Delay and Earle - Rounds One and Two
What has happened since the indictment? First the foreman of the grand jury William Gibson conceded that his decision to indict had nothing to do with the facts presented to the grand jury, but with his anger at political ads. Here is a short excerpt from an interview on KBLJ radio:
Grand Jury Foreman William Gibson: All this all came out way before I was on the grand jury, these mailers were in your paper, in Austin paper, everyone else's paper, they flooding the market around here. But those were way before I ever went on the grand jury and my decision was based on upon those (the TAB ads,) not what might have happened in the grand jury room...
KLBJ host: Oh. Ok. Your mind was made up after you learned about the ads.
William Gibson: Right, those ads, way back. telling people how, so-called freedom of the speech deal, and I looked at it and they are just telling people go vote for that person, go vote for that person.
KLBJ host: So they didn't have to persuade you in the grand jury with any evidence, you already...
William Gibson: That was already public knowledge there and way back (unintelligible)...they stated their positions and I could state my position by say I don't like that.
This does not represent the sort of fairness, one normally expects from a grand juror and one can reasonably call into question the evenhandedness of the indictment process.
Second, there have been questionable and extraordinary legal maneuverings by Earle since the original indictment. After there was a technical issue arising out of the first indictment, Earle rushed back to obtain a new indictment on a slightly different alleged transgression surrounding the same campaign finance issues of the original indictment. The grand jury reported ``No Bill'' indicating no indictment would be returned. The Associated Press reports that Earle was visibly angry at the obstinate jurors. The reported incident is not consistent with a dispassionate DA. Frustrated, Earle rushed a newly impaneled to return an additional indictment against Delay.
None of these events proves that Earle is out of control and Delay could still be guilty even if Earle is overly aggressive in his legal pursuit of Delay. However, people deserved to know about the extraordinary events surrounding the indictment of the former House Majority Leader. The main stream media have failed news consumers once again. At the same time, these traditional news sources
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