DeLay seeks dismissal of indictment in Texas
WASHINGTON -- Former House majority leader Tom DeLay's legal team asked a court yesterday to throw out his indictment, arguing that a Texas district attorney ''attempted to browbeat and coerce" grand jurors into filing criminal charges.
Prosecutor Ronnie Earle ''and his staff engaged in an extraordinarily irregular and desperate attempt to contrive a viable charge and get a substitute indictment of Tom Delay before the expiration of the statute of limitations," DeLay's lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, said in a court filing alleging prosecutorial misconduct.
''These claims have no merit," Earle said in a statement. ''Because of the laws protecting grand jury secrecy, no other comments can be made. The investigation is continuing."
DeGuerin contended that Earle unlawfully participated in grand jury deliberations when he went to a second grand jury to seek a second indictment against Delay, a Texas Republican. DeGuerin also said that Earle illegally discussed grand jury information and encouraged others to do the same.
DeLay was indicted Sept. 28 on a charge of conspiracy as the grand jury's term was expiring. But questions were raised about whether the law on which the indictment was based was in effect at the time of the alleged conspiracy.
Earle went to a second grand jury still in session, but that grand jury declined to indict. On Monday, a third grand jury indicted DeLay on money-laundering charges, which carry a punishment of five years to life in prison.
The indictments against DeLay triggered a House Republican rule that forced him to step aside, at least temporarily, from his post as majority leader.
Both indictments focused on an alleged scheme to move money around to conceal the use of corporate contributions to support Texas Republican candidates. Texas law prohibits corporate donations to support or oppose state candidates, allowing the money to be used only for administrative expenses.
Two people familiar with the proceedings of the grand jury that returned a ''no bill" in the DeLay case said Earle tried to persuade the grand jurors that DeLay tacitly approved the scheme and that the prosecutor became angry when they decided against an indictment.
