DeLay was not convicted on donations of Corporate money to political candidates under the Election Code. The DA realized that would be a hard one to prove. So they swapped their approach and charged him with criminal money laundering under the Texas Penal Code. It is under this code and the activities of swapping money from TRMPAC to the RNC and back to the seven Texas House candidates that he was found guilty. There are two other individuals awaiting trial on lesser charges.
snipRead the entire article at the link above.
During the three-week trial, the prosecution presented more than 30 witnesses in an effort to prove that Mr. DeLay conspired to circumvent the state law. Since 1903, Texas has prohibited corporations from giving money to candidates directly or indirectly.
Mr. DeLay was initially charged with breaking campaign finance law. But prosecutors later switched strategies because it was impossible under the law at the time to accuse someone of conspiring to break campaign finance rules, prosecutors said.
Instead, prosecutors used a novel legal theory never before tried in Texas: They argued that Mr. DeLay and two of his political operatives — John Colyandro and Jim Ellis — had violated the criminal money-laundering law.
They were charged with conspiring to funnel $190,000 in corporate donations to state candidates through the Republican National Committee.
The main facts of the case were never in dispute.end snip
Ignorance (alledged) is no defense of a crime. If he did it, that’s it. I loved his politics, but there is no excuse.