Sentenced to three years:
Judge Pat Priest sentenced Tom DeLay to three years in prison.
The three-year sentence was on the charge of conspiring to launder corporate money into political donations during the 2002 elections.
On the charge of money laundering, DeLay was sentenced to five years but that was probated for 10 years.
UPDATED: Travis County prosecutors argued that Tom DeLay should go to prison today.
“He needs to go to prison, your Honor, and he needs to go today,” said prosecutor Steven Brand.
Brand said the judge could send a message that no one is above the law.
DeLay’s lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, said the jury’s verdict sent a message.
“Tom DeLay was convicted of a felony,” he said. “That alone is consequence is enough.”
DeGuerin said his client accepts the jury’s verdict but does not agree with it and will fight it.
Enjoy your stay.
Halteclere
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
Phyllis
I…uh..wtf?
licensed to kill time
__
Boy, if I ever get convicted of a felony, I’ma gonna try out that line on the judge.
Scott
Here’s to more Republican crooks in jail cells.
New Yorker
Good, so the wingnut blogs wringing their hands over Sarah Palin being the true victim of a mass shooting that left a 9-year-old dead can now call DeLay a prisoner of conscience and start making comparisons to Nelson Mandela (at which point they will point out that Mandela was the leader of a Marxist terrorist organization).
Just Some Fuckhead
I’ll be surprised if he ever does any time.
me
@Phyllis: It seems he accepts the fact that they rendered a verdict but that verdict shows them to be assholes.
soonergrunt
@Phyllis: That’s just about what I was going to say.
How does one accept something but not agree with it and decide to fight it?
joe from Lowell
Smile, Tom. Smile.
Let us see Jesus.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
SO we can expect a fawning segment from Chris Matthews gigglingly and breathlessly asking “Mr Leader” about his appeal?
“Tom DeLay! Not going down without a fight! I love this guy! Bwah-hah! Bwah-hah!”
Mumphrey (formerly Renfrew Squeevil (formerly Mumphrey Oddison Yamm (formerly Mumphrey O. Yamm (formerly Mumphrey))))
I think Nelson Muntz puts it best: “Ha ha!”
Felonious Wench
As a former constituent of his, I can only say it’s about fucking time.
Texas Democrats will be paying for his gerrymandering strategy for a very long time. Maybe he’s going to jail, great, but we’re still left with the results of what that bastard enabled.
asiangrrlMN
If this is true:
then why have jail sentences at all? Asshole (the lawyer). I really hope DeLay sees the inside of a cell and soon.
ETA: Two underscores between paragraphs it is.
GregB
Does Pat Priest have any plans on doing a Munsters reunion any time soon?
Captain Haddock
This is what happens when liberals demonize good men and politicize the laundering of money. For shame. For shame.
Ash Can
About damned time.
Mojotron
The hearing is going faster than expected because the judge did not allow testimony from Orange businessman Peter Cloeren.
I’m guessing he’s a friend of Boehner’s.
joe from Lowell
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Pitch perfect, Jim.
Phyllis
@me: Ah, I see. Thanks for your help.
Penon
And that message is, Delay did what we tried to argue he didn’t. Also, don’t hire our firm if you’re guilty.
Culture of Truth
“Judge Priest issued his ruling after a sentencing hearing on Monday in which former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert testified on DeLay’s behalf.”
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
Excellent. This will save tons of money because now we can close all the prisons. Republicans really are fiscal geniuses!
Maureen
OT: “Family of suspect in Gifford Shooting blocks access to home”
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/01/10/20110110gabrielle-giffords-shooting-suspect-family-barricade-brk10-ON.html
Violet
@licensed to kill time:
No kidding.
Tom Delay deserves everything he got and more. I hope he has a nice time in prison. Perhaps he’ll enjoy experiencing those prison reforms he helped institute up close and personal.
BGinCHI
If Tom wants to go to the joint all bruised up like the guy did in 25th Hour, I know some people who can help him.
Just trying to serve my country.
dmsilev
@New Yorker:
Not Mandela. Mumia. Expect to see right wingers show up at random rallies wearing “Free DeLay” sweatshirts and the like.
dms
liberty60
Prison nickname:
“The Dancing Queen”
Mental Lint
Didn’t Pat Priest play Marilyn on The Munsters?
