Now the prosecutors want DeLay judge change

[lavenderdiva]

Associated Press

AUSTIN — Just days after U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay won a fight to get a new judge in his case, prosecutors today sought the ouster of a Republican jurist responsible for selecting the new judge.

The legal wrangling comes as administrative Judge B.B. Schraub was expected to name a new judge for DeLay's money laundering and conspiracy case, possibly as early as Friday.

State district Judge Bob Perkins, a Democrat, was removed from DeLay's case Tuesday after DeLay's legal team cast doubt on Perkins' ability to judge the case fairly because of his multiple contributions to Democrats.

Prosecutors said in their motion filed today that Schraub has made several contributions to Republican candidates, including to Gov. Rick Perry, a DeLay ally, which calls into question Schraub's impartiality in the case.

link:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3436205

[mtnester]

1. Goose, meet gander

he has to do it as precedent already set

eat THAT assholes

[Cha]

10. Yeah!

This is not the time to roll over and play dead with a republican judge who would be such a hack as to contribute to puke perry.

[bemildred]

Hoist on their own petard, methinks.

If contributions show bias, than they are all biased.

[dbeach]

12. free texas without delay

must be nice to be a big shot so ya can bribe..oops..ahem.. pick your own judge

repukes will need more than crooked judges to stop some of them from doing time in da big house where most of em belong

[smb]

2. Earle Challenges Republican Judge

From the Austin American-Statesman; no details yet....

[IChing]

3. what it says so far

BREAKING NEWS
Earle challenges Republican judge
DA wants DeLay judge Schraub out and new judge to name replacement. More to come.

[Occulus]

4. removed

Thanks, mods! Gosh, y'all are quick....

[smb]

5. Earle Challenges Republican Judge

This thread has been combined with another thread.

Click here to read this message in its new location.

[msanthrope]

6. Smart move--looks to me like they might bring in an

outside judge, or a retired judge. Then DeLay won't be able to squawk.

[IChing]

11. breaking news..Delay wants now to be judged by his peers

The jury needs to be made of of his peers
so in order to do that
convicted republicans need to be considered in the jury pool.

[cassiepriam]

23. Sociopaths only on the jury?

[IChing]

28. Yes, here is the new jury pool

Abramoff of course and anyone mention in this article.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jack_Abramoff#.22Team_Abramoff.22_and_the_Bush_administration

[cassiepriam]

21. Delete dupe sorry

[bowens43]

7. good. delay want's to play games, let's play

[Beetwasher]

8. And So It Goes

Good for Earle, this highlights the absurdity of the initial decison. Where will it end?

[Surya Gayatri]

15. Yeah, I think Earle has picked up the gauntlet

and is saying: "You want to play 'Procedural Poker'? BRING IT ON!"
GO RONNY!:applause:

[lyonn]

33. Fitz and Earle, how sweet it is

Who else will help carry the cause, oh, Reid, Dean, . . .

[JudyM]

9. Touche' n/t

[devinsgram]

13. It's just a delay tactic!

No pun intended.:rofl:

[maddezmom]

16. LOL

:toast:

[nolabels]

19. Yea, but it's still good in a way

It keeps Delay in the sack and out of that house position.
Intelligence is truly is measured with the comparison of a sack of hammers

[MGKrebs]

14. Since I can't stand to listen, somebody please tell me how

Limbough et. al. will spin this. It ought to be fun.

[ohtransplant]

17. Recuse all TX judges and bring in a Federal judge

from outside the state.

Can they really find someone who hasn't made any political contributions? Probably not.

R Earle should also appeal the removal of judge Perkins on specious grounds and show it for the cynical political ploy it is.

[drm604]

18. How many judges will they go through

before this game of chicken ends? This highlights the absurdity of the initial action. Don't they elect their judges in Texas? If so, how can they possibly find a non-partisan judge? :eyes:

[Justitia]

25. yes, judges are partisan-elected. Impossible to find non-partisan judge

in TX, they don't exist.

Judge Duncan did a really bad thing by removing Perkins.

First of all, Perkins has an admirable record of fairness and impartiality, he is respected and well-thought of. He has never been accused of any bias in previous political trials he has presided over. Removing him is a total slap in the face to his practice of jurisprudence and an insult to his professionalism. It was an undeserved punch to the gut.

Secondly, this is an AWFUL PRECEDENT to set! Especially in TX! We don't have any non-partisan judges, and the vast majority are repubs who have worked their way thru the GOP system (read: contributed greatly) to their current positions.

Most importantly, Schraub has said he will pick a judge outside Travis county to preside over the trial. Why?!?! This crime was committed in Travis county jurisdiction! It should be held nowhere else but the capital! This is an obvious move to shop for a RW stronghold to pack the jury w/repub partisans. There is no other explanation.

Gee, DeGuerin has already asked for Ft Worth. How about a judge from freakin' Midland Odessa????

[lavenderdiva]

20. here's an interesting editorial related to this issue, also in today's

Houston Chronicle:

TROUBLING PRECEDENT
Removal of judge from DeLay case could haunt jurists who make or take campaign contributions
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

A DEMOCRATIC judge has removed veteran state District Judge Bob Perkins, also a Democrat, from the criminal case against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay. The decision cannot help but complicate the political lives of all Texas jurists.

