Posted on 10/01/2005 8:56:39 PM PDT by FairOpinion
AUSTIN, Texas - U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's indictment sets up a rematch between a Texas prosecutor and an old rival who has beaten him before.
High-profile Houston lawyer Dick DeGuerin was pulled into the DeLay defense team as it became clear he would be indicted Wednesday. DeLay is accused of conspiring with two political associates to use corporate donations to support Texas legislative candidates.
DeGuerin quickly reminded the public he had been down a similar road with Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle.
"I represented Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison 12 years ago, and to me this seems like what Yogi Berra said: `It's deja vu all over again,'" DeGuerin said. "That was a political prosecution. This is a political prosecution."
Earle indicted Hutchison in 1993 after investigating whether she misused state employees and equipment and destroyed state documents while serving as Texas treasurer. Hutchison was acquitted of official misconduct and record tampering charges when Earle abruptly dropped the case in 1994.
Earle said then that he gave up the case because the trial judge would not rule in advance whether prosecutors could use evidence obtained in a controversial raid on state treasury offices. Hutchison's defenders contend his case failed because he didn't have one.
DeGuerin said he wants a trial by the end of the year for DeLay, a Sugar Land Republican who has stepped aside as majority leader because of the indictment.
DeGuerin is no stranger to the national limelight.
He represented David Koresh, head of the Branch Davidian cult whose members died in a fiery blaze at their Waco compound, which was raided by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. DeGuerin attempted to negotiate a peaceful end to the 1993 siege of the compound after authorities tried to arrest Koresh.
DeGuerin last year won acquittal for millionaire Robert Durst, who was charged with the 2003 murder of a neighbor in Texas whose body he admitted dismembering. DeGuerin argued that Durst killed the man in self-defense.
Dick DeGuerin, a criminal attorney from Houston, is shown Friday, Sept. 30, 2005, in Austin, Texas, after teaching a law class at The University of Texas. DeGuerin was pulled into the defense team as it became clear that U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay would be indicted. DeGuerin is no stranger to the national limelight, having represented other high-profile clients. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)
He sounds like the right man for the job. Now who does the indicting of Ronnie Earle? Do we wait until after DeLay is acquitted, or just go ahead now?
Did you know that Ronnie Earle once indicted himself??? Have you heard that reported anywhere? He indicted himself and pled guilty. They gave him a fine. He's a WACKO.
I've only seen it on FR, Hildy -- and I don't know where we got it. How is this character running loose anyway? Isn't there a GOP State AG who can look into his shenanigans?
I heard it on Fox News. I believe it was Judge Napolitano who pointed it out. I'm going to go do a search.
Earle makes the claim that he has indicted more Democrats than Republicans. That's true, but what they won't tell you is that most of the Democrats he indicted were conservative Democrats when there weren't many Republicans in the state. In the Seventies and Eighties many conservative Democrats switched parties in Texas.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
..time severed for tampering with a dead body or something.
Did you try "Delay Lawyer?"
Actually I did and nothing came up.
I did it just now, after your post and a post from yesterday did show up.
I even went down the list of the Delay posts to a date prior to the date of this article and didn't see it, it wasn't there.
I just figured out why -- delay is not a keyword in that article and for some reason, it didn't show up in the title search. It happens occasionally.
I try to search by post time, and not by relevance. It mystifies me why that is not the default.
He might be a good lawyer but he has crappy taste in hats. That midget cowboy hat looks about like the dumb Howdy Doodie hat Bush had on the other day.
It must be magic.
It's not the hat, it's what's under it, that counts. ;)
ping
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