DeLay Wins Round in Texas Court

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused Wednesday to reinstate a dropped conspiracy charge against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Travis County prosecutor Ronnie Earle had charged DeLay and two associates with conspiracy to violate the state's election code in connection with corporate funds used in 2002 state legislative elections.

A state district judge threw out that charge after defense lawyers argued that conspiracy couldn't be applied to the Texas Election Code as written before 2003. A regional appeals court upheld the judge's decision.

Prosecutors then went to the state's highest criminal appeals court, leading to Wednesday's ruling.



http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/politics/story/78465.html

:grr:

stating this decision has vindicated his position... :puke:

:-(

I wonder how much he's paid them over the years. :grr:

It leaves two felony charges standing against the wretch, and clears the way for trial to proceed on them....

The latest development in ex-Rep. Tom DeLay's (R-TX) looooong, winding legal road: DeLay successfully argued to have a conspiracy charge dropped against him -- but he's still on the hook for money laundering charges. Today a state appeals court upheld an earlier district court ruling, the AP reports. To give you a sense of how fast they move down there in Texas, it took a whole year for the appeals court to deliver its ruling.

DeLay was indicted in September of 2005 by Austin District Attorney Ronnie Earle -- since then, both camps have been battling over the charges. A trial date has still not been set.

The charges here deal with accusations that DeLay helped funnel corporate political contributions (illegal in Texas) through his political committees to state candidates. DeLay is also reportedly under federal investigation for his ties to Jack Abramoff, but he has not been charged.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003539.php

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1216

On the Today Video with Meredith Viera in March this year, Tom DeLay said the charges brought against him were frivolous, and he says they have all been dismissed. I don't think that is true. It is about 2:25 minutes into the video.

Here's the video.

http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?f=00&g=a665fec2-86b4-46ed-968d-5db55db3f7f9&p=hotvideo_m_edpicks&t=m5&rf=http://today.msnbc.msn.com/&fg=

I missed him on the Today Show. Thanks for the video link. ;)