Perkins was recused not because of his court conduct, but because his contributions to Democratic candidates and causes might cause the public to perceive him as biased against a highly partisan Republican defendant.

The concern about impartiality is justified. In 1994 the judge recused himself from the unsuccessful prosecution of U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for misuse of office, because he had contributed $300 to her Democratic opponent, Bob Krueger. The charges had been brought by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, the same Democratic prosecutor who secured grand jury indictments against DeLay and two associates this year, charging violations of Texas campaign laws. DeLay's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, persuaded retired judge C.W. Duncan Jr. that more than $5,000 in contributions by Perkins to such groups as the Democratic National Committee and MoveOn.org would create the appearance of bias for reasonable observers.

Perkins is not alone among judges in making private contributions to parties and candidates. Most judicial hopefuls and incumbents run in partisan primaries in order to get on the ballot and often are squeezed for contributions to their parties in the general elections. In Harris County, both parties have asked their candidates for money to support collective campaigns on behalf of all their nominees. In Houston, where all state district judges are Republican, most have made contributions to various GOP-oriented political action committees. If such contributions were to be seen as tainting judicial fairness, it would be very difficult to find a judge to try Democratic defendants here.

If partisan contributions by judges pose conflicts of interest, what about the large contributions made to judges by lawyers who have cases before the court? The acceptance of campaign cash from attorneys is as potentially compromising to a judge's fairness as a judge's private political contributions.

The root problem is Texas' system of choosing judges through partisan elections. Former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice John Hill is right to use this occasion to call for a system in which appointed judges run unopposed in retention elections. As long as a jurist is forced to function as a politician, giving and collecting contributions in order to win his or her bench, the appearance of partisan and personal bias will be unavoidable.


oops, sorry I forgot the link:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/3434668

[cassiepriam]

22. Reminds me of when Prince Charles was looking for a virgin bride.

Now they are on the hunt for a virgin judge.

[lonestarnot]

24. Tee hee hee!

[endarkenment]

26. You have to give the Republicans credit

Not only are they Stupid. They are Consistently Stupid.

[donkeyotay]

27. The GOP is playing politics with our judicial system

snip>
Earle's motion said he believes Schraub to be fair and impartial with a reputation for honesty and integrity.

"However, as the recusal of Judge Perkins reflected, such is unfortunately no longer the standard in our state for the judiciary," Earle said.

Perkins was removed under a provision of state law that said a judge must appear impartial to reasonable people watching the trial. Testimony in the trial reflected that Perkins would be fair, but Republicans would never believe he could be impartial.

continues>
A Houston Chronicle study found that if political contributions are grounds for disqualifying judges in Texas, the judiciary may be in trouble. Texas civil and criminal court judges in the past five years have made more than $775,000 in partisan political donations.
end>

Now they need to satisfy Democratic jurors that the trial appears fair.

[smb]

42. They Aren't Looking For "Impartial"

Testimony in the trial reflected that Perkins would be fair, but Republicans would never believe he could be impartial.

On the contrary -- if they knew Perkins was impartial, they'd have to reject him on some pretext or other. They absolutely need a judge who is partial (in their favor) because they know DeLay is guilty.

[ck4829]

29. I knew this would happen

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1892623&mesg_id=1892928

[mzmolly]

30. GOOD!

:toast:

[DemExpat]

31. Of course!

:kick:

DemEx

[leftofcool]

32. BWHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA eom

[kurth]

34. Schraub is history - he just recused himself

The saga continues.

[wryter2000]

35. Ronnie Earle for President eom

eom

[Igel]

36. It's not bad enough enough that Delay's decided to piss in the well.

Now Earle's doing it.

I don't want the well contaminated with Delay's piss. I see no reason why having Earle add his urine should make the water any sweeter.

Nice to see that Earle found it impossible to rise above Delay's level. Speaks lowly of him.

[Justitia]

38. I can't believe you even wrote that. Schraub said he was going to pick a

judge OUTSIDE TRAVIS COUNTY, with NO COMPELLING REASON.

WHY??!?!?!

Earle was simply stopping him from wrongly taking this case out of Travis County, the correct jurisdiction for this crime.

By wrongly moving jurisdiction, they would have been jury-shopping in some RW stronghold most favorable to partisan jurors that DeLay gerrymandered.

Midland Odessa maybe? Collin County?

Earle stopped him from flushing this entire trial down the toilet for no compelling legal reason.

I am damn glad that Earle stopped him before it was too late today.

[lavenderdiva]

41. great observations, Justitia!

Earle's been aroudn the block enough to know what Delay & Schraub were up to with this maneuver, only he 'maneuvered' it back!

[Bridget Burke]

39. I noticed a lot of scatology in our Hate Mail Bag.

It didn't impress me there, either.

[damntexdem]

37. Great: what went around should come back around.

Now how are they going to find a Texas judge who hasn't donated to either Democratic or Republican candidates?

[goforit]

40. ToooooooFunny!!!Goooo Earl!!!

[librechik]

43. we can keep doing this

until we get a judge who was born on Uranus.