<p>Being in Chicago,</p>
<p>Delay? Daley? It’s all so confusing…</p>
<p>I heard on TV last night (understandably not necessarily a reliable source), that the reason Delay waived the statute of limitations is that if he hadn’t, Earle would have indicted him before the statute of limitations ran out. The waiver gave Delay more time as Speaker, because Delay was required to step down once there was an indictment. So it was in his self interest to waive the statute of limitations. I don’t know the specifics of the rule, but as a political matter, Delay didn’t have much leeway about how quickly he needed to give up his postion as Speaker.</p>
<p>Oops. In my previous post, I meant to say that DeLay was the House Majority Leader, not the Speaker.</p>
<p>And wasn’t it great that his “replacement” gave him thousands of dollars for his “defense” fund?</p>
<p>just follow the slug trail</p>
<p>Strick,</p>
<p>The conspiracy language doesn’t actually appear in theTexas Elections Code - it’s in Section 15.02 of the Penal Code. Venue for criminal conspiracies is defined in Article 13.13 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.</p>
<p>Delay hasn’t been charged himself with violating the Elections code - he was charged only with entering into a criminal conspiracy in violation of Article 13.13 of the Texas Penal Code. While it’s true the the object of the alleged criminal conspiracy consisted of an alleged violation of the Election Code, the venue statute applicable to conspiracies is what applies here.</p>
<p>Here’s Section 15.03 of the Texas Penal Code:</p>
<p>§ 15.02. CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY. (a) A person commits
criminal conspiracy if, with intent that a felony be committed:
(1) he agrees with one or more persons that they or one or more of them engage in conduct that would constitute the offense; and
(2) he or one or more of them performs an overt act in pursuance of the agreement.
(b) An agreement constituting a conspiracy may be inferred
from acts of the parties.
(c) It is no defense to prosecution for criminal conspiracy
that:<br>
(1) one or more of the coconspirators is not
criminally responsible for the object offense;
(2) one or more of the coconspirators has been
acquitted, so long as two or more coconspirators have not been
acquitted;
(3) one or more of the coconspirators has not been
prosecuted or convicted, has been convicted of a different offense,
or is immune from prosecution;
(4) the actor belongs to a class of persons that by
definition of the object offense is legally incapable of committing
the object offense in an individual capacity; or
(5) the object offense was actually committed.<br>
(d) An offense under this section is one category lower than
the most serious felony that is the object of the conspiracy, and if
the most serious felony that is the object of the conspiracy is a
state jail felony, the offense is a Class A misdemeanor.</p>