Weird. Apparently, Ronnie Earle figured out the original indictment against DeLay was one that wouldn’t hold water, in that he was indicted for something that isn’t a crime, and went before a Grand Jury today and got a separate indictment for money laundering.
Your guess is as good as mine as to what the hell is going on. I will have links when there are some. This just happened.
Basic link here.
*** Update ***
Just so we are clear, as JCricket points out in the comments, I may be completely wrong about the initial charge. And before the jackasses start accusing me of shilling for DeLay (because you know they will), I have wanted no part of DeLay for years and have been publicly calling for his resignation for months.
*** Update ***
More here:
The new indictment comes hours after DeLay’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the first case. That motion was based on the argument that the conspiracy charge against DeLay was based on a law that wasn’t effective until 2003, the year after the alleged money transfers.
“Since the indictment charges no offense, and since you have professed not to be politically motivated in bringing this indictment, I request that you immediately agree to dismiss the indictment so that the political consequences can be reversed,” attorney Dick DeGuerin wrote in a letter to Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle.
The judge who will preside in DeLay’s case is out of the country on vacation and couldn’t rule on the motion. Other state district judges declined to rule on the motion in his place, said Colleen Davis, a law clerk to Austin attorney Bill White, also represents DeLay.
George Dix, a professor at the University of Texas law school who is an expert in criminal law and procedure, said he doesn’t believe changes made to the Texas election code by the 2003 legislature have any effect on the conspiracy charge.
The penal code’s conspiracy charge allows for the charge if the defendants allegedly conspired to commit any felony, including an election code felony.
Just because the election code was “silent” on the penal code provision until 2003, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t a valid charge before 2003, Dix said.
“To me it just says, ‘We really mean what we said implicitly before,’” Dix said.
Make of it what you will.
jobiuspublius
I’m hearing that conspiracy isn’t in the election code. But, money laundering is in the criminal code. If Earle did it on purpose, it may have been to get Delay to waste ammo or indict himself.
simon
Conspiracy isn’t a crime?
jcricket
John, I think you’re misinterpreting the conspiracy statute. It simply says that while the conspiratorial activity itself may not be illegal, it is illegal to conspire to cover-up activities that are illegal (like money laundering). Put another way, it’s not illegal to make plans with people (freedom of speech and all), unless those plans involve covering up a crime.
I doubt Earle is dropping either charge, and I bet both will stick.
Mark-NC
If I understand this correctly, there were TWO grand juries.
There is now a separate indictment from each of them on different charges.
John Cole
Yes.
simon
I think Mark is correct. Earle didn’t go back before the Grand Jury because he wasn’t confident in the first indictment. Nothing weird about it.
CaseyL
Both charges will go to trial, I think.
Bob
At least DeLay didn’t hire a coupla jamokes to ventilate a cruise ship owner. Is Sparky still in business in FLA?
jobiuspublius
Bah, you’re weak on crime!
Steve
I’m sure Tom DeLay will be on TV soon to tell us how this is the SECOND weakest indictment in American history.
Davebo
Well, we’ve heard DeGuerin’s (and therefore Limbaugh’s, Hannity’s et al) spin on the second indictment.
And we’ve seen John regurgitate it dutifully.
And then some
FUCKTARD
in the comments section had to come rain on the parade.
That’s it. Close the comments section indefinately!
John Cole
You going to take that JCricket?
Seriously, though- Why another indictment?
New evidence?
Or a problem with the other indictment?
simon
Seriously, what’s the mystery?
Two different grand juries.
Two crimes.
New evidence or possible problems with the other indictment are not at all necessary for this to have happened. What’s so mysterious?
From the AP:
Davebo
I’d say it was definately backup against the motion to dismiss.
What else could it be? Grand Jury indicts in less than 4 hours?
CaseyL
Well, I’d wait until the judge has a chance to rule on the Motion to Dismiss before deciding whether the second Grand Jury’s indictment is a backup or an addition.
