Tom DeLay

Tom DeLay who happens to be one of the former United States House Majority Leader and the one to actually rise as one of the extremely powerful politician in America has been given the verdict. According to what we have received on the latest of the grounds, the verdict against Tom DeLay came in on Monday that stated his imprisonment for three years. Not only this, a ten years of probation for money laundering on political level was also the part of the announcement.
At the time when the final verdict was given, Tom DeLay seemed as if he was unaffected but Christine, his wife and daughter actually broke into tears.
DeLay was stoic, but his wife, Christine, and his daughter, Dani DeLay Garcia, broke into tears.
Five Travis County sheriff’s deputies quickly shepherded DeLay from the courtroom to the county jail, where he posted $10,000 appeal bail. He emerged almost three hours later and, aided by three bodyguards, pushed past reporters without comment.
“This will not stand,” DeLay defense attorney Dick DeGuerin tersely told reporters.
State District Judge Pat Priest gave DeLay 30 days to file for a new trial or give notice of appeal.
Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg said she was pleased with the sentence imposed by Priest. She noted that Priest was appointed to the case by Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, a Republican, as is DeLay.
“It will send a message. … Corporate contributions are illegal in Texas. You can’t give them to candidates directly, and you can’t give them to candidates indirectly,” Lehmberg said.
DeLay was convicted by a jury in November of participating in a scheme to convert $190,000 in corporate donations into cash that could be used by seven Republican state House candidates in the 2002 elections. The ultimate object was to affect redistricting for U.S. House seats.
DeLay told the judge that Democrats had been trying to find a way to destroy him since 1995. Everything he did, he said, was scrutinized by lawyers and accountants.
“I can’t be remorseful for something I don’t think I did,” DeLay told the judge.
But Priest told DeLay that he believed DeLay knew about and helped direct the scheme. Priest noted that Republican National Committee political director Terry Nelson testified that he knew of no other instance of corporate money being traded specifically for money raised from individuals for use in a state like Texas that bans corporate money from campaigns.

The Houston Chronicle tried to get comment from Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, both Republicans, as well as members of the U.S. House from both parties. None responded.

Tom DeLay