What did he do? He was "convicted on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering...," according to the Texas Tribune. In fact, his campaign aides did the dirty but DeLay admitted he knew what they were doing. That money ended up buying seats for several Republican candidates in the Texas state legislature.
Republicans took control of the Legislature for the first time in modern history and in 2003 pushed through a redistricting plan, which had already been orchestrated by Mr. DeLay, that sent more Texas Republicans to Congress in 2004 and helped him consolidate power. ...NYT
Texas went from being a blueish to a purple/red state to and to being yet another state in which redistricting was manipulated to give it a "permanent" Republican majority. Texas wound up with a map of voting districts which looked in some places like worms copulating.
Now a Texas jury has found Tom DeLay guilty and he could get a stiff sentence (and probably more than deserves it). But he has the appeal process ahead of his and probably Texas' most audacious and competent defense lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, to help him through it.
Besides, since that time the Supreme Court has taken the lid off corporate donations. That decision may well affect the thinking of another jury in another venue.
To be guilty of money laundering, the prosecution had to show the money had been obtained through an illegal activity before it was laundered.
The jury consisted of a Republican, six Democrats, two independent conservatives and three independent liberals.
Prosecutors presented a mountain of circumstantial evidence — e-mails, telephone records, calendars, brochures and other documents — trying to persuade jurors that Mr. DeLay played a leading role in the plan and intended to break the Texas election law from the moment his political operatives solicited the donations.
Attorney DeGuerin will use the same defense the US Chamber of Commerce did when accused of helping to pour foreign money into the 2010 midterms: "... There was a firewall... it wasn't the same money..."
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Update: The appeals process is kicking off now for Tom DeLay. Updates from the wire services and the Houston Chronicle.
