Posted on 10/19/2005 10:15:53 PM PDT by flattorney
U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, might not want to be tried in Travis County on money-laundering charges — and he also may skip getting booked in front of a media circus expected at his first Travis County court appearance Friday.
State District Judge Bob Perkins on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for the former U.S. House majority leader that allows DeLay to be booked in any Texas county, including in his hometown of Sugar Land, away from the media throng expected in Austin.
Until Wednesday's warrant was issued, DeLay had only been summoned to appear in 331st District Court at 9 a.m. Friday. The warrant, which requires a defendants to be booked, then could have been issued in court that day, and DeLay would have gone downstairs to be photographed and fingerprinted on the first floor of the Travis County Criminal Justice Center. The booking room has a wall of windows that would have allowed the news media to record the moment.
Under the law, only the prosecutor, in this case District Attorney Ronnie Earle, may completely waive the booking. Earle chose not to make an exception in DeLay's case. "We believe that Congressman DeLay should be treated like everyone else," Earle said Wednesday.
Houston lawyer Dick DeGuerin, who represents DeLay, objected, saying Earle had agreed earlier that DeLay would not have to be booked. "This is ludicrous," he said. "It's pure retaliation."
DeGuerin refused to say when or where his client would be booked on the felony charges of violating the state election code and money-laundering. Both charges also include conspiracy counts. "Tom DeLay will be in (Judge) Perkins' courtroom at 9 a.m. Friday," DeGuerin said. "Nothing else is definite. We might have him go to Presidio," in far West Texas.
Typically, politicians worry that their mug shots or footage of them being booked will be used in campaign ads against them. DeLay is being challenged in 2006 by Democrat Nick Lampson, a former U.S. House member whose campaign had almost $690,000 in the bank on Sept. 30, compared with DeLay's $1.16 million.
DeLay was forced to resign his position as majority leader because of the felony indictment.
DeLay, along with associates John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, is accused of using the Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee to illegally spend corporate money during the 2002 state legislative elections. Specifically, they are accused of laundering $190,000 in corporate money into political donations through the Texas committee and the Republican National Committee.
All three have denied wrongdoing. - - On another front, DeLay's legal team is weighing whether to seek to move his trial from Travis County, one of the state's most heavily Democratic enclaves and the one DeLay helped split into three congressional districts in 2003 an attempt to defeat U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin. One way to accomplish that would be to show that potential jurors have been influenced by media reports.
An Austin American-Statesman reader, who asked not to be identified because of the case's controversy, said pollsters had phoned to ask her about the DeLay case. She said the pollster asked her how she viewed DeLay, whether the indictment made her feel he is more or less guilty and what she thinks of Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, the Democrat prosecuting DeLay. A spokesman for Southern Media Opinions & Research confirmed that a poll on the DeLay case is being taken but would not say who hired the firm.
DeGuerin refused to confirm or deny that the defense team has hired a polling firm as part of a request to move the trial. Both sides are expected to hire pollsters for the anticipated battle over whether a fair trial can occur in Travis County. DeLay and his lawyers have repeatedly said he would demand a speedy trial, but moving the proceedings could slow that down. Any postponement in the trial could be significant for DeLay. He wants a quick trial to try to regain his position as U.S. House majority leader.
- - Change of venue out of Travis County for DeLay is a done deal, as to filing. DeGuerin will file for change of venue for DeLay, just like he did in the Kay Bailey Hutchinson case he won against DA Earle.
Further, while the DeLay booking process situation may upset many here at FR, it doesn't upset many inside the DeLay camp. Why?, because it has/will greatly increase donations of money and resources to DeLay's Legal Defense Fund against these bogus charges by DA Earle.
- - A Current Situation Report; complete links index of pertinent Tom DeLay criminal indictments & related FR threads; all pre-trial PDF documents and formal letters; other key documents and articles; videos/audios; and much more info, are being maintained on FlAttorney's profile page for ease of information and discussion research. - http://www.freerepublic.com/~flattorney/
You can hear the conniptions the libs are going into at the thought they might not have footage of Delay being booked. Here's hoping a few burst a blood vessel.
Thats right, he charges every body he doesn't like with any charge that he can. If they don't pay, he prosecutes.
Evidence?...He don't need no stiken Evidence!!
Failure to mention that this is due to a Republican honor system rather then law is a lie by omission. The reporter should be ashamed (but I'm not holding my breath).
Did Senator Hutchinson have to get booked? I haven't seen those photos.
Update Information
Posted by TAB for FlAttorney
Judge Perkins set bail at $10,000, but DeLay is expected to be released on a personal recognizance bond.
Are you saying change of venue is a done deal or DeGuerin's filing for a change is a done deal? Thanks.
I think "The Hammer" will indulge himself in a little payback. And, it is going to hurt.
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