Texas Appellate Court Judge Criticizes Colleagues for Delaying Prosecution of Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay

2 Sep 2008 // In a strongly worded dissent to a denial by the Texas Third Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear a case, Democratic Justice Diane Henson wrote that her three Republican colleagues on the bench delayed resolving an issue regarding the breadth of the state’s money laundering statute for years, “effectively tying the hands of prosecutors for several years and delaying the resolution of charges of public corruption that undermine the very core of our political system . . .” Justice Henson also criticized the other justices for concluding that in 2002, the state’s money laundering statute did not cover checks, but only cash. She had urged all six justices on the court, not just the original three judge entirely Republican panel, rehear the case. All four Republicans voted not to rehear the matter while the court’s only other Democrat voted with Justice Henson.

Rep. DeLay and his aides, Jim Ellis and John Colyandro, were charged with laundering $190,000 in corporate checks into campaign donations during the 2002 state legislative elections, despite a law banning corporate contributions after Colyandro and Ellis sent $190,000 in corporate contributions to an arm of the Republican National Committee and just two weeks later, the RNC donated $190,000 in non-corporate money to seven state legislative races in Texas.

Colyandro and Ellis were indicted in 2004 and DeLay in 2005.