Morales pleads guilty to fraud, accepts four years in prison (former TX Atty Gen)

Houston Chronicle ^ | 07/17/2003 | AP

[wysiwyg]

AUSTIN -- Former Texas Attorney General Dan Morales entered a guilty plea in federal court today to two counts including mail fraud and a tax-related charge.

Morales, 46, had pleaded innocent in April to charges that he and Marc Murr, a friend, tried to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees for Murr resulting from the state's $17.3 billion settlement with the tobacco industry in 1998.

Morales has agreed to a four-year prison term, which has to be accepted by a federal judge, said Daryl Fields, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton.

All other counts against Morales would be dismissed, Fields said.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks agreed to release Morales on bond pending sentencing.

"It has been a difficult three weeks," Morales said as he emerged from the federal courthouse. "It's been horrible for me to be away from my wife and kids."

Morales said he would not yet discuss specifics of the case or why he decided to plead guilty, and said it was important that his first remarks be to a judge when he appears in court in October.

Asked how he was doing after three weeks in the Caldwell County Jail, Morales said, "As well as can be expected."

As he was getting into a car to drive away with his lawyers, a passer-by shouted and cursed him.

Morales pleaded guilty to filing a false income tax return for 1998 that understated his income. He also pleaded guilty to mail fraud in connection with documents he shipped to San Francisco related to arbitration over legal fees in the state's tobacco case.

A 12-count indictment also had alleged that in 1998 Morales contracted to buy a $775,000 house in Travis County and used $400,000 in campaign funds for the purchase and home improvements. He was accused of making false statements to get a $600,000 mortgage.

Morales did not enter a plea on that charge, which is one of those that is to be dismissed.

Morales was jailed in June while awaiting trial after prosecutors said he gave conflicting information on car applications and sworn financial statements when he asked the court to appoint a public defender. He had previously been free on a personal recognizance bond.

"This is beyond stupidity," Sparks said from the bench at the time.

Morales was elected attorney general in 1990 and was re-elected to a second term in 1994. He chose not to run for re-election in 1998. He ran last year for the Democratic nomination for Texas governor, but lost the primary to multimillionaire Tony Sanchez.

[wysiwyg]

"This is beyond stupidity," Sparks said from the bench at the time.

Of course it is. Dims don't do things like that out of stupidity, they are just natural-born liars!

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[Vesuvian]

I knew he was a democrat when I didn't see an (R) next to his name in the title.

Don't you just love an unbiased press? Groan.

[steplock]

Typical AP crap slant:

Morales pleads guilty to fraud, ACCEPTS four years in prison

Like he did this out of the goodness of his lil heart?

[SwinneySwitch]

He did endorse Rick Perry, after losing to Sanchez in a run-off!

[wysiwyg]

OK, so he did one thing right. Even broken clocks are right twice a day.

[Southack]

The whole Tobacco fiasco was an exercise in corruption and greed. Numerous other players besides Morales should be in jail for what they did.

[Mark17]

"It has been a difficult three weeks," Morales said as he emerged from the federal courthouse. "It's been horrible for me to be away from my wife and kids."

Maybe he should have thought of that earlier.

[Vesuvian]

Ah-ha! I'm surprised it didn't say "Perry (R) supporter" somewhere.

[Bogey78O]

I too noticed that. If it was a Republican it would have mentioned it while stating his AG title.

Something along the lines of "Morales, the former Republican Attorney General, was found...."

[Vesuvian]

Of course, "The Republican dog catcher today was late returning a movie to Blockbuster. We attempted to track down the Republican dog catcher to ask about this shameful Republican abuse of power...."

[ChefKeith]

a four-year prison term, which has to be accepted by a federal judge

Translation: He will be playing golf at ClubFed for 4 years.

[MEG33]

On that I concur.I'm embarrassed for Texas and he's a Democrat.He's a crook and was Attorney General!

[doug from upland]

He's going to slammer (as he should), and the Clintons still walk free.

[weegee]

"It has been a difficult three weeks," Morales said as he emerged from the federal courthouse. "It's been horrible for me to be away from my wife and kids."

Be prepared for 4 years in the joint.

Meet your new "wife".

[cweese]

...yeah, i seem to remember that his wife is quite a hottie, and read that she was a reformed hooker or something along those lines...

[Dog Gone]

The nice thing is that this is the last we'll hear of Dan Morales. At one time, he was the Texas Democrats' poster boy destined for great things.

He won't even be allowed to vote again during his lifetime.

Now that he and Henry Cisneros have crashed and burned, the Democrats are fresh out of rising hispanic stars.

Actually, the rising hispanic star of Texas politics may be the next mayor of Houston, Orlando Sanchez, a conservative Republican.

[Dog Gone]

His wife was a former stripper, although she had retired from that by the time Morales met her.

[Bogey78O]

"David Duke, Former klansman and Republican candidate for governor...."

That's the way it is...

[deport]

Heck Duke, Edwin Edwards and Morales may all wind up in the same facility.....