Culture of Truth
Tom Delay is……….
THE CAPE !!!!
Calouste
@Phyllis:
__
Indeed….
As far as I understand the American justice system, you can’t fight the jury’s verdict. You can appeal and argue that the jury was misled by the judge or the prosecution, but that’s about it.
Dennis G.
Well now Tom and Jack have even more in common. Perhaps Jack can give Tom some tips, although I’m told those Texas prison are a bit tougher than the Federal penn where Abramoff did his time…
thomas Levenson
I haz a big happy at this nooz.
That is all.
(Or rather — can I wish for the day when Sheriff Joe gets sent up for multiple felonies? Does that make me one of the “everyone” who does whatever it is?)
jl
@dmsilev:
“Expect to see right wingers show up at random rallies wearing “Free DeLay” sweatshirts and the like.”
I hope they do. That would be an improvement.
I cannot think of a better political advertisement for our side.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@Maureen:
It’s not hard to guess why – this all most likely hit them out of the blue, they’re probably nearly as devastated as any of the victims’ families, and on top of that they’ve had camera-and-spotlight-bearing, shouting, pointing crowds of reporters and spectators intruding into their yard and keeping them prisoner in their own home 24/7 since Loughner was identified. I’d be freaked right the fuck out by that, too.
EDIT: And I’ll just add that although they obviously have to talk to the FBI, they do still have rights, including some right to privacy, even in this horrible situation. Being on the receiving end of the media maelstrom must be absolutely terrifying.
Omnes Omnibus
@Phyllis: @soonergrunt: He accepts that the jury considered the evidence and made what they considered to be the right decision, but still thinks that they are wrong. It is actually a reasonable statement. I accept that the Supreme Court has ruled that money = speech and that is the current state of the law. I disagree with the decision.
Martin
Convicted at the state level? Perry will take care of this ‘travesty of justice’.
BGinCHI
@liberty60: You win the internets, or at least one of Cole’s dogs.
Culture of Truth
Three years. . . .
of being adorable!!!!!!
pragmatism
i hope they make him watch DWTS 24 hours a day.
Martin
@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: Yeah, I can’t blame the family for their reaction. Their lives went to shit on Saturday in countless ways.
cleek
now he’ll have to check the box the next time he fills out a job application. tee hee.
geg6
Next fall on ABC…
“Dancing in Prison Stripes.”
MoeLarryAndJesus
I might be wrong, but I don’t think a Texan governor has the power to pardon or commute a sentence without the case being reviewed by an appeals board/commission of some sort. Anyone know for sure?
Omnes Omnibus
@cleek: Like the Koch Foundation will care…
suzanne
Here’s hoping his cellmate is a big dude named Tyrone.
neil
Pardon from Gov. Rick Perry’s hair in…..3….2….1……
evinfuilt
@cleek:
I think that will improve his chances at being a lobbyist when he gets out (if he ever goes in, and of course if Gov Goodhair doesn’t just pardon him.)
You Don't Say
He’ll never go to prison, but his obit will now read “Former House Majority Leader and convicted felon … “
flounder
I am laughing my behind off that the only character witness DeLay could dredge up was Dennis Hastert, who is most famous for using a highway earmark to enrich himself by $1.5 million dollars and for covering up for the page diddling creep Mark Foley. Doesn’t sound like he made much of an impression:
maye
Is it not true that today, post Citizens United case, corporate money can go directly into political campaigns with impunity?
Tom D. should have waited a few years.
asiangrrlMN
@thomas Levenson: Your comment about Sheriff Joe is nearly identical to the one I made to a friend about me gloating about DeLay going to jail making me just as bad as…someone.
@MoeLarryAndJesus: And, I may be even wronger, but I don’t think even Perry* will touch this one. It’ll be like a W./Scooter Libby moment.
*If Perry has any aspirations outside of Texas, that is.
