DeLay's Lawyers Supoena District Attorney
Lawyers representing Tom DeLay served prosecutor Ronnie Earle with a supoena, alleging misconduct with the grand jury. This is probably just a political move to sway public opinion toward DeLay, but I'm guessing it won't work at this point. The allegation seems to stem from a conversation Earle had with grand jury foreman William Gibson, which does not seem to fit the legal defination of a conflict of interest.
I know how grand juries work, and DeLay is probably hoping most people do not. A grand jury receives instructions from the district attorney, and they may ask questions about the procedure during this time, since grand jury members are not, and should not be, experts in the legal code and legal procedures. The district attorney will then call witnesses, who are granted immunity for their testimony, unless they are a defendant or a defense witness (which is unusual), in which case they must waive their immunity in order to testify. After witness testimony, the district attorney gives the jurors more instructions, and then they will vote either to indict, to not indict, or abstain. An indictment just means that the defendant will be tried by the court in front of a jury of his peers. The grand jury will usually serve a term of several months, in which time they will decide on indictments on dozens of cases. They may also make decisions on what types of evidence investigators can pursue (such as bank records, private email accounts, etc). During this process it IS NOT unusual for jury members to engage in many conversations with the district attorney, especially the foreman. The grand jury foreman has special duties that may require private conversations with the district attorney.
So what does all this mean? DeLay and his team of lawyers are full of BS, and are trying to fool a public that does not know any better. Unless they can show that the DA did something stupid like went to a grand jury member's home or told the jury how they had to vote, this supoena is a useless media ploy.
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I know how grand juries work, and DeLay is probably hoping most people do not. A grand jury receives instructions from the district attorney, and they may ask questions about the procedure during this time, since grand jury members are not, and should not be, experts in the legal code and legal procedures. The district attorney will then call witnesses, who are granted immunity for their testimony, unless they are a defendant or a defense witness (which is unusual), in which case they must waive their immunity in order to testify. After witness testimony, the district attorney gives the jurors more instructions, and then they will vote either to indict, to not indict, or abstain. An indictment just means that the defendant will be tried by the court in front of a jury of his peers. The grand jury will usually serve a term of several months, in which time they will decide on indictments on dozens of cases. They may also make decisions on what types of evidence investigators can pursue (such as bank records, private email accounts, etc). During this process it IS NOT unusual for jury members to engage in many conversations with the district attorney, especially the foreman. The grand jury foreman has special duties that may require private conversations with the district attorney.
So what does all this mean? DeLay and his team of lawyers are full of BS, and are trying to fool a public that does not know any better. Unless they can show that the DA did something stupid like went to a grand jury member's home or told the jury how they had to vote, this supoena is a useless media ploy.
BREITBART.COM - Just The News