I'll leave this up to you guys to verify. One of Delay's arguments has been that the conspiracy law did not exist at the time of his alleged infractions. I agree with Delay on this point only, that if the law didn't exist at the time, how could he break it. Laws can't be enforced retroactively
I haven't been able to source when this law was passed, but it's a conceivable technicality.
DeLay Goes on Radio and TV to Proclaim Innocence
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/politics/30delay.html
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 - Representative Tom DeLay went on a media blitz on Thursday, a day after his indictment on charges of conspiracy in his home state, Texas, angrily proclaiming his innocence and saying that Democratic leaders in Congress were working with a Democratic prosecutor in Texas to try to destroy his career.
Mr. DeLay went on radio and television as his lawyers claimed their first procedural victory in the case. They said a trial judge had agreed not to issue an arrest warrant for Mr. DeLay and would let him appear voluntarily at a court hearing next month in Austin, the Texas capital
The decision spared Mr. DeLay a potentially awkward encounter with the police in Travis County, where the indictment was issued, and the possibility that he might be handcuffed in front of cameras. A lawyer for Mr. DeLay, Dick DeGuerin, said in a telephone interview that the decision by Judge Bob Perkins of the 331st Judicial Criminal District Court, a Democrat, was "the right thing to do."
Mr. DeLay, who is usually far more reluctant than some of his Congressional colleagues to submit to broadcast interviews of any sort, granted several on Thursday.
"I've never seen more support of my colleagues for me, and they want to see me continue the work that I've been doing," Mr. DeLay said on Fox News Radio. "It was obvious to me that what the Democrats have done has united us stronger than we ever have been."
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