Catsy
@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: This. Honestly, I can’t blame them–if a member of my family went and did something like this, I’d bar all the doors and invest in blackout curtains myself. I’d let the police in once it was clear they were who they said and had a valid warrant, and cooperate as much as necessary, but I’d take an apocalyptically hard line–within the limits of the law–on anyone else who tried tresspassing in order to satisfy their curiosity, grudges, or need for a story.
scav
@flounder: ouch. a multiple-level ouch.
dmsilev
A couple of years ago, when the legal system began closing in on DeLay, Josh Marshall coined the word “Hammerdammerung”. It looks like that event is upon us.
dms
kdaug
@MoeLarryAndJesus: I think that’s right, but not certain.
But man, I do want to see that dude in an orange jumpsuit, shackled, being led into a white van with bars on the windows.
Omnes Omnibus
@suzanne: Not to be all language police-ish here, but I really dislike that fact that our prison system seems to be designed around the idea of sexual assault as a part of the punitive process. It is something that should be decried. I say this as someone who yields to no one in my contempt for Delay and as someone who takes great pleasure in the fact that he has been convicted and sentenced to a real prison term.
policomic
How long before some wingnut attempts some kind of false equivalence between Giffords and DeLay–“hero conservative ‘assassinated’ by liberal prosecutors”?
Just watch. It will happen.
Violet
@neil:
I don’t know if Perry can afford to pardon Delay. Perry is considering a Presidential run. Would pardoning Delay be a good political move? I don’t know.
Redshift
@Felonious Wench: Yeah. It’s too bad there can’t be some kind of “Son of Sam” law to undo the ill-gotten benefits of his crime.
Gustopher
At the risk of continuing a culture of violent political rhetoric, I would very much like to see Mr. DeLay use his considerable resources to bring a case to the Supreme Court that substandard prison conditions, including (but not limited to) negligent safety that results in forcible sodomy, is in fact a violation of the “cruel and unusual punishment” clause.
Of course, he would need to be a victim to have standing. A small price that I am willing to have him pay.
sixers
Sorry Tom but someone else at the prison already has the nickname “The Hammer” and it has nothing to do with legislation.
Gustopher
@Violet:
Pardoning DeLay would probably help in the primaries.
stuckinred
@Gustopher: He won’t be anywhere where he can get messed with.
dr. bloor
DeGuerin–who, some people seem to be forgetting, is a Democrat, or at least Texas’s version of one–is a pretty smart guy. When billing a turd like DeLay, I wonder if he itemizes separately for “legal representation in court” and “willingness to make myself look like a moron in public on your behalf?”
Violet
@Omnes Omnibus:
I didn’t take her comment to imply sexual assault would be part of the package. Just that the cell mate would be a large, black male. Previously Delay would have had many layers of protection between himself and someone like that. Not so much in prison.
Violet
@Gustopher:
Yeah, it might. It might also smack of cronyism. I just don’t know.
Omnes Omnibus
@Violet: That’s cool then. I think that would be an educational experience that would help him develop empathy and a love for gangsta rap.
dr. bloor
@Violet:
If it happens, the Large Black Male to which you refer will probably be there on a tax evasion or corporate embezzlement conviction.
suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: Fair enough.
I was really just hoping for assault of the non-sexual kind. No one should ever have to fuck Tom DeLay.
Not that that makes me any better.
Cris
So is that white collar resort prison, or federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison?
Tonal Crow
OT: And in other GOP-related news, the Supreme Court refused to review Orly Taitz’s Rule 11 birther case. The district court had penalized her $20,000 after finding that the case was frivolous.
Aren’t Republicans supposed to oppose frivolous lawsuits?
Oh, right: IOKIYAR.
Omnes Omnibus
@suzanne: It’s cool. It is a pet peeve of mine and I may have read something into your statement that wasn’t there. How’s the kid?
ETA: In my defense, if you look at Comment 70, you can see how sexual assault jokes are.
Violet
@Cris:
It’s a Texas state prison, I believe. That’s worse than federal prison of any kind, imho. Very poor conditions, run for profit, overcrowded, lots of shady dealings.
JimK
@Omnes Omnibus: Thank You, finally someone said it.
suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: Baby’s good, thanks. Currently asleep. Here’s a picture.
