No verdict yet, and the jury has been sent home for the night.
Prosecutors and the defense made closing statements to the jury about whether a $190,000 corporate money swap between DeLay’s Texas committee and the Republican National Committee actually amounted to money laundering and whether DeLay had command control over two political aides.
They also argued about whether the case was little more than pure politics.
Defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin argued the case was brought solely because Democrats were unhappy with DeLay because of a congressional redistricting he pushed through in 2003.
“I don’t agree with criminalizing the debate that ought to be on in a free society,” DeGuerin said. “I don’t believe in tearing someone down in a free society because of what their beliefs are.”
Lead prosecutor Gary Cobb told the jury that the week the DeLay trial began, prosecutors tried a Democratic legislator, referring to the corruption conviction state Rep. Kino Flores, D-Palmview. Cobb said a murder trial was going on down the hall and no one was asking that defendant how he voted.
“Even those who govern must be governed and follow the law,” Cobb said.
I have no idea what will happen, but I will be less surprised by an acquittal than I will by a conviction. I feel like the case against DeLay is more inferential than anything else, and while I don’t think it’s hard for anyone to believe DeLay participated in the planning of the money transfer, that’s not the same as saying the evidence is there for a guilty verdict. I just don’t know. Postcards has more.
The Hammer got “nailed.” Couldn’t happen to a rottener guy.
Trying to drag libs down with him is “sour grapes.” You’ll ruin your Thanksgiving dinner wine . . . or “whine,” as the case may be.
Cheer up, right-weepers. Charges against Rangel were ETHICS-related, not criminal, per se. Criminal prosecution may follow.