It’s not like former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) to give up without a fight, and he’s not about to start now.
DeLay’s attorneys filed a motion Wednesday asking for a retrial for the hard-charging former Republican House leader, the Houston Chronicle reports. DeLay was convicted in November of money laundering and conspiracy and received a sentence of three years in prison plus 10 years probation.
But DeLay’s attorney Dick DeGuerin says a new trial is necessary because of juror misconduct and misapplication of the state’s election code. More broadly, DeGuerin attacks the Texas law that bans corporate campaign contributions, arguing that it’s potentially unconstitutional.
The case against DeLay focused on his use of a shadowy campaign committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, that gave $190,000 to the Republican National Committee, which then doled out contributions to seven candidates to the Texas state house. The money from TRMPAC came from corporate donors but passed through the RNC, which used funds from individuals to pay for the individual donations to local Texas candidates.
Prosecutors pointed to a list of the seven Texas House candidates, which accompanied the TRMPAC donation to the RNC, as proof of the intention to circumvent Texas election law.
DeLay’s legal team argued that the $190,000 TRMPAC donation to the RNC was put in a separate account than the account that paid the $190,000 worth of contributions to the seven candidates.
DeLay is free on bail while his legal team prepares to file a formal appeal.
The Justice Department, which was investigating DeLay and his ties to lobbyist and convicted felon Jack Abramoff, cleared him of potential federal charges in August.
