DeLay Booked, Photographed and Posts Bond in Houston
By HNN Staff
Houston, TX (HNN) – All those reporters and photographers staking out the Fort Bend County sheriff’s office in Richmond, TX, came up short Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005, as U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, D-TX, surrendered to Harris County sheriff's deputies on conspiracy and money laundering charges.
DeLay, accompanied by lawyer Dick DeGuerin, arrived shortly after noon at a Harris County Sheriff's Department facility at 49 San Jacinto in downtown Houston, said sheriff's Lt. John Martin.
Maybe he knew something about the photographic skills of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, because his mug shot came out looking like a formal portrait of a very happy man. He was also fingerprinted, taken before a judge and posted $10,000 bail, leaving just before 1 p.m. Dan Abrams commented on the quality of the photo at length on his “Abrams Report” cable show Thursday evening.
DeGuerin told the reporters who had the wisdom – or luck – to stake out Houston that DeLay was put through the process because of a political vendetta by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, the Democrat who brought the case.
"Now Ronnie Earle has the mug shot he wanted,'' DeGuerin said.
"I wanted to avoid the circus,'' DeGuerin added. "He wanted a perp walk, and we did not want to do it.''
Following the booking, DeGuerin asked Judge Bob Perkins to step aside and for the trial to be moved out of Travis County. Perkins has donated to causes and people opposed to DeLay, and his impartiality might be questioned, the motion said.
The change-of-venue motion cited media attention and noted that Austin, widely perceived as a liberal town, is "one of the last enclaves of the Democratic Party in Texas."
Although the indictment was issued in Travis County and DeLay's home county is Fort Bend, Martin said state law allows defendants to surrender in any of the state’s 254 counties – more than any other state-- and DeLay received no special treatment.
The capias warrant by state District Judge Bob Perkins normally would have been a routine procedure in Texas after a person has been indicted on a felony. It requires that the defendant be arrested and have fingerprints and a mug-shot taken.
DeGuerin has raised questions about the Sept. 28 indictments, which said DeLay conspired to violate state election laws by using corporate money to help Republican candidates for the Texas House in 2002. DeGuerin claims the conspiracy statute did not apply to the election law until 2003.
After that came up, Earle took money laundering charges to one grand jury on Sept. 30, but it declined to indict DeLay. Earle then took the case on Oct. 3 to a third grand jury, which indicted DeLay on conspiracy and money laundering charges.
DeLay is accused of involvement with $190,000 in corporate money that was sent from a Texas committee to the Republican National Committee. The indictment alleges that money was exchanged illegally for money that could be legally donated to seven candidates for the Texas House.