As if we needed any more

Additional evidence that Texas attorney general Greg Abbott is simply the very worst of a wretched lot in Austin. Emphasis is mine, first person voice is Rick Casey's:

Five years ago I asked readers to feel sorry for Assistant Attorney General Gena Bunn.

Now I'm asking you to feel sorry for Assistant Attorney General Katherine Hayes.

It was Bunn's job, I wrote, to go "with a straight face" before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of death row inmate Delma Banks "and argue that the state of Texas should be able to suborn perjury and hide evidence with impunity in its quest to get the death penalty."

She had to admit that prosecutors had stood silent while two key witnesses lied under oath during Banks' two-day trial in 1980 for the murder of a 16-year-old co-worker.

She argued that defense attorneys had waited too long to raise the issue, even though the delay was caused by the prosecutors' cover-up of the evidence.

The justices were not receptive.

"Wasn't it the obligation of the prosecution, having deceived the jury and the court, to come clean?" asked Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

"So the prosecution can lie and conceal, and the defense still has the burden to discover the evidence?" challenged Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.

The arguments advanced by Bunn had worked at the prosecution-oriented U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, but Bunn found no sympathy at the Supreme Court. It took that body — including archconservatives Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas — just 10 weeks to issue a stinging slap to the state of Texas and to the 5th Circuit.

In the unanimous opinion, Ginsburg wrote that it was "appropriate for Banks to assume that his prosecutors would not stoop to improper litigation conduct to advance prospects for getting a conviction."

The court sent the case back down, ordering a full examination of the facts to determine whether Banks should get a new trial. It also overturned the death sentence. (Scalia joined Thomas in dissenting from this portion, though Thomas called it a "close call.")

After examining the evidence and hearing arguments from both sides, U.S. District Judge David Folsom of Texarkana ruled that Banks must be either retried or freed.

He noted that Charles Cook was a key witness at the trial, being the only witness to testify that Banks had said he killed the victim and the only one to provide a motive.

And, wrote Folsom, "Cook's testimony on these issues was uncorroborated."

It is undisputed that on the stand Cook said three times he had not talked to anyone before giving his testimony. For 16 years, prosecutors hid proof that Cook was lying.

Only in 1996, under a federal court order, did they turn over a 38-page transcript of a coaching session Cook received just days before he testified. Present were a prosecutor, a DA's investigator and the deputy who led the murder investigation.

Quoting the transcript, Folsom writes: "Cook's misrepresentation at trial — claiming that he had not been coached — is particularly significant in light of how extensively Cook was coached."

For example, a number of things Cook said during that session differed from the statements he had given originally, the kinds of inconsistencies defense attorneys thrive on.

What's more, Cook admitted on the stand he had been convicted of felony assault but "forgot" who the victim was.

Yet during the coaching session a few days earlier he had identified her as a schoolteacher. The AG's office argued that Cook thought the defense attorney was asking for a name, but Folsom wrote that the "name is clearly not what the defense was seeking."

And a handwritten note by one of Cook's handlers on the coaching session transcript next to the mention of the schoolteacher said, "do not say."

Prosecutors didn't want the jurors knowing their star witness beat up schoolteachers.

(Yesterday) Assistant Attorney General Hayes (appeared) in New Orleans and, based on a technicality, ask the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn Folsom.

A major argument amounts to raising a technicality. The state argues that Banks' attorneys didn't give proper notice that they were using the coaching transcript in their case.

Having hidden the damning transcript for 16 years, prosecutors are saying defense attorneys aren't playing fair.

Both a federal magistrate and Judge Folsom ruled that proper notice was given when Banks' attorneys, without objection from the state, introduced the transcript at an earlier hearing and asked witnesses numerous questions about it.

Hayes may get a favorable reception in New Orleans. It's the same three-judge panel that didn't see any problems years ago. But then this already outrageously long legal process will go back to the high court.

There's a better course. Shouldn't Attorney General Greg Abbott, whose job presumably bears some relationship to the pursuit of justice, be chastising prosecutors for breaking the law rather than defending them?

I certainly hope all of the Republicans who read and comment at Chron.com remember this when Abbott announces his intention to run for re-election (or lt. governor, or governor) in 2010 and beyond.

