pat on the back.”
The Examiner is aware of the alleged victim’s name but is not publishing it because it is the policy of States Newsroom and the Examiner not to identify people who say they have been abused unless they wish to talk publicly.
Her attorney, Kathleen Neary, declined to comment on McKeon’s new plea, but noted her client is preparing a civil lawsuit against the senator.
McKeon, a married father of four, is a registered Republican who was elected to the officially nonpartisan Legislature in 2024, replacing former State Sen. Fred Meyer of St. Paul.
Gov. Jim Pillen and other state officials have called for McKeon’s resignation, but McKeon has said he will not resign.
In the midst of his pending criminal trial, McKeon also faces possible expulsion from the Legislature.
The Legislature’s Executive Board, its group of 10 senators in charge of handling disciplinary procedures within the legislative branch, voted unanimously Saturday to recommend McKeon’s expulsion.
Expulsion is the strongest disciplinary measure the board can recommend, but it requires a full vote of the Legislature to pass. This means the matter will likely come before lawmakers during the 60-day legislative session that begins in January. Expelling him would require the votes of 33 senators.
Executive Board Chair State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair has said the board concluded the expulsion recommendation was necessary “in light of a demonstrated pattern of behavior by Senator McKeon and not in response to a single isolated incident.”