DeLay: 'I Will Be Exonerated'

Indicted Ex-Majority Leader Seeks New Judge As Hearing Ends Abruptly

(CBS/AP) 
MoveOn.org denied it was selling any shirts as described by DeLay's lawyer and issued a statement that said, "DeGuerin has either bad information or lied in court." DeGuerin said later that he had made a mistake. The T-shirts were offered by two groups that receive money from MoveOn.org, he said.

Outside the courtroom, the prosecutor spoke dismissively of DeLay's efforts to get Perkins to step aside. Judges in Texas must run for election and DeLay's lawyers filed a motion Thursday identifying 34 donations Perkins had made.

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

"We don't live in a country where political party determines the measure of justice," Earle said.

DeLay, R-Texas, and two political associates are accused of funneling corporate money to Texas legislative campaigns, in violation of state law prohibiting use of these donations for election or defeat of state candidates.

Two grand juries accused the three men of sending $190,000 in corporate money, raised by a Texas group founded by DeLay, to the Republican Party in Washington, and having the money routed back to several Texas candidates.

The felony charges triggered an upheaval in the House Republican leadership, as DeLay was obligated to step aside under House rules. He wants his job back.

From the moment he arrived at the Travis County courthouse, it was clear that DeLay was not just an everyday defendant.

Five sheriff's deputies stood in the aisle forming a line that separated the side where the DeLays sat from dozens of reporters.

At the request of his Capitol Police detail, the lawmaker was driven into an entrance normally reserved for prisoners. He was brought through an area with holding cells, and entered the courtroom after others were seated — accompanied by several Capitol policemen.

Before the hearing began, DeLay, wearing a dark suit, sat with his wife. Both laughed during a private conversation.

After the hearing, DeGuerin took his arguments outside the courthouse, where protesters sang in an effort to drown him out. One of their signs, referring to DeLay's nickname, read, "Is the Hammer heading for the Slammer?"

DeGuerin filed a motion to move the trial out of Austin, one of Texas' most liberal and Democratic cities.

DeLay read a statement at the state Capitol that alleged Earle's case was a partisan effort to punish him.

"Because Ronnie Earle and the Democrat Party could not beat me at the ballot box and could not beat me on the floor of the House of Representatives, they are now desperately trying to challenge me in a courtroom," DeLay said.