You’re right. I really shouldn’t wish for violence of any sort on anyone. (I’m feeling a little raw and angry toward certain right-wing weasels right now.) I apologize.
burnspbesq
@dr. bloor:
Wesley Snipes is in a Federal prison, so he’s not available to be DeLay’s roomie.
Mike in NC
Maybe House GOP members will stage a hunger strike to demonstrate their solidarity with the Bugman.
tkogrumpy
Justice denied is justice Delayed or something like that. I still want to see the frogmarch.
Violet
If you want to know more about Texas prisons, try listening to The Prison Show. It airs in Houston on KPFT (Pacifica radio) on Friday nights, but you can listen to it streaming online (link to streaming from Prison Show page). Or you can listen to old shows via podcast.
Ray Hill, the guy who runs it was in prison so knows what he’s talking about. Families of prisoners call in to greet their loved ones who are incarcerated. Prisoners listen to it. It’s got fantastic inside info on how the Texas prison system works. Ray Hill has won all sorts of awards, including a Lifetime Achievement award from the Houston ACLU for his work.
Cris
And in my defense, I was just dropping yet another pop-culture reference. Which I guess isn’t really a defense. Never mind.
Tonal Crow
@Mike in NC: Maybe they’ll protest his sentencing by quaffing DDT on TV.
Or maybe they’ll finally do something positive about America’s barbarous prison conditions.
Yeah, right.
Omnes Omnibus
@suzanne: No apology needed. Cute kid. Understandable anger at the right right now. It’s all good.
retr2327
79 comments and no one has quite said the obvious yet? (TKOgrumpy’s close).
He should go to jail without DeLay.
Omnes Omnibus
@retr2327: If he goes to prison without delay, will he actually be there? Can of worms, old bean, can of worms.
kdaug
@Omnes Omnibus: I think that’s what his attorney was getting at…
Elizabelle
Dancing Behind Bars
joes527
@Violet:
Horror! Tom DeLay can’t possibly survive in such an environment.
Who am I kidding? He will be the warden by the end of the week.
Libertini
@suzanne: You made me cry….from laughing. Out loud. At work.
harokin
@dmsilev: I’m partial to “Hammerzeit”. But that’s just my love for Rick James.
Bender
Good, because if you were hoping Delay would be anally raped, that would’ve made you guilty hate-speech.
Now I see you just think that big black men are likely to assault a white man — just good old-fashioned racism.
dr. bloor
@burnspbesq:
Too bad. I’d pay cash money to have Snipes reprise his role of Nino Brown in “New Jack City” for every waking moment of DeLay’s sentence.
tkogrumpy
@Omnes Omnibus: I agree in principal, but I also know that these feeling of anger and need for revenge are fueled by the history of powerful people abusing their power and then when caught, continuing to abuse their power in a too often successful attempt to avoid punishment. In other words, the one in ten who is actually convicted should suffer ten times as much to even the score. No?
Cris
Oh, I was thinking he would share a cell with a guy who looks like Tyrone Power.
quaker in a basement
Would it be fair to say the judge “brought the Hammer down”?
wengler
You think any Republicans are going to be asked about how their former House majority leader is a convicted felon? *crickets*
OK, so Bush is still living in Texas right? There appears to be one prosecutor in that state that thinks the rich and powerful aren’t above the law. Charge him.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bender: Wow, now you are making me feel dumb for engaging you in discussion in the previous thread. Thanks a lot.
Omnes Omnibus
@tkogrumpy: No, punishment should be individual and should fit the crime and the person being punished. Given that, three years is a bit light for the damage Delay has done to our society.
tkogrumpy
@retr2327: I( believe I was more than close.
suzanne
@Bender: I said nothing about skin color, dude.
Bender
@Omnes Omnibus:
So your saying that wasn’t a racist statement? Wow. Once again, proving my point that “It’s Always Somehow Different On Our Side!”
tkogrumpy
@Omnes Omnibus: Agreed.
asiangrrlMN
@suzanne: Mia is adorable. I needed baby cuteness.
