Skip to comments.
Morales pleads guilty to fraud,
accepts four years in prison (former TX Atty Gen)
Houston Chronicle ^
| 07/17/2003
| AP
Posted on 07/17/2003 10:44:58 AM PDT by wysiwyg
AUSTIN -- Former Texas Attorney General Dan Morales entered a guilty plea in federal court today to two counts including mail fraud and a tax-related charge.
Morales, 46, had pleaded innocent in April to charges that he and Marc Murr, a friend, tried to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees for Murr resulting from the state's $17.3 billion settlement with the tobacco industry in 1998.
Morales has agreed to a four-year prison term, which has to be accepted by a federal judge, said Daryl Fields, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton.
All other counts against Morales would be dismissed, Fields said.
U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks agreed to release Morales on bond pending sentencing.
"It has been a difficult three weeks," Morales said as he emerged from the federal courthouse. "It's been horrible for me to be away from my wife and kids."
Morales said he would not yet discuss specifics of the case or why he decided to plead guilty, and said it was important that his first remarks be to a judge when he appears in court in October.
Asked how he was doing after three weeks in the Caldwell County Jail, Morales said, "As well as can be expected."
As he was getting into a car to drive away with his lawyers, a passer-by shouted and cursed him.
Morales pleaded guilty to filing a false income tax return for 1998 that understated his income. He also pleaded guilty to mail fraud in connection with documents he shipped to San Francisco related to arbitration over legal fees in the state's tobacco case.
A 12-count indictment also had alleged that in 1998 Morales contracted to buy a $775,000 house in Travis County and used $400,000 in campaign funds for the purchase and home improvements. He was accused of making false statements to get a $600,000 mortgage.
Morales did not enter a plea on that charge, which is one of those that is to be dismissed.
Morales was jailed in June while awaiting trial after prosecutors said he gave conflicting information on car applications and sworn financial statements when he asked the court to appoint a public defender. He had previously been free on a personal recognizance bond.
"This is beyond stupidity," Sparks said from the bench at the time.
Morales was elected attorney general in 1990 and was re-elected to a second term in 1994. He chose not to run for re-election in 1998. He ran last year for the Democratic nomination for Texas governor, but lost the primary to multimillionaire Tony Sanchez.
TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Government; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: crook; d; danmorales; democrat; democrats; fraud; lawsuit; lawyer; laywers; mediabias; missingd; morales; texas; tobacco; tobaccogate; tobaccolawsuit; tobaccosettlement; wot
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-39 next last
"This is beyond stupidity," Sparks said from the bench at the time.Of course it is. Dims don't do things like that out of stupidity, they are just natural-born liars!
1
posted on
07/17/2003 10:44:59 AM PDT
by
wysiwyg
To: All
2
posted on
07/17/2003 10:46:07 AM PDT
by
Support Free Republic
(Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
To: wysiwyg
I knew he was a democrat when I didn't see an (R) next to his name in the title.
Don't you just love an unbiased press? Groan.
3
posted on
07/17/2003 10:49:08 AM PDT
by
Vesuvian
To: wysiwyg
Typical AP crap slant:
Morales pleads guilty to fraud, ACCEPTS four years in prison
Like he did this out of the goodness of his lil heart?
4
posted on
07/17/2003 10:52:19 AM PDT
by
steplock
(www.FOCUS.GOHOTSPRINGS.com)
To: Vesuvian
He did endorse Rick Perry, after losing to Sanchez in a run-off!
5
posted on
07/17/2003 10:57:19 AM PDT
by
SwinneySwitch
(Freedom is not Free - Support the Troops!)
To: SwinneySwitch
OK, so he did one thing right. Even broken clocks are right twice a day.
6
posted on
07/17/2003 11:01:46 AM PDT
by
wysiwyg
(What parts of "right of the people" and "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?)
To: Dog Gone; blam; Lazamataz
The whole Tobacco fiasco was an exercise in corruption and greed. Numerous other players besides Morales should be in jail for what they did.
7
posted on
07/17/2003 11:02:22 AM PDT
by
Southack
(Media bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
To: wysiwyg
"It has been a difficult three weeks," Morales said as he emerged from the federal courthouse. "It's been horrible for me to be away from my wife and kids." Maybe he should have thought of that earlier.
8
posted on
07/17/2003 11:04:02 AM PDT
by
Mark17
To: SwinneySwitch
Ah-ha! I'm surprised it didn't say "Perry (R) supporter" somewhere.
9
posted on
07/17/2003 11:04:47 AM PDT
by
Vesuvian
To: Vesuvian
I too noticed that. If it was a Republican it would have mentioned it while stating his AG title.
Something along the lines of "Morales, the former Republican Attorney General, was found...."
10
posted on
07/17/2003 11:11:24 AM PDT
by
Bogey78O
(Clinton lied....people died)
To: Bogey78O
Of course, "The Republican dog catcher today was late returning a movie to Blockbuster. We attempted to track down the Republican dog catcher to ask about this shameful Republican abuse of power...."
11
posted on
07/17/2003 11:21:41 AM PDT
by
Vesuvian
To: wysiwyg
a four-year prison term, which has to be accepted by a federal judgeTranslation: He will be playing golf at ClubFed for 4 years.
12
posted on
07/17/2003 11:22:18 AM PDT
by
ChefKeith
(NASCAR...everything else is just a game!)
To: Southack
On that I concur.I'm embarrassed for Texas and he's a Democrat.He's a crook and was Attorney General!
13
posted on
07/17/2003 11:25:49 AM PDT
by
MEG33
To: wysiwyg
He's going to slammer (as he should), and the Clintons still walk free.
14
posted on
07/17/2003 11:27:25 AM PDT
by
doug from upland
(Bill - go away...Hillary - go away.....you have done enough damage to this great Republic)
To: wysiwyg
"It has been a difficult three weeks," Morales said as he emerged from the federal courthouse. "It's been horrible for me to be away from my wife and kids." Be prepared for 4 years in the joint.
Meet your new "wife".
15
posted on
07/17/2003 11:31:59 AM PDT
by
weegee
To: weegee
...yeah, i seem to remember that his wife is quite a hottie, and read that she was a reformed hooker or something along those lines...
16
posted on
07/17/2003 11:39:23 AM PDT
by
cweese
To: wysiwyg
The nice thing is that this is the last we'll hear of Dan Morales. At one time, he was the Texas Democrats' poster boy destined for great things.
He won't even be allowed to vote again during his lifetime.
Now that he and Henry Cisneros have crashed and burned, the Democrats are fresh out of rising hispanic stars.
Actually, the rising hispanic star of Texas politics may be the next mayor of Houston, Orlando Sanchez, a conservative Republican.
17
posted on
07/17/2003 11:44:51 AM PDT
by
Dog Gone
To: cweese
His wife was a former stripper, although she had retired from that by the time Morales met her.
18
posted on
07/17/2003 11:47:01 AM PDT
by
Dog Gone
To: Vesuvian
"David Duke, Former klansman and Republican candidate for governor...."
That's the way it is...
19
posted on
07/17/2003 11:52:42 AM PDT
by
Bogey78O
(I'll vote Conservative till I die....Democrat soon after)
To: Bogey78O
Heck Duke, Edwin Edwards and Morales may all wind up in the same facility.....
20
posted on
07/17/2003 12:01:55 PM PDT
by
deport
(On a hot day don't kick a cow chip...... only democrat enablers..)
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21-39 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson