Tom DeLay verdict overturned by Texas appellate court

[n2doc]

Source: KHOU TV/AP

HOUSTON -– A Texas Court of Appeals in Austin has overturned the conviction of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, attorney Brian Wice tells KHOU 11 News.

In documents released early Thursday, the court said the evidence in the case was "legally insufficient to sustain DeLay’s convictions."

The court said all judgments against DeLay were reversed, and the former congressman was formally acquitted.

DeLay was convicted in 2010 for his alleged role in a scheme to influence Texas elections. Since then, he has been praying for vindication but also preparing for the possibility of imprisonment.

Read more: http://www.khou.com/news/texas-news/Tom-DeLay-verdict-overturned-by-Texas-appellate-court-224405491.html

[mopinko]

1. so shocked!

in case anyone needed that.

[littlewolf]

6. I AM shocked, no sarcasm. nt

[PatrynXX]

27. someone says nothing ever shocks me

Really? Yes things still shock me. like a mayor in Detroit can shut off the power to prisons get people injured and it's there to send a message...

Wesley Snipes is black.. believe he served/serving 3 years in jail for Tax Evasion someone else did. But Tom gets away with his shit.

[Laurian]

2. The asshole never spent a day in jail.

How do you even fight this shit?

[Delphinus]

21. Exactly.

This is why folks give up - it seems impossible to make a difference.

[TheDeputy]

3. Some are more equal than others.

It is sad.

[monmouth3]

4. I wonder how much he paid for it......n/t

[Xipe Totec]

5. We had the cockroach cornered, but needed pointier boots. nt

[Scuba]

7. He played the IOKIYAR card.

[Botany]

8. the evidence in the case was "legally insufficient"

I am willing to bet republican "activist" judges have something to do with this.

[Festivito]

42. There seems an insufficiency in the ruling as to what was insufficient.

What? They didn't show the jurors the depost slip, just the check?

[JCMach1]

9. So...the BUGMAN Walketh...

[Vinnie From Indy]

10. 2-1 decision

Two Republican judges voted to overturn and Dem voted to affirm.

Here is the decision:
http://images.bimedia.net/documents/tom-delay-appeal-doc-12D.pdf

[Botany]

25. I am shocked

It will take years to clean out all these un-American thugs who are on the
bench. They are left over from Reagan, Bush I, and bush II and they see
their job as to protect republicans and the rich and powerful and not to read
the law and dispense justice fairly .... Bush v Gore is a perfectly example.

In Ohio two low level women took the fall for the 2004 stolen Presidential
election in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) when they were convicted of
rigging the recount ..... they were sentenced to prison w/ the judge telling
them that they were protecting the higher ups ...... long story short a
republican judge overturned the verdict and they walked.

[Koko Ware]

33. Imprison all Republicans! They are the terrorists of the United States.

They have ruined the country, and needs to be placed in prison, hard labor and no benefits - no mail, no phone, no nothing. All privileges they had, completely and irrevocably revoked.

They are to be declared enemy combatants and imprisoned.

[FiveGoodMen]

36. Seconded

[Clown is Down]

52. So if we don't agree with a judicial decision...

We should junk the rule of law and open internment camps on our ideological enemies...
How very progressive of you.

[Scalded Nun]

11. Just what to expect from this fucking loonytunes state.

If you own the courts, you literally own the world.

"he has been praying for vindication but also preparing for the possibility of imprisonment."

What a joke. He knew the fix was in long ago. Also a smart move to wait for much of the heat and publicity to fade away.

Now it is just 'Who is that? Oh, old news and who cares anyway?'

Would not be surprised to see him run again.

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

47. Yeah, Texas.....

.....it's a whole other country as they have claimed.

[Catherine Vincent]

12. It took a while

But I knew it!

[sulphurdunn]

13. When Delay is described

only the word "slime" comes to mind.

[woodsprite]

17. Just saying his name makes you feel dirty. n/t

[tularetom]

14. Maybe Chris Matthews can have him on his show for a celebratory blow job

The hero worship Chris showed for that turd was one of the million reasons I quit watching him.

[HomerRamone]

15. meanwhile Don Siegelman rots in jail for nothing nt

[JohnnyRingo]

16. Isn't this historic?

I doubt anyone in Texas has ever had a conviction overturned.

Certainly it's a Lone Star conservative nightmare for a convicted criminal to remain free to file endless appeals. If he was a mentally retarded Hispanic minor convicted of murder in that state, he'd be buried by now.

I read the details of what Delay did in Rolling Stone Magazine some years ago and this is a travesty. Even Jack Abramoff did his years in prison and has been released since this election funding scam began, and he was a relatively minor bagman under Delay.

It appears Tom Delay spent the last two years shopping for a judge who would call him a good old boy and let him go with a stern warning and a round of golf.

Disgusting.

[24601]

46. There have been significant cases overturned in Texas, even recently. For example in this drug

case (March 27, 2013)

"The Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction of Ricky Eugene Jackson of Galveston on Wednesday, the latest in a string of overturned guilty verdicts after investigators from the Texas Forensic Science Commission found that a former employee with a Department of Public Safety crime lab in Houston may have fabricated the results of thousands of drug tests."

