Associated Press

Grand Jury Re-Indicts DeLay on New Charge
By APRIL CASTRO
Associated Press Writer
Published October 3, 2005, 7:00 PM CDT
AUSTIN, Texas -- A Texas grand jury on Monday re-indicted Rep. Tom
DeLay on charges of conspiring to launder money and money laundering
after the former majority leader attacked last week's indictment on
technical grounds.
The new indictment, handed up by a grand jury seated Monday, contains
two counts: conspiring to launder money and money laundering. The
latter charge carries a penalty of up to life in prison. Last week,
DeLay was charged with conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws.
Defense lawyers asked a judge Monday to throw out the first
indictment, arguing that the charge of conspiring to violate campaign
finance laws was based on a statute that didn't take effect until 2003
-- a year after the alleged acts.
The new indictment from District Attorney Ronnie Earle, coming just
hours after the new grand jurors were sworn in, outraged DeLay.
"Ronnie Earle has stooped to a new low with his brand of prosecutorial
abuse," DeLay said in a statement. "He is trying to pull the legal
equivalent of a 'do-over' since he knows very well that the charges he
brought against me last week are totally manufactured and
illegitimate. This is an abomination of justice."
DeLay and two political associates are accused of conspiring to get
around a state ban on corporate campaign contributions by funneling
the money through the DeLay-founded Texans for a Republican Majority
Political Action Committee to the Republican National Committee in
Washington. The RNC then sent back like amounts to distribute to Texas
candidates in 2002, the indictment alleges.
DeLay's associates, John Colyandro of Austin and Jim Ellis of
Washington, were each previously indicted on charges of conspiracy to
violate campaign finance laws and money laundering.
The judge who will preside in DeLay's case is out of the country on
vacation and couldn't rule on the defense motion. Other state district
judges declined to rule on the motion in his place.
* ___!!!~~~~~
+++++++++++