Oh, this is too nice!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/4/10125/4306
Quote:Did DeLay's Lawyer Just Screw Up?
by emptywheel [Subscribe]
Tue Oct 4th, 2005 at 07:01:25 PDT
A bit of a chess game is developing in Texas, as Ronnie Earle attempts to make Tom DeLay pay for his sins. First, we had an indictment on conspiracy, a charge which carries a penalty of six months to two years in jail. "Conspiracy!" Republican operatives mocked. "This is just a conspiracy against Tom DeLay." And really, people said, conspiracy is just what you charge when you've got nothing better.
But then DeLay lawyer Dick Deguerin, who embarrassed Ronnie Earle in the Kay Bailey Hutchison case, files a motion to say the conspiracy statue didn't apply to campaign finance law in TX until September 2003, a year after DeLay dreamt up his little conspiracy.
Wham!! Just a few hours later, Earle (who seems to have snuck a new grand jury into his back pocket without Deguerin noticing) gets a jury to indict on money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Charges which carry sentences of up to life in prison for the money laundering charge, and twenty years for the conspiracy to commit money laundering.
An interesting chess game, so far. But what I'm really wondering is, did Deguerin just piss away the advantage he bought by waiving the statute of limitations on the conspiracy charge?
You see, as at least two people (including DKos' own Walt starr) have speculated, Deguerin may have had DeLay sign the waiver as part of a deal. He waives the statute of limitations. And then he only gets charged with conspiracy, not the more serious crime of money laundering. As Norm Pattis explains:
Quote:So why am I so sure he'll plead [guilty to conspiracy]? A line in the indictment notes that his lawyer waived the statute of limitations on the conspiracy charge during grand jury proceedings. Why would a competent lawyer waive a complete defense? Because worse was on the way if he did not.
Initiates know the practice as
charge-bargaining. You see a funnel cloud barreling at you and you ask your local prosecutor, quietly, "on what charges are you willing to take my client if he pleads?" I suspect DeLay will enter a plea late in the year.
So Deguerin, thinking he's the smartest thing in Texas, waits for the first grand jury to run out, believing his guy is in the clear, then he starts attacking the lesser charge he bargained for.
Sometimes fancy lawyers can get just too fancy.
Nice move, Earle! I heard this guy speak at my Uni. a few years ago, and he's sharp as a tack...
Cycloptichorn
Hi Cyclo, My wife, son and I will be in Austin on October 28 for five days. I'm going to contact PDiddie and shewolf to see if we can get together for another Austin Gathering. How about it?
Yargh! I want to, but I'm supposed to be in San Antonio for a party that evening.
Let me work on my g/f for a while; perhaps at the very least I can meet you up early in the evening. I'd desperately like to!
Cheers
Cycloptichorn
On edit: But wait! I see you will be in town for five days. Therefore, there is zero doubt in my mind that I can meet up at some point during that time. Happy days!
blueveinedthrobber wrote:DontTreadOnMe wrote:it should be pretty funny when he starts paradin' his arrogant ass around the slammer.
" I... am the hammer !!!". harharhar....
He'll get a hammering all right. What a pay for view!!!
Hammered In The Slammer!!!!
Go ahead on, you Texas KY cowboy!!!!!
hahahahahaha!!! at which time, he'll quickly stop prayin' for "deliverance".
JustWonders wrote:When the charges against Delay are dropped, there'll be a run on BP meds for all the old geezers here who will go ballistic LOL.
hey! just who you callin' a geezer ??? uh, i mean who you callin' old ??? uh, uh, uh i mean who you....
awww fergit it !!
Tom DeLay
From Wikiquote
Tom DeLay (1947-) is a Republican politician from Texas who has served as United States Congressman (1978-), Majority Whip (1994-2002), and House Majority Leader (2002-2005).