"Jackson was serving an eight-year sentence, beginning in 2010, for cocaine possession."

"Among the reversed sentences, Junius Sereal's was the longest. In early March he had his 32-year sentence for the possession of a controlled substance reversed by the Court of Criminal Appeals, Texas’ highest criminal court."

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/03/27/after-drug-lab-scandal-court-reverses-convictions/

[JohnnyRingo]

51. I was speaking hyperbolically

I imagine there have been cases overturned in Texas, but it's certainly not a state where one can expect judicial leniency.

I've always said that if I were travelling cross country, I'd veer north of the Lone Star State for fear that, for one reason or another, I would never be seen again.

[6000eliot]

18. Who could have seen THAT coming?

[Downwinder]

19. The best legal system money can buy.

[onehandle]

20. Rich people can just spend out the clock. nt

[n2doc]

22. Didn't happen for Martha Stewart

Rich well connected Republicons can do so.

[ctsnowman]

23. I really wish

I could say I'm surprised.

[surrealAmerican]

24. That appears to be a typo in the story:

... "he has been praying for vindication", should probably read "he has been paying for vindication". I wonder how much it cost, too.

[lastlib]

26. RAT-FUCKER!

Whose ass did he kiss??

"Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties,
Are free to drink martinis, and watch the sun rise...."

--Bob Dylan, Hurricane, 1975


. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .

[Sunlei]

28. get enough good lawyers and one can get away with anything in todays world.

[DiverDave]

49. MONEY, plain and simple

without money, you are screwed.

[tabasco]

29. Complete "judgment call" by the judges.

A mockery of justice. Totally politically motivated.

[heaven05]

30. this country is going to hell

on greased slides. One person gets 20 years for possession of a joint, this 1%er crook, snake POS goes free. Go figure.

[Ash_F]

31. Republican Judges strike again!

When will our Democratic leaders(and some Duers) learn to stop licking these people's boots? They already have enough power.

[Gothmog]

32. Juanita Jean has the comments of the DA who convicted DeLay

http://juanitajean.com/2013/09/19/as-a-surprise-to-no-one/#comments

Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg just issued this statement.

“Today, two judges sitting on the Third Court of Appeals reversed and acquitted former United States House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who was convicted of felony offenses by a jury in November of 2010.

“We are concerned and disappointed that two judges substituted their assessment of the facts for that of 12 jurors who personally heard the testimony of over 40 witnesses over the course of several weeks and found that the evidence was sufficient and proved DeLay’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”

“We strongly disagree with the opinion of Judges Goodwin and Gaultney that the evidence was insufficient. We are concerned and disappointed that two judges substituted their assessment of the facts for that of 12 jurors who personally heard the testimony of over 40 witnesses over the course of several weeks and found that the evidence was sufficient and proved DeLay’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

“We are preparing a response to this opinion and will ask the full Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to review the ruling.

[Koko Ware]

35. Onwards to the Texas Court of the Criminal Appeals

where the justices will reverse the errors of the Third Court of Appeals and rebuke them for overturning the jury's decision by poltically motivated decision.

Then order DeLay to report to Huntsville immediately, with additional time stacked for judge shopping - 20 to life.

[Gothmog]

37. All of the members of the Court of Criminal Appeals are repbulicans

The Democrats ran a good candidate against the crazy lady judge who caused a person to be executed because she did not want to answer the phone after 5 PM and that democrat lost in 2012. I fear that the Court of Criminal Appeals will not care about this case.

[Koko Ware]

38. If they do not care to be impartial, then they can vote in favor of DeLay

If they want to remain impartial, then the jury's decision on the felony counts must be restored.

And I'm sure there's a few sane Republican or three.

After this is said and done, then the cleanup to remove Republicans must begin immediately and voter education has to be key to all of this.

there are too many low information voters that do not know what the fuck Republicans are doing.

[lark]

34. F*ing Ahole Texans!

Just shows how this country is slipping away. What he did is egregious and the people of TX thought so too. A few years later and anything done that hurt Dems is perfectly OK with the monsters. I feel the same way about the folks in my state, FL, that voted to acquit Killerman.

[valerief]

39. Because there is NO JUSTICE. nt

[Solly Mack]

40. Figures

[olddad56]

41. not the end of the world, you knew this asshole would find a judge for sale eventually

[hamsterjill]

43. As a lifelong Texan, I am certainly not shocked to see this.

That doesn't mean that I am not disgusted to the core.

Assholes. All of them!

[1000words]

44. Nonetheless, he is still guilty of being Thomas Dale DeLay

That is his crime. It is also his punishment.

[blkmusclmachine]

45. Perry has his hand in this, I suppose?

[DiverDave]

48. HOW MUCH DID THE JUDGES COST???

They threw it, follow the money.
I bet 100 bucks you'll find a large deposit to their wives "education fund".
Fuck the justice system, it's rigged.

[jmowreader]

50. Whay, we cain't throw ol' Tom in jail...

Tom ain't no more crooked than the rest of our politicians, now is he? And hayul, if we throwed ol' Tom in jail for the piddly lil' crap he done, why we'd have to throw the rest of our politicians in jail and then we wouldn't have no room to lock up the real crooks like merry-jew-wanna smokers and check bouncers.