The money laundering charge was the first action from a new Travis County grand jury, which started their term today. It came just hours after DeLay's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the case.
The motion was based on the argument that the conspiracy charge against DeLay was based on a law that wasn't effective until 2003, the year after the alleged money transfers.
Sounds like DeGuerin's playing silly games.
George Dix, a professor at the University of Texas law school who is an expert in criminal law and procedure, said he doesn't believe changes made to the Texas election code by the 2003 legislature have any effect on the conspiracy charge.
The penal code's conspiracy charge allows for the charge if the defendants allegedly conspired to commit any felony, including an election code felony.
Just because the election code was "silent" on the penal code provision until 2003, it doesn't mean it wasn't a valid charge before 2003, Dix said.
"To me it just says, 'We really mean what we said implicitly before,' " Dix said.
So, the law essentially changed from covering any felony to covering any felony including election law felonies. Department of redundancy department.