On his indictment for conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme:
"I have notified the speaker that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference and the actions of the Travis County district attorney today." - [2005 September 28] [1]
On the refugees of Hurricane Katrina:
"Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?" - As reported in the Washington Post [2005 September 10] [2]
On the State of Israel:
"My friends, there is no Palestinian-Israeli conflict. There is only the global war on terrorism." [2004 August 31] [3]
"If Israel falls to the terrorists, the entire free world will tremble. To forsake Israel now would be tantamount to forsaking Great Britain in 1940. It is unthinkable, and it is unthinkable because the world wants to know if we believe freedom is worth fighting for." [2004 August 31]
On the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
"The EPA, the Gestapo of government, pure and simply has been one of the major claw-hooks that the government maintains on the backs of our constituents." - As reported in the AP [1995 July 29]
On Newt Gingrich:
"Newt Gingrich is an incredible leader. He is a leader of our time, and he's going to lead us into the future. And we're going to accomplish the things that we've all dreamed of." - As reported from "Late Edition" on CNN [4/6/97]
On the federal government:
"I am the federal government." - DeLay was responding to a government employee who tried to prevent him from smoking on government property. As reported in the New York Times [2003 June 13]
"You know, the Democrats want to balance the budget by raising spending and raising taxes. The Soviet Union had a balanced budget." Meet the Press, 12/22/2003
"...I am not a federal employee. I am a constitutional officer. My job is the Constitution of the United States, I am not a government employee. I am in the Constitution." - From "Talk Back Live" on CNN [1995 December 19]
On the working poor:
"Emotional appeals about working families trying to get by on $4.25 an hour [the minimum wage in 1996] are hard to resist. Fortunately, such families do not exist." - From the Congressional Record, H3706 [1996 April 23] [4]
On war:
"Nothing is more important in the face of a war than cutting taxes." - From a speech made to bankers [3/12/03]
On the International Criminal Court:
"Kofi Annan's kangaroo court...a clear and present danger to the war on terrorism and Americans fighting it all over the world." - AP 2004 July 16[5]
On the role of women in the home:
"I have seen these liberal psychologists and sociologists talk about there is no need for the man in the family. The woman can't take care of it. A woman can't take care of the family. It takes a man to provide structure. To provide stability." - From a radio interview. His wife, Christine DeLay quickly asked to "edit this out," then turned to Tom and said: "This is not a good thing for you to be saying."
On Bipartisanship:
"We have a small faction, and they are a minority, who believe they are there to govern. Then there is the majority of us who believe that indeed we are there to govern but more importantly we are there to be an opposition to the Democratic philosophy and the only way to do that is through confrontation." - From the Houston Chronicle [4/14/91]
On Toxins:
"It's never been proven that air toxics [sic] are hazardous to people." - From the Houston Chronicle [10/27/90]
On checks and balances:
"The judges need to be intimidated. They need to uphold the Constitution. (If they don't behave) we're going to go after them in a big way." - From the Washington Post [9/14/97]
Tom DeLay, another insane leader of our country.
you can say that again, rodeman. btw, not a bad mic, eh ?
December 6, 2005
Texas Judge Lets Stand 2 of 3 Charges Against DeLay
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL and CARL HULSE
HOUSTON, Dec. 5 - A Texas judge dismissed one charge against Representative Tom Delay on Monday but let stand two more serious charges, complicating Mr. DeLay's hopes of regaining his post as House majority leader when Congress resumes in January.
The judge, Pat Priest of San Antonio, handed Mr. DeLay and two co-defendants a partial victory in dismissing charges of conspiracy to violate the election code by making an illegal corporate contribution.
Judge Priest left standing charges of money laundering and conspiracy to launder money against all three.
The decision moves Mr. DeLay and his co-defendants, the Republican fund-raisers John D. Colyandro and James W. Ellis, a big step closer to facing trial - perhaps as soon as January - on felony charges that carry long prison terms and fines.
The charges involve $190,000 that the state says was collected from corporate donors in 2002 and, in violation of Texas election and money laundering laws, routed through Republican political action committees to seven Republicans running for the Texas House.
The judge ruled that the conspiracy provisions of the state election code did not take effect until a year after the charged violations. But he rejected defense challenges to the money laundering charges and ruled that they could go to trial.
The political stakes were underscored with the arrival in Houston on Monday afternoon of Vice President Dick Cheney, who appeared with Mr. DeLay at a previously scheduled political fund-raiser. The event was closed to reporters. Several hundred protesters jeered outside the fund-raiser, held at the Westin Oaks in the Galleria shopping mall.
After the judge's decision, which came just as about 400 guests were arriving for the function, at $500 and up per ticket, Mr. DeLay's office in Washington released a statement that sought to put a positive spin on the ruling and again attacked the Austin prosecutor who bought the charges, the Travis County district attorney, Ronnie Earle.