@Omnes Omnibus: Thank you for making this comment. I appreciate it and agree that prison-rape jokes (as other comments mentioned, if not suzanne’s specifically) are not cool, no matter what.
joe from Lowell
@Bender: Watching you trying to play this race card is like watching a monkey who has gotten hold of a field researcher’s cell phone, and is trying to make the magic noises come out by mimicking her behavior.
“Durrrrrrr, she wrote ‘black,’ and those liberals are always calling me a racist when I say something about a black person, so maybe if I pretend to be all offended, I can finally get my revenge!”
Like a monkey who’s gotten hold a field researcher’s cell phone.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bender:When did she mention race? Must someone named Tyrone be black? I have friends named Joe Green, Tim Harris, and Jamal Washington. Guess which one is black. Trick question. They all are. Open your mind.
gex
@Omnes Omnibus: Just goes to show that when the right calls out the left for racism it is always projection.
Omnes Omnibus
@gex: Not just on the topic of racism.
Mumphrey (formerly Renfrew Squeevil (formerly Mumphrey Oddison Yamm (formerly Mumphrey O. Yamm (formerly Mumphrey))))
@Tonal Crow:
Jeez, get with it, here. Any suit a Republican brings–whatever the reason–cannot by definition be frivolous. The judge who fined her was clearly a liberal judicial activist.
Felonious Wench
First, Bender’s a moron. He’s been working his poor heart out to get attention since the shooting. Don’t feed him.
Some of you asked about the pardon process in Texas. The governor has the authority to grant clemency upon the written recommendation of a majority of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. In other words, he can’t pull one out of his ass.
joe from Lowell
Like a monkey who’s gotten hold of a field researcher’s cell phone.
Allow me to let you in a little secret, wingnut: So-called “race cards” are like unforgivable curses. You have to mean them, Potter.
The left constantly succeeds in smacking right-wing dopes like you around with accusations of racism, while you dolts stumble over your feet and fall on your face like a fat guy in a slapstick comedy whenever you try to “play” them, for a very simple reason: the lefties mean them. We’re not “playing,” feigning offense at something just for effect. If we were, our protestations of offense at the race-related pronouncements of conservatives would be as ineffective as, well, yours. We’re so, so, so infinitely more effective than you are because, while you are just trying to stir up trouble about something you don’t actually find offensive at all, and are just trying to mimic the actions of liberals who can so effectively use anti-racism as a weapon, when liberals complain about racism, it’s because we’re actually offended by something racist that bothered us.
And you aren’t. Conservatives are about as offended by racism as they are by gay-bashing. You can’t ever formulate an effective pretense of being offended by racism, because you’ve never bothered yourselves to be genuinely offended by racism.
Like a monkey who’s gotten hold a field researcher’s cell phone, not only can you not push the buttons the right way to make a call, you don’t even understand that there is a right way to push the buttons. You’re just going through motions you’ve observed at a great distance. And it shows.
quaint irene
Really. Could only remember that creepy smile in his initial mug shot.
Hey, keep shining on that ol’ positive attitude, Mr. Delay.
WereBear
I am trying to imagine a circumstance wherein Denny Hastert is my only character witness.
Hmm… the only vision becoming clearer is… Spock. With a nifty goatee.
joe from Lowell
@quaint irene: Oh, bless you.
It took 101 comments, but someone finally got it.
burnspbesq
@Bender:
Why are you back? We didn’t miss you. Not even a little.
Triassic Sands
@licensed to kill time:
I’d recommend you try something different, since in its inaugural usage it appears to have failed miserably.
Of course if you’ve got plenty of time to kill, then have at it. Then you can change your screen name to “sentenced to do time.”
Villago Delenda Est
@joe from Lowell:
Brilliant post, Joe. Doubt if the dirtbag can understand it, though. Like most rightards, isn’t very bright.
dbcooper
@Penon: Perfect answer.
Uncle Clarence Thomas
.
.
I don’t understand why President Obama couldn’t stop this waste-of-time, looking-backwards prosecution of a Republican public official. My goodness gracious, these crimes were committed way back in 2002!
.
.
TenguPhule
Delay’s stay to the pen was delayed.
Welcome to our court system.
Death Panel Truck
The asshole’s out on bail pending appeal.
He’ll never spend a day behind bars. I guarantee it.