The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has reversed former House Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s 2010 money laundering conviction.
The panel in an 8-1 vote held that the state failed to prove that corporate contributions made to Republicans running for seats in the Texas legislature in 2002 violated Texas Election Code. This ruling affirmed last year’s overturning of the conviction by a lower court.
We covered that earlier reversal, Which office does Tom Delay go to, to get his reputation back?
From the Capitol City Project:
DeLay long believed the charges were politically motivated.“I understand what it’s about and it’s about … the criminalization of politics and the misuse of power … and prosecutorial misconduct,” DeLay said Wednesday.The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled 8-1 that the state did not sufficiently prove that DeLay funneled money as part of a plan to redraw congressional district lines in the state. He was accused of laundering $190,000 to fellow Republicans running for the Texas Legislature back in 2002.
Earlier this year, Leader DeLay spoke out against the similar targeting of Texas Governor Rick Perry by the Travis County District Attorney’s Office:
“This is intimidation, it’s criminalization of politics, it is a strategy of the left to take out their enemies in a different way,” DeLay said on “America’s Newsroom.””Every time someone tries to change it, the district attorney of Travis County threatens them with an investigation. And that just scares the living bejesus out of an elected official.”A grand jury in Austin, a liberal bastion in otherwise largely conservative Texas, indicted Perry on Friday for carrying out a threat to veto $7.5 million in funding for the state’s public integrity unit after Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, a Democrat, refused to resign following a drunken driving arrest.DeLay believes Perry will “eventually beat” the charges, but it may take years to sort out and put a “clout” over a potential presidential run in 2016.”Supports will think twice, they’ll wait for him to get rid of this before they move forward, and frankly, you can’t have that in a campaign,” he said.
According to the Washington Post, Perry’s indictment hasn’t hurt his popularity with Texans. 57% of registered voters approve of the job he’s done as Governor of Texas, and a comforting 72% believe that the charges against Perry are political.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY