DeLay, in First Court Appearance, Seeks a New Judge

Representative Tom DeLay was in court today to face his prosecutor and arch-enemy, Ronnie Earle, but the proceedings were halted minutes after they began as Mr. DeLay's lawyer asked for a new judge.

The defense lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, asked District Judge Bob Perkins to remove himself from the case because, the lawyer said, Judge Perkins has Democratic leanings.

October 21, 2005
DeLay, in First Court Appearance, Seeks a New Judge
By PHILIP SHENON

AUSTIN, Tex., Oct. 21 - Representative Tom DeLay entered a criminal courtroom today for the first time to face his nemesis, the Texas county prosecutor who has charged with Mr. DeLay with money laundering and conspiracy, but the proceedings were brought to a halt almost as soon as they began.

The judge in the case, Bob Perkins, said he was holding the case up temporarily in light of a defense motion demanding he recuse himself because he was a Democrat who had made recent donations to the Democratic Party and to Democratic candidates.

"I should have stayed in Italy," Judge Perkins said, drawing a taut smile from Mr. DeLay and laughter from others in the audience who had gathered to see the congressman make his first court appearance in Austin, the state capital. The judge was on a European vacation last month when the first of two indictments was brought against Mr. DeLay, forcing him to step down as the Republican majority leader in the House.

Before conducting any substantive business in the case, Judge Perkins said was referring the question of his impartiality to the presiding administrative judge of the region.

The administrative judge, B. B. Schraub, a Republican appointed to his post by a succession of Republican and Democratic governors, will be asked by Mr. DeLay's lawyers to determine if Judge Perkins should recuse himself. Judge Schraub's office said he expected to hold a hearing on the request within two weeks.

Mr. DeLay, appearing relaxed and accompanied into the courtroom in Austin by his wife, Christine, had no opportunity to speak during the brief hearing in the Travis County courthouse.

Afterward, however, he appeared before reporters on the steps of the Texas Statehouse, a few blocks away, to once again proclaim in innocence.

"I will absolutely be exonerated," he said, accusing the prosecutor, Ronnie Earle, a Democrat who is the district attorney of Travis County, of a politically motivated investigation. Mr. DeLay said he was pleased to have the "opportunity to go before a court and refute these baseless charges that are the result of a political vendetta being acted out by Ronnie Earle."

Mr. DeLay is accused of money laundering and conspiracy in a scheme that prosecutors say funneled thousands of dollars in corporate donations to Republican legislative candidates in 2002 in Texas in violation of the state's century-old ban on corporate money in state campaigns.

In that election, Republicans captured the Texas House of Representatives for the first time in 130 years, allowing Mr. DeLay's allies here to redraw Congressional districts to allow more Republicans to be sent to Washington.

Mr. DeLay is free on $10,000 bail, which was set Thursday after a brief appearance at the sheriff's office in downtown Houston - close to his home in Sugar Land - at which he was fingerprinted and photographed. His booking photograph, in which Mr. DeLay is smiling broadly, as if the photo was meant for a campaign ad, dominated the front page of newspapers throughout Texas today.

Mr. Earle, who has prosecuted a variety of politicians, most of them Democrats, during more than a quarter-century as Travis County district attorney, said after the court hearing that it was "absurd" to think of Judge Perkins removing himself from the case.

"What this means is that if a judge had contributed to Crime Stoppers, that judge could not hear a burglary case," Mr. Earle said. "Carried to its extreme, this is what I think this motion means."

He added: "This judge has a record of fairness to all who come before him. Membership in a political party does not determine the quality of justice." Judge Perkins is widely praised by criminal defense lawyers in Texas, Republicans and Democrats alike.

During today's court hearing, which lasted less than 10 minutes, Judge Perkins appeared to rebut the suggestion that he would not provide Mr. DeLay with a fair trial.

In respectful tones, Mr. DeLay's lead defense lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, noted that Judge Perkins had given money to, among others, MoveOn.org, a liberal group that Mr. DeGuerin said had been "selling T-shifts with Mr. DeLay's mug shot on it."

Judge Perkins replied: "Let me just say I haven't seen that T-shirt, number one. Number two, I haven't bought it. Number three, the last time I contributed to MoveOn that I know of was prior to the November election last year, when they were primarily helping Senator Kerry."

(MoveOn.org quickly denied that it had been selling DeLay T-shirts. "DeGuerin has either bad information or lied in court," said Tom Matzzie, the organization's Washington director. "Americans are sick of the corruption in Congress and think it will be a better place without Tom DeLay.)

In court filings this week, Mr. DeGuerin listed dozens of contributions that Judge Perkins had made since 2000 to "causes and persons opposed to Tom DeLay," including $1,175 to Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, last year's Democratic presidential nominee; $400 to the Democratic National Committee and $200 to MoveOn.org.

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