[PAA-Discuss] Fwd: [DemocraticResearch] DeLay wants January trial date

[S Gonzales]

 Dec.  7, 2005,  9:52PM
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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/front/3510493

DeLay wants January trial dateLawyer seeks to separate
charges to speed procedureBy JANET ELLIOTT
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN - U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay is seeking a January
trial on his money-laundering charge regardless of
whether the Travis County District Attorney's Office
appeals the dismissal of a related conspiracy charge.
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DeLay's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, on Wednesday asked a
judge to separate the money-laundering charge from a
charge of conspiracy to engage in money laundering.

Senior District Judge Pat Priest on Monday threw out a
third charge of conspiring to violate the state
election code, but upheld the other two charges.

"We have a right to sever (the charges) and proceed.
We want this done and over with as quickly as
possible," said DeGuerin.

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has 15
days to decide whether to appeal the dismissal.
DeLay's lawyers are worried that Earle may ask for a
stay to halt all proceedings until an appellate court
rules.

An early trial is key to DeLay's hopes to regain his
position as House majority leader early next year. He
was forced to relinquish that post when he was
indicted in September.

DeGuerin filed the motion to separate the
money-laundering charges, saying the two are separate
offenses.

The district attorney's office declined comment on the
motion.

University of Houston law professor Susan Waite Crump
said Priest may decline to sever the charges because
they arose out of the same transaction. She said
separating them could result in two trials with the
possibility of inconsistent verdicts.

DeGuerin said if DeLay wins on the money-laundering
charge, he thinks prosecutors may be barred from
trying him for conspiracy.

Crump said it might be easier for prosecutors to prove
conspiracy than actual money laundering.

"Conspiracy doesn't require the person who is being
tried to actually do anything if one of his
co-conspirators commits the crime as long as there was
an agreement and intent that the crime be committed,"
she said.

The case against DeLay and associates John Colyandro
and Jim Ellis stems from an alleged scheme to get
around the state election code's ban on corporate
financing of candidates.

The DeLay-founded Texans for a Republican Majority
raised about $600,000 in corporate donations during
the 2002 state elections, but Texas law restricted
that money to committee administrative expenses.

In September 2002, TRMPAC donated $190,000 to the
Republican National Committee, which within days sent
$190,000 raised from individuals to seven GOP House
candidates.

Prosecutors say that was an illegal swap of money, but
the three defendants claim no such trade occurred.

Republicans, aided by TRMPAC's fundraising activities,
gained control of the Texas House in the 2002
election. That takeover set the stage for DeLay to
push a congressional redistricting plan through the
Legislature in 2003 that helped Republicans win a
21-11 majority of the state's congressional seats in
2004.

DeGuerin also asked Priest to set a hearing as early
as next week on DeLay's motion to move the case out of
Travis County. DeLay is arguing that he cannot get a
fair trial in the Democratic-dominated county.

janet.elliott at chron.com

---------------------------------

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