Judge Removed From DeLay's Criminal Case

Tuesday November 1, 2005 8:46 PM

AP Photo TXEG101

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Republican U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay will get a new judge to preside over his criminal case after his attorneys successfully argued Tuesday that the judge's political donations created a conflict.

State Judge Bob Perkins, who has made campaign donations to Democrats, will be replaced by another judge, said C. W. Duncan, the judge deciding the recusal motion by DeLay. That judge was not named Tuesday.

``This is the wrong case for Judge Perkins to judge because of his perfectly permissible activity as a Democrat and as a partisan and as a supporter of Democratic causes,'' DeLay's attorney Dick DeGuerin said after the four-hour hearing.

DeLay, the former House Majority leader, and two associates are accused of money laundering and conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme that helped increase the GOP's numbers in the Texas Legislature, which later passed a redistricting map that helped put more Republicans in Congress.

DeLay's attorneys repeatedly said during the hearing that they were not accusing Perkins of doing anything wrong, but that there should not be a public perception of partiality in the case.

District Attorney Ronnie Earle, who heads the criminal investigation into DeLay's fund-raising activities, watched in the courtroom while his deputies questioned witnesses. He got up at the end of the hearing and chided DeLay's attorneys for repeatedly calling it a ``political case.''

``This is not a political case; this is a criminal case,'' Earle said. ``Mr. DeLay stands charged with a felony.''

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