Texas court overturns Tom DeLay conviction

• Appeals court in 2-1 decision says evidence against DeLay was %27legally insufficient%27
• A jury in 2010 found DeLay guilty of funneling %24190%2C000 in corporate money to help GOP candidates
• DeLay decried %27outrageous criminalization of politics%27 after ruling

WASHINGTON -- A Texas court threw out the money-laundering conviction of former House majority leader Tom DeLay, saying prosecutors failed to prove that he broke the law in a fundraising scandal from the 2002 elections.

The Texas Third Circuit Court of Appeals, in an opinion released Thursday by Justice Melissa Goodwin, said instead that "the evidence shows that the defendants were attempting to comply with the election code limitations on corporate contributions."

"The evidence was legally insufficient to sustain DeLay's convictions," the court said in its 2-1 ruling. The judges said they "reverse the judgments of the trial court" and acquit DeLay, once one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress, of all charges.

The Travis County District Attorney's Office said it would appeal the decision before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

"We are concerned and disappointed that two judges substituted their assessment of the facts for that of 12 jurors who personally heard the testimony of over 40 witnesses over the course of several weeks and found that the evidence was sufficient and proved DeLay's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg's office said in a statement.

DeLay, now 66, was at a Washington prayer meeting when he learned of the decision.

"We were all basically on our knees praying and our lawyer calls and says, 'You're a free man,' " he said at the Capitol, where he was attending the weekly Texas congressional delegation lunch. DeLay said he was "very happy" about the decision.

"This was an outrageous criminalization of politics, and I'm so glad that they wrote the ruling that they did," he said.

DeLay, who first came to Congress in 1985, left the House voluntarily in 2006 as he was facing a tough re-election fight. He served as majority leader, the House's No. 2 job

A Texas jury convicted DeLay in November 2010 for illegally funneling $190,000 in corporate money, via the Republican National Committee, to help elect GOP candidates to the Texas Legislature in 2002. The RNC then in turn sent checks to Texas House candidates.

State law prohibits corporations from giving directly to political candidates and their campaigns.

Prosecutors argued that the money to state candidates helped the GOP take control of the Texas Legislature, which then adopted DeLay's redistricting plan that resulted in more Republicans being elected to Congress in 2004.

DeLay was sentenced to three years in prison and remained free while he was appealing his case.

For the past two days, he has been in Washington meeting with evangelicals -- including Ken Wilde, founder of the National Prayer Center -- to discuss forming a new national prayer organization. DeLay said he would "probably not" seek a return to elected office. "There's too much other things that the Lord wants me to do."

But he conceded some nostalgia at being inside the Capitol and visiting the chapel. "It just brought back a lot of great memories," he said.

Contributing: Brad Heath

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