No Big Surprise Here

I mentioned in a post the we should let Tom DeLay be innocent until proven guilty.

And now it looks like it's going to be hard to prove him guilty.

DeLay's prosecutors lack a key document

They don't have list of candidates at the heart of the laundering case, just a 'similar' one

AUSTIN - Travis County prosecutors admitted Friday they lack physical proof of a list of Republican candidates that is at the heart of money-laundering indictments against U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay and two of his associates... ...Indictments against DeLay, Jim Ellis and John Colyandro state that Ellis gave "a document that contained the names of several candidates for the Texas House" to a Republican National Committee official in 2002 in a scheme to swap $190,000 in restricted corporate money for the same amount of money from individuals that could be legally used by Texas candidates.

But prosecutors said Friday in court that they only had a "similar" list and not the one allegedly received by then-RNC Deputy Director Terry Nelson. Late in the day, they released a list of 17 Republican candidates, but only seven are alleged to have received money in the scheme.

That doesn't sound good for the prosecution, they have a list, but not the list?

Ellis' attorney J.D. Pauerstein had a field day with this.

"I'll tell you what I think about this list. In the 1950s, a man named McCarthy claimed to have a list of 200 communists in the State Department, and he didn't," said J.D. Pauerstein, a lawyer for Jim Ellis, the director of DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority. "They (prosecutors) don't know what list they're talking about, even though they specify it in their indictment."

"On top of that, they are now subpoenaing cell phone records of Jim Ellis' 17-year-old daughter. This is a prosecution that has run amok. It's time for this to stop," Pauerstein said. "I guess they think Jim's 17-year-old daughter is a money launderer. I think it's outrageous that they're doing that to the young lady."

Well, what can you say, when they make it so easy. I like the part about a 'prosecution that has run amok.' Amok is such a fun word.

DeLay's attorney had something to say as well...

DeLay's lawyer, Dick DeGuerin of Houston, was not present in court Friday. But he later said the lack of a list "destroys" District Attorney Ronnie Earle's case against the three men.

"That's astonishing, astonishing that they would get a grand jury to indict and allege there is a list and then they have to admit in open court the first time they appear in open court that there is no list," DeGuerin said.

I'm not saying the 3 defendants are positively innocent, but seriously, get your act together if you are going make such serious allegations

I think the fact that a grown man, that has ascended to the position of District Attorney, and still goes by the name 'Ronnie', says it all.