It Looks Like Perp Walk Time for DeLay as Texas Court Issues Warrant
By HNN Staff
Austin, TX (HNN) – If former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-TX, had expected to avoid a perp walk, he will likely be disappointed. Travis County, Texas court officials issued a warrant Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005, for DeLay. Travis County (Austin) court officials told the 58-year-old lawmaker to appear for booking in Richmond, Fort Bend County, his home county in the Houston metropolitan area.
DeLay’s attorney, Dick DeGuerin, said his client will make his first court appearance Friday morning, Oct. 21, 2005.
If DeLay complies with the order, he will probably be fingerprinted and have his photo taken in the Fort Bend County Jail, court officials said.
Bail for DeLay was set at $10,000 as a routine step before his first court appearance on conspiracy and money laundering charges. The warrant was "a matter of routine and bond will be posted," DeGuerin said.
The charges against DeLay arise from allegations that a DeLay-founded Texas political committee directed corporate money into state GOP legislative races through the National Republican Party. Texas law bans use of corporate money to elect state candidates.
DeLay is charged with conspiracy to violate state election laws and money laundering, felony counts that triggered House Republican rules that forced him to step aside as majority leader.
Two separate indictments charge that DeLay and two political associates had the money distributed to state legislative candidates in a roundabout way -- sending it from the political action committee in Texas to the Republican National Committee in Washington and finally back to candidates' campaigns. DeLay has denied wrongdoing in the charges, which stem from grand jury proceedings in Travis County, Austin, Texas.