What should be the last round of appeals in the Tom DeLay money laundering case has been filed by the Travis County DA’s office.
Prosecutors in the case against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay have asked Texas’ highest criminal court to reinstate an indictment accusing the former House majority leader and two associates of conspiring to violate state election laws.
The appeal filed with the Court of Criminal Appeals Friday had been expected. It likely postpones a trial for the Sugar Land Republican on a separate money laundering charge.
[…]
At issue is whether the conspiracy statute applied to the state’s election code in 2002.
Defense attorneys say it didn’t, pointing out that state lawmakers changed the law the next year to explicitly apply to the election code.
Last month, a three-judge panel of the 3rd Court of Appeals sided with DeLay. The ruling said that while the state’s argument had merit, the court was bound by legal precedent set by the Court of Criminal Appeals.
At least, this ought to be the last round of appeals over the DeLay indictments. Ellis and Colyandro still have appeals pending, and for sure any eventual convictions will also be appealed. No word on when the CCA will rule – I’d guess early to mid July. Previous bloggage is here.