Free Republic

AUSTIN—Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle on Friday announced he won’t seek re-election next year. The 65-year-old Democrat was at the center of the criminal investigation of Republican former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. DeLay quit Congress last year. Earle’s term has one year remaining, and his resignation will bring to an end to his three-decade reign in which he battled some of the biggest names in Texas politics. Earle has been criticized by DeLay and other Republicans, who say some of his prosecutions of elected leaders are politically motivated. "This is a no-brainer for him. He never had...

No, I'm NOT being metaphorical nor am I kidding. If I wasn't having so much fun laughing at Ronnie Earle, I might even wish that it weren't true. Evidently Travis County DA Ronnie Earle - who is once again back in the running for most politically-driven DA in the nation now that Mike Nifong has been disbarred - is involved in this New Age, "re-discover your masculinity" cult called the ManKind Project. That's according to the liberal Houston Press. And boy does this outfit sound scary. Forty men at a time strip down and do tribal dances and beat cooked...

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay finally won one Wednesday in his effort to beat back a campaign-related indictment in Texas. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decided not to reinstate one charge of conspiracy to violate a state election law that had already been thrown out by a lower court judge.

Texas High Court Dismisses Charge Against DeLay, Big Three Ignore It Posted by Matthew Sheffield on June 28, 2007 - 00:37. After immediately jumping on the news that then-House majority leader Tom DeLay was indicted by a Democratic Texas prosecutor, the big three networks refused to mention the Wednesday news that the Texas supreme court has approved the dismissal of one of the charges against him.The charges were originally dismissed by a lower court judge (an event which the big three just barely covered) who ruled that the laws under which the former congressman was indicted did not exist during...

AUSTIN, Texas - The state's highest criminal court on Wednesday refused to reinstate a dropped conspiracy charge against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

“The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals today ruled that I was wrongfully indicted by Ronnie Earle, the Mike Nifong of Texas, on laws that didn’t even exist. The court affirmed the decision to throw out the conspiracy indictments because they were based on laws that weren’t even on the books. What Ronnie Earle accomplished is no rookie error – it’s a political attack using our legal system as the primary weapon. “Ronnie Earle’s politically motivated indictments cost Republicans the leader of their choice, and my family hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. The damage he has done to...

Judge hears new TAB indictment Travis district attorney hopes for different result this time around. By Laylan Copelin AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Thursday, June 07, 2007 Travis County prosecutors urged a judge Wednesday to look at the conduct of the Texas Association of Business in reconsidering whether the group should be tried on charges that it violated election laws during the 2002 campaign. Last year, State District Judge Mike Lynch dismissed a felony indictment accusing the state's largest business group of breaking the law by using $1.7 million in corporate money to send 4 million mailers to voters in two dozen legislative...

THIS IS AN EXCERPT --- ENTIRE STORY HERE. A Father’s Grief -- How Sanctuary Laws are Protecting Criminals And Killing Our Children Page 1 Jenny’s friends and family, in their impact statements, used more than a hundred glowing adjectives to describe the outstanding character of the college co-ed. Perhaps the most poignant image of this family’s loss is one that is seared in her father’s memory: that of the vibrantly alive Jenny, lying next to her mother,their heads on the same pillow, giggling and laughing, sharing mother and daughter intimacies. When Humberto Garcia woke up the morning of January...

Answer: they are cesspools of liberal control, with residents of New Orleans unwilling or unable to help themselves after Katrina, and with students and faculty of both schools so steeped in political correctness and multiculturalism that white students and conservative speakers are harassed and threatened while their administration stands by in embarrassed or willing silence. Could anyone watch 60 Minutes without cringing as the president of Duke University tried to explain why Duke allowed its faculty and students to pummel the Duke lacrosse players?

AUSTIN — Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is suing to keep secret the details about his investigation of indicted former House majority leader Tom DeLay. The Houston Chronicle filed a request under Texas' open records law in March seeking vouchers, hotel and airfare receipts, budget documents, memos and e-mails describing the expenses for the DeLay inquiry and related investigations. DeLay, indicted last year on conspiracy and money laundering charges connected to the financing of 2002 state legislative races, resigned from Congress on June 9. Earle, in his attempt to keep details of his investigation out of public view, appealed...