I find it hard to believe that a Grand Jury didn’t know what the law was when they handed down the first indictment. Wouldn’t the Court have been pretty clear on what law DeLay was accused of breaking? Wouldn’t DeLay’s lawyer have said there wasn’t any such law early on in the proceedings?
Emma Zahn
For Texas politics, always check with Molly Ivins. She enjoys the intrigues so much that she is always a fun read.
Jcricket
Sorry John, I had forgotten that you only exist as a shill for BushCo and therefore I should have slammed you for repeating the party line, rather than pointing out that you might have misread things (damn that nuanced view of the world).
From now on I’ll start every post with, “John, you ignorant SLUT…” :-)
More importantly, yeah, imagine that, a prosecutor who discovers more evidence while digging around in the pursuit of one prosecution. He decided that rather than confuse one grand jury, he’d convene a separate one. And given that it usually takes more than a week to get this kind of indictment handed down, the second grand jury’s probably been underway for a while.
Delay is absolutely panicked, which you can tell by the scorched earth tone of his response. I have little doubt that both these cases will go to trial, and little doubt that Delay is guilty of all counts.
Of course, similar to the GOP phone jamming scandal in Vermont, it might take several years before we get a conclusion/verdict.
DougJ
Not to sound negative, but you know you’re in a bad legal situation when you view a new indictment as good news.
CaseyL
Why? Seriously.
Stormy70
Ronnie Earl is not someone to hang your hopes on to get Delay. He got an new indictment because of a motion to dismiss by Delay’s lawyers.
jobiuspublius
Stormy70, a two-fer is not what you want when you’re trying to get off the hook.
Stormy70
One may be dismissed. Delay is not my favorite person, but Ronnie Earl has several failed indictments of his political enemies, Dem and Rep.
Stormy70
Here is the link about the problems with the first indictment.
It is a registered site, sorry.
donald
Casey L, Ever sit on a grand jury? Didn’t think so. This is hilarious, and who wants to put up real money that neither go to trial?
donald
Hey wow, lots of REALLY insightful stuff this morning. Mr. Cricket, obviously you’ve been under a piece of rotting wood for the last oh, 15 years. Scorched earth is what Delay does. Why would he change now? And not that John Cole needs any defending, but apparently you don’t actually READ what he’s writing. I guess, the order comes in on the topic of the moment, with all of the bullet points, and you fill in the blanks.
jobiuspublius
From the Ivans link osted above:
Stormy70
He was going after conservative political enemies, Dem and Rep. How many indictments actually stuck?
Shygetz
Stormy–Nice Republican apologia, but you might want to check your facts next time. Of the 12 pre-DeLay politicians Earle indicted, he got convictions on 10 of them (including himself for submitting his campign finance report a day late). This according to Wikipedia.
John S.
Facts, schmacts.
I only believe what I read in the New York Post.
DougJ
I predict a hung jury. No matter what the facts are, at least one DeLay loyalist wants to acquit and at least one DeLay hater wants to convict. It’s Susan Macdougal all over again.
ppGaz
DeLay will plead out of the bind he is in. He knows it and Earle knows it. Otherwise this will never go away and he’ll spend the rest of his life being a late-night tv show joke subject, crying “Damn you Ronnie Earle” to anyone who will listen. Over time the number of people who give a shit will dwindle to zero.
Let him go back to being an exterminator in Big Hair, Texas.
ppGaz
No offense, Storm :-)
Stormy70
No prob, it is now a plastic surgery state. Not for me, though.
demimondian
DougJ:
DOn’t you mean “hanged jury”? This is DeLay, the Exterminator, we’re talking about here…
Mike
“Emma Zahn Says:
For Texas politics, always check with Molly Ivins. She enjoys the intrigues so much that she is always a fun read.”
Yes you can always depend on getting fair play of both sides of the political aisle from a partisan twit like Ivins.
Veeshir
Molly Ivins? I make it a point not to read anything by anybody with a drink that includes cheap gin and a handfull of oxycontin named after her. She makes Fisk look good.
I stand by my initial prediction on DeLay, he did whatever they are accusing him of but it’s not a crime. The people who write these laws are the ones who don’t want to be bound by them.