I love how the Washington Post spun this one on its homepage.

Tex. Judge Upholds Key Charges Against DeLay

Interestingly enough, that isn't really true. The conspiracy charge, the easiest to prove under Texas law, has been thrown out. Not to mention that the excluded charge was the only charge that the grand jury which investigated the case brought. Those that remain are more difficult to prove and were part of Ronnie Earle's "do-over" strategy that involved grand jury shopping and tampering to shore up a case that has been collapsing since the original indictment was brought.

So what happened today?

A judge dismissed a conspiracy charge Monday against Rep. Tom DeLay but refused to throw out the far more serious allegations of money-laundering, dashing the congressman's hopes for now of reclaiming his post as House majority leader.

Texas Judge Pat Priest, who is presiding over the case against the Republican, issued the ruling after a hearing late last month in which DeLay's attorney argued that the indictment was fatally flawed.

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The ruling means the case will move toward a trial next year, though other defense objections to the indictments remain to be heard by the judge.

Yes, the other motions could result in the dismissal of the remaining charges.

The judge has yet to rule on a defense bid to move DeLay's trial out of liberal, Democratic-leaning Austin and allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. DeGuerin accused the district attorney of shopping the DeLay case around to different grand juries until he found one that would indict the congressman.

As I pointed out earlier, there is substantial basis for href="http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/124724.php">finding prosecutorial misconduct on the part of Ronnie Earle.

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