First DeLay Indictment No Good...Earle Has to get Another

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash1.htm

Earle Seeks Second Delay Indictment After Errors With First
Tue Oct 04 2005 10:29:52 ET

The AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN reports, Travis County prosecutors rushed Monday to fix problems with an indictment against DeLay by charging him "with the first-degree felony of money laundering.

Last week a Travis County grand jury ended its term by indicting DeLay on a charge that accused him of conspiring to violate state campaign finance laws. The problem with that indictment, according to DeLay's lawyers, was that the conspiracy law did not apply to the election code in 2002.

The Texas Legislature changed the law, which went into effect Sept. 1, 2003. That left Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle and his assistants presenting a complicated case to a group of grand jurors on their first day of meeting. Prosecutors hoped to fix the problem by reindicting DeLay on charges that he conspired to launder corporate money into political donations. In 2002, the conspiracy law applied to money laundering.

Developing...

 

http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/stories/10/4delay.html

DeLay indicted on 2 new counts
New grand jury returns money-laundering and conspiracy indictment; defense says Earle wants 'do-over'


Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle had no comment Monday after it was announced that a new grand jury had indicted U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay on money-laundering and conspiracy charges.


By Laylan Copelin

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

New Travis County grand jurors, after taking oaths on their first day Monday, indicted U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, on money-laundering and conspiracy charges.

The re-indictment took only hours, compared to the six months that a previous grand jury took to consider allegations that Republicans and their business allies, led by DeLay, tried to circumvent a state ban against corporate money in the 2002 Texas campaigns.

SNIP

"He is trying to pull the legal equivalent of a 'do-over' since he knows very well that the charges he brought against me last week are totally manufactured and illegitimate," DeLay said in a statement.