Even though he has been driven out of the CD22 congressional race, Tom DeLay is likely to overcome the trumped-up political charges against him. He achieved another victory today in a Texas appellate court.

An appeals court Wednesday upheld a judge's ruling throwing out a felony conspiracy charge against former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

DeLay, who announced this month that he is resigning his congressional seat, still faces a money-laundering charge and another conspiracy charge stemming from the financing of state legislative races in 2002.

A lower court judge dismissed a conspiracy charge against DeLay in December, agreeing with defense arguments that the conspiracy law did not cover election code violations in 2002; the Legislature amended the law in 2003.

Prosecutors had argued before a three-judge panel of the 3rd Court of Appeals that conspiracy to violate the election code had always been a crime and that the 2003 change merely clarified the law.

Once again, the courts uphold the basic constitutional principle that ex post facto laws are not permitted – even when it interferes with the intrigues of a political hack like Ronnie Earle. I’ve no doubt that the rest of the charges will be easily refuted in court – and that the misconduct that has plagued this prosecution will lead to professional sanctions against the rogue prosecutor.

Posted by: Greg at 12:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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