Free Republic

RED WING, Minn. -- A Minnesota state trooper appeared in court Tuesday for the first time since being indicted on manslaughter charges in a Fourth of July crash that killed two people in Cannon Falls. A Goodhue County grand jury indicted Scott Reps, 48, on two felony counts of second-degree manslaughter. Reps was released on his own recognizance, the Post-Bulletin reported, and is due back in court Feb. 20. He was indicted on Dec. 16, but the indictment was sealed until his court appearance. In addition to the two felony counts, he also faces one count of failure to drive...

Texas Governor Rick Perry made his first court appearance on Thursday to face felony charges for abuse of power, a case that has cast a shadow over his possible run as Republican candidate in the 2016 presidential election. The pretrial hearing is expected to address procedural matters concerning his indictment. Perry's office has said he will speak after the hearing at a criminal court in Austin. In recent trips to key states in presidential primaries, Perry has tried to use the criminal proceedings to rally support within the Republican Party by portraying himself as the victim of a partisan prosecution....

Well, what fun is that? Many were hoping to munch popcorn and see Rick Perry’s attorneys spend the next few months ripping Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg to shreds over her blatantly political effort to get the Texas governor indicted for cutting off her funding. Accusing Perry of being drunk with power is rather amusing, under the circumstances, but apparently Perry has better things to do with his time: The writ claims the charges of abuse of power and coercion filed against Perry are unconstitutional and that Perry was simply exercising his constitutional veto powers when he vetoed funding...

The country is reeling - especially within the political realm - over the gross abuse of power demonstrated in the indictment of popular Texas Governor Rick Perry. The whole scenario is so bizarre it is almost laughable. There is plenty of corruption in government, but usually it is the garden variety kind, like theft, lying, nepotism, etc., which is corrected with prosecution. This rises to a more disturbing level, because it is the prosecutor who is corrupt. How do you fix that? Rooting out corrupt Democrat lawyers is more difficult than prosecuting regular Americans, due to the incestuous relationship between...

By Texas law, grand jurors are not supposed to talk to the media about their cases.That did not stop several of the Gov. Perry grand jurors from breaking the law, specifically, talking to the Houston Chronicle. The jury, which met weekly for four months, “really tried to keep an open mind and come to a fair decision given all the testimony that we heard,” said Janna Bessin, one of the 12 Travis residents appointed to serve on the grand jury.“It’s too bad,” Bessin said, calling the criticism unfair. “But I guess that his side’s job – to really spin...

Should the grand jury have been transparent or secretive --- concerning the evidence presented by the district attorney, etcetera? Once again, we have a Travis County grand jury indicting yet another high-profile Republican. One was Tom Delay (then House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005) and now presidential aspirant Rick Perry, governor of Texas. The evidence that is presented is under the discretion of the district/prosecuting attorney. This attorney has strong control over the process and the room itself, and there is no one present to provide counter argument(s), and, finally, there is no judge present. If you are a...

“We will continue to aggressively defend the governor’s lawful and constitutional action…”

Even the New York Times editorial board thinks the grand jury indictment of Texas Gov. Rick Perry is baseless. In an editorial dripping with contempt for their own conclusions, the Times is compelled to confess that there is really no there there. “One has to read this editorial to appreciate the angst it engendered in the Gray Lady’s panel of handwringers,” Ed Morrissey observed. “It’s an expert lesson in the use of weasel words.” Conservatives have rallied to Perry’s side following this baseless indictment. Democrats have scrambled to disassociate themselves from his accusers. Many thought that Perry may end up...

Geraldo Rivera wasted no time Tuesday afternoon lighting dynamite under an Outnumbered panel and setting the thing off. The fuse: his conviction that the indictment of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson would be racially tinged, much like the trial of George Zimmerman.

It tells you much about the laughable indictment of Texas governor Rick Perry that it has made him a figure of bipartisan sympathy. Perry was indicted last week for the offense of vetoing an appropriations bill. Not vetoing an appropriations bill in exchange for a bribe. Not vetoing an appropriations bill as a favor to a donor. Not vetoing an appropriations bill in excess of his lawful authority. But simply vetoing an appropriations bill. That Perry could, in theory, face more than 100 years in prison stemming from this veto is so mind-bogglingly stupid that even Democrats and mainstream journalists...