"The court's decision to dismiss a portion of Ronnie Earle's manufactured and flawed case against Mr. DeLay underscores just how baseless and politically motivated the charges were," the statement said.
Along with Mr. DeLay's earlier success in disqualifying a previous judge accused of Democratic political partisanship, the statement said that the ruling "represents yet another legal victory" and that Mr. DeLay was "encouraged by the swift progress of the legal proceedings" and looked forward to his eventual exoneration.
Mr. Earle declined to comment on the ruling, saying it was under study. The state has 15 days to appeal for reinstatement of the dismissed charges. Mr. DeLay cannot appeal until after a trial, Judge Priest said.
A defense lawyer involved in the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern of antagonizing the judge, conceded that the ruling could be read as a substantial victory for the prosecution.
But Dick DeGuerin, Mr. DeLay's chief lawyer, said, "We won more than they did," contending that the remaining charges would be "impossible to prove."
If all the charges had been dismissed, Mr. DeLay, 58, who has represented his district around the Houston suburb of Sugar Land since 1985, would have had a clear path to return immediately to his leadership post in Congress. The split decision eliminated that possibility and significantly complicated his effort to retain a leadership role.
"There are likely to be leadership elections in January," said Representative Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona.
Other Republicans, who would not speak for the record about internal party matters, said they also believed it was virtually a foregone conclusion that Republicans would consider installing at least a new majority leader early next year. They said the party needed to instill some stability in the leadership team heading into what is expected to be a politically difficult election year.
Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the Republican whip, is serving temporarily in both his job and the majority leader post that Mr. DeLay resigned after his indictment.
One Republican lawmaker, who has supported Mr. DeLay in the past but is concerned about the political fallout from this case and others involving Republicans, said there was some sense of relief with the decision, since it postponed Mr. DeLay's return to the top.
The lawmaker said he and others were nervous that a separate federal investigation into the activities of the lobbyist Jack Abramoff, once a close DeLay ally, could entangle Mr. DeLay and others, further embarrassing lawmakers who last week saw a senior California Republican plead guilty to accepting bribes.
Jennifer Crider, a spokesman for Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, said the judge's ruling showed that the "Republican culture of corruption is alive and well."
"This is not a vindication," Ms. Crider said. "Congressman DeLay still faces very serious criminal charges."
Mr. DeLay and his allies acknowledge that the clock is working against him and that he needs to dispose of the charges quickly. House members return to Capitol Hill on Tuesday and are expected to meet for about two weeks and then are not scheduled to return again until late January. One senior leadership official said Republicans could discuss the leadership situation at a party meeting scheduled for Wednesday.
Mr. Delay's troubles appear to be taking a toll at home. A Gallup poll of his district released on Monday by CNN showed that 49 percent of those surveyed said they were more likely to support a Democratic candidate compared with 36 percent who said they would favor Mr. DeLay should he seek re-election in November. He is already being challenged by a Democrat, Nick Lampson, who lost his seat in a district redrawn in 2003.
Neither Mr. Cheney nor Mr. DeLay made a public appearance or any comments outside the event Monday night. Afterward, briefing reporters, a local Republican, Paul Bettencourt, the Harris County tax assessor, said, "The vice president talked about his long friendship with Mr. DeLay." The fund-raiser was the most successful ever for the congressman, Mr. Bettencourt said, but no figures were released.
Judge Priest's ruling examined conflicting claims about state charges that Mr. DeLay, Mr. Ellis and Mr. Colyandro conspired to collect $190,000 in corporate contributions for delivery to a group they formed called Texans for a Republican Majority. The three are accused of having that group transfer the money to the Republican National Committee and the Republican National State Election Committee, for distribution in the races of specific candidates, illegal under state law.
In his ruling, the judge said he was dismissing the charges of conspiracy to violate the election law because the Texas Legislature had added the conspiracy provisions after the charged offenses occurred.
But he rejected defense arguments that the charges of money laundering conspiracy and actual laundering should be thrown out in part because they involved checks and were not covered as "funds" by the law.
Judge Priest also said he had yet to rule on a defense motion of prosecutorial misconduct.
Ralph Blumenthal reported from Houston for this article, and Carl Hulse from Washington. Maureen Balleza contributed reporting from Houston.
Put him in the pound, where he deserves to be, the sooner the better.
