The second motion to dismiss, along with the first, is posted on
Powerline.
This is not formatted the same but it is a faithfull transcription. I thought it would be handy to have something that could be quoted. What Powerline has posted are images, it's hard to quote those.
You can get a glimpse of what their defence will be. That the relevant statutes either did not exist or did not apply to DeLay. I don't know the law, so I can't comment on that.
Here is my transcription below:
October 17, 2006
District Attorney Ronald D. Earle HAND DELIVERED
Travis County
Criminal Justice Center
509 W. 11 Street
Austin, Texas 78767
Re: State of Texas v. Tom DeLay
Cause No. D1-DC-05-900725
331st Judical District Court, Travis County
Dear Mr. Earle:
I enclose your copies of our latest motions, and by copy of this letter directed to the District Clerk I am filing the originals. I again call upon you to carefully review them and admit you were wrong in indicting Congressman Tom DeLay.
You were wrong about the law and the facts. The first indictment charged a conspiracy to violate the Election Code, yet no such crime existed in 2002. The second indictment charges money laundering of a check, yet no such crime existed in 2002. The Election Code covers all election-related offences, yet you have wrongly charged a Penal Code violation. The Election Code would place venue in Tom DeLay's home county, Fort Bend, yet you contrived to bring the indictment in Travis County, apparently because the District Attorney of Fort Bend County would reject the case. You have been provided with uncontroverted evidence that no corpoate money went to Texas candidates, yet you continue to say otherwise. Both John Colyandro and Jim Ellis as well as others have told you Tom DeLay played no part in the transactions described in the indictments, yet you sought the indictments anyway.
Faced with the embarrassment of indicting for a crime that wasn't on the books, you sought a different indictment from another Grand Jury, but that Grand Jury refused you. Undeterred by this rejection, you went to a third Grand Jury on their first day on the job and got the present indictment, but again the charges have no merit, either because the statute didn't exist in 2002 or because there was no crime committed, or both.
Before the first indictment you tried to coerce a guilty plea from Tom DeLay for a misdemeanor, stating the alternative was indictment for a felony which would require his stepping down as Majority Leader of the United States House of Representitives. He turned you down flat so you had him indicted, in spite of advice from others in your office that Tom DeLay had not committed any crime. In short, neither lack of evidence nor lack of law has deterred you.
However, it should be clear that we're right on the law and the facts. The right thing, the courageous thing, for you to do is to admit you were wrong and dismiss the case right away. The longer you drag it out the more obvious it becomes that the result you care about most is the political damage your actions have done to Tom DeLay.
Yours Truly
[signed]
Dick DeGuerin
DD:bls
Enclosures
cc: Judge Robert A. Perkins
Criminal District Clerk