What country is this anymore? On the one hand, we have a Governor threatening and following through on vetoing funding for an out-of-control DA’s office and being indicted for it and on the other, we have the most lawless federal administration the country has ever seen being actively ENCOURAGED by members of the same outraged left to continue to be as lawless as they want to be. And so the fascists march…

Seems like global-socialist Mac daddy George Soros has his evil paw in the sketchy Rick Perry indictment right from the start- the more you dig into these stories these days, the more poop you find. I used to hate conspiracy theory, but these days you can't be suspicious enough. And as you know, this 'Godfather of the Left' has got his tentacles in most every socio-political issue being debated in the United States today- it's unreal.  Now the Texans for Public Justice -one of the groups behind Rick Perry’s indictment charges- is part of a “progressive” coalition that has received $500,000 from hyper-liberal, hyper-rich...

Drunk, Belligerent, Threatening Officers And Kicking The Door To Her Cell: The ugly video of Texas district attorney's DWI arrest that's behind Governor Rick Perry's indictment (Pics in URL) Rosemary Lehmberg, Austin's top prosecutor, was arrested for drunk driving in April 2013 and later pleaded guilty Video from her arrest and booking shows her being abusive toward officers and repeatedly demanding they call the sheriff Perry demanded Lehmberg step down after the arrest and said he would veto funding for her office, but Lehmberg refused Lehmberg ran a public corruption unit that pursued charges against Republicans Perry is charged with...

Audio at link

As you’ve undoubtedly heard by now, a grand jury indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry on two felony counts late Friday. Perry is the first Texas governor to be indicted in office since 1917. He was indicted for threatening to veto funds for the Public Integrity Unit of Travis County’s district attorney’s office, because the head of that office, District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, had been caught drunk driving, and was later caught on tape abusing her power to try to get out of the DWI charge. Though that office runs out of Travis County, it has statewide jurisdiction over elected officials...

[SNIP] According to the Associated Press, via the Huffington Post: Perry was indicted on charges of abuse of official capacity, a first-degree felony with potential punishments of five to 99 years in prison, and coercion of a public servant, a third-degree felony that carries a punishment of two to 10 years. Perry was a presidential hopeful in 2012, and is expected to make a run in 2016. Perry is a Republican; Lehmberg, who was sentenced to 45 days for driving while intoxicated, is a Democrat, and repeatedly refused the governor’s calls to resign.What follows is booking footage from Lehmberg’s arrest....

AUSTIN — Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Saturday that the indictment against him was an “outrageous” abuse of power and vowed to fight it. “This indictment amounts to nothing more than abuse of power and I cannot and will not allow that to happen,” Perry said at a news conference on Saturday. Perry spoke a day after a grand jury indicted the Republican on two felony counts of abuse of power for making good on a veto threat. He dismissed the prosecution as a “farce.” A special prosecutor spent months calling witnesses and presenting evidence that Perry broke the law...

Governor Rick Perry refused to fund Lehmberg’s office. So on Friday Democrats decided to make a stand for drunk drivers everywhere and indict Governor Rick Perry. On Saturday Governor Rick Perry held a press conference. Rick stands by his decision. Here’s what the governor had to say about the indictment. “Here’s what I think is really important for the people to understand, not just Texans but this country. And, that is, we have seen an office in the form of the Travis County District Attorney’s office. The lead, legal individual for criminal affairs in this county and overseeing public officials...

Yesterday, Rick Perry was indicted on charges of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant – felonies that could potentially result in a life sentence – after following through on his promise to veto state prosecutors investigating public corruption. The left-leaning advocacy group, Texans for Public Justice, has largely pushed the issue, which stems from Perry threatening to cut $7.5 million over two years from the public integrity unit in order to pressure Rosemary Lehmberg, the Travis County District Attorney whose office oversaw that unit, to resign after she was convicted of driving under the influence. While...

New York Congressman Michael Grimm, a former Marine and FBI agent, surrendered to the FBI today to face charges of fraud, perjury and obstruction. Grimm, a Republican from New York City's borough of Staten Island, had gained notoriety when he was caught on tape after the State of the Union speech earlier this year threatening to throw a reporter off the Capitol's balcony and said he would "break you in half, like a boy."