AP reports that Texas’s highest criminal appeals court said today it would consider reinstating a conspiracy charge against Tom DeLay, further delaying his felony money laundering trial. As a reminder:
Prosecutors accuse DeLay and the two consultants of violating state law by funneling $190,000 in illegal corporate money to the Republican National Committee, which then donated the same amount to Texas candidates. Under Texas law, corporate money can’t be directly used for political campaigns.
DeLay and the consultants, Jim Ellis and John Colyandro, say the transaction was legal.
The dispute over the dismissed charge centers on whether the conspiracy statute applied to the state’s election code in 2002. DeLay was accused of conspiring to violate the election code, but his attorneys say that transaction was not illegal at the time. DeGuerin says the dropped charge accuses DeLay of conspiring to violate the election code as it stood in 2003.
The other conspiracy count DeLay faces accuses him of conspiring to launder money.
