The DeLay Defamation Dance

OK, the other day I heard that former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay had been indicted again and I stopped for a moment. The indictment was for money laundering, so the televised "news brief" said; and I said a considered "Huh. What do you know?" Of course, as we now know this "second indictment" was really DA Ronnie Earle's attempt at damage control since the crime with which Earle charged DeLay did not exist at the time of the alleged infraction.

The short version:

Dick DeGuerin, one of DeLay's attorneys, asserted on Monday that the new money laundering charge was brought this week because Earle realized that last week's conspiracy charge rested on an erroneous interpretation of the law. He said the crime of conspiracy was not covered by the state election law at the time of the alleged violation, in late 2002.

In his defense, Earle states that the new indictment was the result of "new information," despite the fact that the investigation has been ongoing for years; moreover, the media seem to have grudgingly accepted the validity Dick DeGuerin's argument, if only on this point.

But even further beyond all this, there has now emerged some news that Earle presented his evidence to one grand jury which refused to indict DeLay. I'm no lawyer, but this gives me some pause:

In a written statement Tuesday, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle acknowledged that prosecutors presented their case to three grand juries — not just the two they had discussed — and one grand jury refused to indict DeLay. When questions arose about whether the state's conspiracy statute applied to the first indictment returned last Wednesday, prosecutors presented a new money-laundering charge to second grand jury on Friday because the term of the initial grand jury had expired.

Working on its last day Friday, the second grand jury refused to indict DeLay. Normally, a "no-bill" document is available at the courthouse after such a decision. No such document was released Tuesday.

And so, unsatisfied with this result, Earle presented the case to yet another grand jury, which returned an indictment in four hours. Now of course, I accept the possibility that there is some damning new evidence, and DeLay is no hero to me. But the left's supposition that the second grand jury refused to indict simply because it was on its last day seems to carry little water given the fact that the third was convinced in only four hours. All this should be a spark for a round of head-scratching by all critical observers, but I've heard very little of it in the mainstream media.

Tags: DeLay, Politics, Bush, Texas