AUSTIN — Prosecutors in the case against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay have asked Texas' highest criminal court to reinstate an indictment accusing the former House majority leader and two associates of conspiring to violate state election laws. The appeal filed with the Court of Criminal Appeals Friday had been expected. It likely postpones a trial for the Sugar Land Republican on a separate money laundering charge. A Travis County grand jury indicted DeLay and political consultants John Colyandro and Jim Ellis last year on money laundering and conspiracy charges. A district judge later threw out the conspiracy indictment and let...

I was sitting at the computer reading about the cruise my daughter and I are taking this weekend, when the phone rings, and a womans voice announces that there is a message for concerned West virginians. She then goes on to say that Shelly Moore Capito is a friend of indicted Tom Delay etc, etc, etc... I hung up about then, but thought, damn, the Dems are getting worried for some reason. I wish Shelly had chosen to take on "Sheets"!

Rep. Tom DeLay says he made the decision to leave Congress after taking a poll in his Texas district which showed he had no better than a 50-50 chance of winning reelection this November. In a long discussion with conservative journalists Tuesday afternoon, DeLay discussed the Republican primary he faced last month, which he won with 62 percent of the vote. While some observers called that an impressive win, given the controversy that surrounds DeLay, the congressman himself said that was when he knew he had a problem. "After the primary — you get a sixth sense about this stuff,"...

Live on Fox news no link

AUSTIN — A state appeals court today threw out more than 30 subpoenas requested by Travis County prosecutors building a criminal case against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, saying the investigation should have stopped in December when a district judge halted proceedings in his court. District Attorney Ronnie Earle has been issuing the subpoenas ever since Senior District Judge Pat Priest dismissed all or part of three indictments against DeLay, R-Sugar Land.

DeLay Gets Court to Halt, Void Subpoenas Mar 13, 7:09 PM (ET) By SUZANNE GAMBOA WASHINGTON (AP) - A Texas appeals court Monday granted Rep. Tom DeLay's request to stop a prosecutor from filing subpoenas in the former majority leader's pending money laundering case. The Third Court of Appeals panel in Austin, Texas, also said that several subpoenas issued by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle are null and void because DeLay's trial is on hold. In addition, any outstanding subpoenas issued before the trial was put on hold are suspended during the stay, the court said.

arly voting results in the Fort Bend County Republican primary election show U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay with more than twice the vote of his nearest rival, at more than 59%. Republican challenger Tom Campbell has 28.74% of the vote, followed by Mike Fjetland with 6.93% and Pat Baig with 4.65%. Ron Paul, incumbent congressman in District 14, polled more than 80% of the Fort Bend County early vote, while challenger Cynthia Sinatra got 19.41%. Glenn Hegar took the early-voting lead in the race for Texas Sen. District 18, with 2,292 – or more than 57% – of the vote, while...

AUSTIN, Texas -- Ronnie Earle, awaiting the media-driven frenzy of prosecuting former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, may be involved in another courtroom drama this summer. In 1996, Lacresha Murray was 11 when the Travis County district attorney indicted her on capital murder charges -- the youngest person charged with that crime in Texas. Miss Murray was a suspect in the death of a 2-year-old at her grandmother's day care center in May 1996. The toddler, Jayla Belton, lost consciousness and was rushed to a local hospital, where she died. Investigators found no forensic evidence, but on the basis of...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Prosecutors investigating former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on felony conspiracy and money laundering charges are seeking bank records for the Texas Republican Party. District Attorney Ronnie Earle issued a subpoena Thursday ordering Frost Bank to produce monthly statements and signature cards from August 2002 to January 2003 for accounts connected to the party or the Texas Republican Congressional Committee. DeLay attorney Dick DeGuerin said the subpoenas are not enforceable because the charges are still under appeal. "There's no setting, no trial, nothing that can be enforced," DeGuerin said. "Whoever gets (the subpoena), they can wad...

This weekend, Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) announced that he would not seek to regain his post as Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. DeLay was forced to step down temporarily from his leadership position because he is currently under indictment by Texas Democrat District Attorney Ronnie Earle. DeLay has not been convicted of anything, but the rules for the Republican Caucus in the House are different from those of the Democrats, and the mere indictment is sufficient for a Republican member to step aside from a leadership role. Unfortunately for DeLay, the Republican Party has once again shown...