So THAT's why Tom DeLay isn't in prison yet

Scott Horton at Harper's:

In theory, our legal system affords equal access to justice. But, as George Orwell offers in Animal Farm, some of us are more equal than others, and Tom DeLay is, in Texas politics, the most equal of all. Texas courts, which are notoriously political, are packed with Republicans who owe their careers to Tom DeLay, directly or indirectly. That makes the justice dealt out in the DeLay case justice without equal.

DeLay is now facing trial in Austin on charges of money-laundering. But his case has been bottled up by an appeals court dominated by Republicans. Ronnie Earle, a legendary prosecutor who has taken down far more Democrats than Republicans in his day, had hoped to end his career with this trial–but DeLay’s fellow Republicans insured that this would not happen. They waited patiently for Earle to retire and then handed down a preliminary ruling. The Republican judges find no reason why one of their colleagues who, before coming on the bench, said the DeLay prosecution was “politically motivated” could not then rule on the case. That reflects a novel understanding of the canons of judicial ethics, which–at least in places other than Texas–require that a judge handle his matters impartially. When a judge expresses an opinion on the merits of a case before it comes to him, that is prejudgment. It disqualifies him from participating in the case. Why this extraordinary departure from settled rules of judicial ethics? It appears that with one Republican recused, the court would have a tie vote, and DeLay would be denied the deus ex machina he is waiting for: a court ruling that the prosecution’s case is fatally defective.

As the Houston Chronicle reports today, the Republican majority on the court even blocked the two Democratic justices from filing dissenting opinions.

And what did the Houston Chronicle report yesterday?

The polarized state appeals court has ruled that Republican Justice Alan Waldrop did not have to excuse himself from a case against two associates of former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

The ruling from the 3rd Court of Appeals does not immediately affect the money-laundering charges against DeLay and his associates, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis.

DeLay and his associates, John Colyandro of Austin and Jim Ellis of Washington, have been accused of laundering corporate money into political donations to Republican candidates in 2002. Use of corporate money is generally banned from state campaigns.

Before any trial, Ellis and Colyandro challenged the constitutionality of the law.

Last September, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle asked the court to remove Waldrop because Earle claimed Waldrop betrayed his bias four years ago, before he became a judge. Earle alleged that bias was betrayed when Waldrop called a similar money-laundering allegation in a related civil lawsuit "politically motivated" and an attempt to "harass political opponents." At the time, Waldrop was representing a client who was a political ally of DeLay.

Waldrop wrote an opinion in August that upheld the constitutionality of the law on money laundering but warned that the prosecutors had a fatal flaw in their case, a view that two trial judges and one other appellate judges have disagreed with.

Waldrop, Chief Justice Ken Law and a third Republican justice, Robert Pemberton, wrote that the charges against DeLay and his associates should be dismissed because they used a check, not cash, in their transaction. Waldrop argued that the law — before it was changed in 2005 — did not cover checks during the 2002 election.

Two Democratic justices on the 3rd Court objected.

Justice Jan Patterson, a Democrat on the Austin-based state appeals court, claimed last year that Law, blocked the filing of her dissent to a ruling in October. The ruling overruled a motion asking Waldrop to step aside in the money-laundering case involving DeLay's associates.

Justice Diane Henson complained that her GOP colleagues were wrong about the money-laundering law and had bottled up the case for years to thwart prosecution of the high-profile case.

On Wednesday, the Republican majority struck back in an opinion written by Justice David Puryear. Law and Pemberton joined in Puryear's opinion. Puryear criticized Patterson's "attempts to insert suspicion and intrigue into what have been routine decisions by this Court," the Austin American-Statesman reported in an online story Friday.

Henson argued that a reasonable person would question whether Waldrop might favor DeLay's associates because of his earlier work with DeLay's political allies.

"One might also question why, if Justice Waldrop's lack of bias or partiality is so obvious, a 38-page opinion, including personal attacks on dissenting justices, was necessary to explain why the motion to recuse was denied," she wrote.

Earle just retired and Law's term ended Wednesday.

The old "it's not money-laundering if it's a check" trick again. Let' see now; where have we written about Alan Waldrop and David Puryear before?

Back to Horton for the obvious conclusion ...

