Not so wise man:
From The Washington Post Online - http://www.washingtonpost.com
DeLay's Money Laundering Charges Upheld
By APRIL CASTRO
The Associated Press
Tuesday, December 6, 2005; 4:09 AM
AUSTIN, Texas -- Rep. Tom DeLay's hopes of reclaiming his powerful position as House majority leader were dealt a blow when a judge dismissed a conspiracy charge but refused to throw out money-laundering allegations.
With the more serious charges still intact, Judge Pat Priest's ruling Monday moves the case closer to trial next year _ although other defense objections remain to be heard.
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The ruling comes after a hearing late last month in which the Republican's attorney argued the indictment was fatally flawed.
The Texas judge's decision to throw out the conspiracy charge "underscores just how baseless and politically motivated the charges were," said DeLay spokesman Kevin Madden.
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... Maddens said DeLay "is very encouraged by the swift progress of the legal proceedings and looks forward to his eventual and absolute exoneration based on the facts and the law."
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DeLay lawyer Dick DeGuerin asked that the charges be thrown out, arguing that one charge _ conspiracy to violate the Texas election code _ did not even take effect until September 2003, a year after the alleged offenses occurred.
Prosecutors, however, said the crime of conspiracy was already on the books, and could be applied to the election code even though such uses were not explicitly in state law at the time.
The judge was not persuaded by that argument and dismissed the conspiracy charge.
However, the judge upheld charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Those charges involve an alleged attempt by DeLay to conceal the source of the campaign contributions by funneling the money through his own political action committee and then an arm of the Republican National Committee.
In trying to have those charges thrown out, the defense argued that the Texas money laundering law does not apply to funds in the form of a check, just coins or paper money. But the judge said that checks "are clearly funds and can be the subject of money laundering."
The defense attorneys also argued that the definition of money laundering in Texas involves the transfer of criminal proceeds. Because the money in this case was not illegal to begin with, they argued, money laundering never occurred.
But the judge rejected that argument, too, saying the money became suspect when "it began to be held with the prohibited intent."
He said if prosecutors can prove that DeLay and his associates obtained the corporate donations "with the express intent of converting those funds to the use of individual candidates," or that they converted money legally collected by sending it to the RNC and asking for the same amount to be sent back to Texas candidates, "then they will have established that money was laundered."
Conspiracy to violate the election code carries up to two years in prison. Money laundering is punishable by five years to life. Conspiracy to commit money laundering carries two years.
The alleged campaign-finance scheme had far-reaching political effects: With DeLay's fundraising muscle, the GOP took control of the Texas House for the first time in 130 years, then pushed through a congressional redistricting plan engineered by DeLay that resulted in more Texas Republicans going to Congress.
The judge has yet to rule on a defense bid to move DeLay's trial out of liberal, Democratic-leaning Austin and allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. DeGuerin accused the district attorney of shopping the DeLay case around to different grand juries until he found one that would indict the congressman.
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Associated Press Writer Suzanne Gamboa in Washington contributed to this report.
Commentary -
It's not illegal if you pay with a check? It is somehow an important and exonerating victory that charges against your client are thrown out because one of the statutes had not yet been modified to include his specific field of conspiracy? Can the lawyer be sued for wasting the time of the American people?
I feel so depressed about these trials and charges and whatnot. Not that DeLay is facing them - I don't like his practice or his politics - but that it has come to this. I have been entirely too cynical and uninvolved for my 36 years here on Spaceship Earth. Might be time to get off my ass.