The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals "gave new hope for a speedy trial" to Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), "although DeLay still faces a serious time crunch in his bid to be reinstated as House Majority Leader," Roll Call reports.
"The stateís highest criminal court has given Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle one week to file a brief in response to DeLayís request for a speedy trial on state money-laundering charges. Earle is appealing a ruling by a lower-court judge that threw out part of the original indictment against DeLay, which included a criminal conspiracy count in addition to the money-laundering charge. That appeal could take several months to complete, which would put off the start of a trial for so long that DeLay would have difficulty reclaiming his Majority Leader post."
Key fact: "The Court of Criminal Appeals is comprised of nine Republican judges, and they could either throw out the charges entirely or order an immediate trial for DeLay in the money-laundering case."
The Austin American-Statesman notes that "if the high court decides not to throw out the charges," it would "slow the case and could stop DeLay from regaining his leadership post."