Texas was once famous for Judge Roy Bean, who following various homicides and petty offenses established himself as the “law west of the Pecos.” Bean’s first act in judicial office was to shoot up the saloon of a Jewish competitor. Now Texas is home to Tulia, where in the governorship of George W. Bush forty African-Americans were arrested on bogus drug charges by a racist cop, and it’s the state that sent Alberto Gonzales to Washington as attorney general. Its notions of justice are transparent from cases like the DeLay prosecution, in which we get a glimpse of the most ferociously partisan judges in the country. Did Reconstruction end too soon?

(insert The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" catch phrase here)

It's been a little overused in blog headlines of late. So anyway, I suppose I can believe now:

Joe Straus, a legislator from San Antonio with just one full legislative session behind him, all but assured his election as the next speaker of the House on Monday, picking up at least 12 more pledges from House members and losing his only remaining opponent.

Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, dropped out of the race Monday afternoon. Smithee was endorsed by Speaker Tom Craddick on Sunday after Craddick had given up the fight for a fourth term as the House's leader.

Straus, 49, said more than 100 House members were now committed to vote for him when the session convenes Jan. 13. The minimum number required for election as speaker is 76. ...

Straus stands to become only the second urban House speaker in 70 years and the first since Gib Lewis of Fort Worth won the powerful office in 1983. Only one other San Antonio member has been elected House speaker: Chester Terrell in 1913. The last Houston House speaker was R. Emmett Morse in 1939.

Vince thinks Straus is bad news for Democratic prospects of taking back the House, especially in 2010 when redistricting will be on the slate. Philip, not so much. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

A post-Craddick Wrangle

As Will Hartnett, Sid Miller, and Alexis DeLee prepare the body for viewing, let's catch up on last week's postings from the blogs of the Texas Progressive Alliance.

BossKitty at TruthHugger sees the USA is not the "goodie two shoes" it claims to be. Among other discrepancies, euphemisms don't change hard cold facts: US Teaches Terrorism As “Irregular Warfare”.

SHOCKING! How Exxon Fixes Benzene Leaks. Also at Bluedaze: links to the five-part series, Behnd the Shale. Part five highlights blogger TXsharon.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme notes the monarchists are using words like 'insurgency', 'coupe d'etat' and 'overthrow' to describe the Speaker's race.

Neil at Texas Liberal wrote about how our terrible Texas Senator John Cornyn is silent on hard economic times in Texas, but quite vocal about the Senate race in Minnesota.

The Texas Cloverleaf looks at the possibility of a higher federal gas tax, and offers suggestion on new ideas.

Off the Kuff looks at various possibilities for the presumed eventual special election to replace Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Senate.

jobsanger addressed both political and lifestyle issues last week. First, he answered those who questioned the qualification of Caroline Kennedy to be a senator in Is Kennedy Qualified?, and then expressed his amusement that a swinger's club exists in the absurdly religious Texas Panhandle in Panhandle Swingers - Who Knew?

PDiddie at Brains and Eggs remains skeptical about the prospects of Tom Craddick being unseated. He's still got Hope for Change, he just isn't sure that the Republicans have it in them.

McBlogger this week takes a look at the hard times some are having the Bush's 'Economic Miracle'. Mayor McSleaze gives us an inside look at a Wendy's in DC metro that has a Supreme new employee.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson says that Ronnie Earle should run for Governor of Texas.

Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at Joe Strauss, the candidate for speaker anointed by the 11 "Anybody But Craddick" Republicans and now the presumed Speaker.

Do you think he's really dead this time?

I can't quite shake the feeling that I'm watching one of the thirteen Halloween films and that Michael Myers Tom Craddick, though he has been shoved out a third-story window, is going to rise yet again to savage the naive teenagers the House Democrats, not to mention poor Texas children and most of the rest of the state's population as well -- excepting a few conservative politicians and lobbyists, and thousands of corporate executives.

(Hell of a run-on sentence that was.)

It's still a week before the vote. I think I'll hold off on the cheering until they drive a stake through his heart AND cut off his head, as in Bram Stoker's versions.

Meanwhile you can raise a post-New Year's toast with those who are celebrating (I certainly don't mean to rain on anyone else's parade).

The new dog's name is Lucky

She's a pittie, about two years old, found us on our walk on New Year's Eve. Wonderful disposition -- sweet, calm, loves to play with the #1 dog. We're going to keep trying to find her owner before we decide to keep her. All of the so-called "no-kill" shelters aren't really when it comes to a pit bull. The breed gets a bad rap.