Ex-US Rep Tom Delay To Appeal Conviction in Money Laundering Scheme

Former US House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was expected Wednesday to ask an appeals court in Texas to overturn his conviction in a 2010 money laundering scheme.

DeLay, 65, was scheduled to appear Wednesday morning in Texas's 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin, according to what an attorney for the former Republican congressman told the Los Angeles Times.

The former representative from Texas's 22nd Congressional District, DeLay- widely known as "The Hammer" while in Congress for his reputation as one of Capitol Hill's most immovable conservatives- was convicted in November 2010 on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The charges were related to a scheme to help illegally funnel $190,000 in corporate donations to political candidates in his home state's legislature in 2002- which violated Texas laws preventing companies from contributing to political campaigns.

Prosecutors say that money helped the GOP in Texas take control of the state legislature, enabling them to push through DeLay's congressional redistricting plan, which sent more Republicans to Congress in 2004, ABC News reported.

Originally indicted in October 2005 by a grand jury in Travis County, Tex., for his role in the scheme, DeLay was sentence to three years prison time and 10 years probation after his 2010 conviction; however, the sentence was suspended while DeLay, out on $10,000 bail, prepared to appeal his case.

Prior to his 2010 conviction, DeLay was a participant on ABC's Dancing With the Stars in 2009, as seen here in this clip from TV Guide's YouTube channel.

Speaking on the case, DeLay's Houston-based lawyer Brian Wice told the Los Angeles Times that he expected a fair hearing at the trial.

"Are we in a position to win? Absolutely. The playing field will be level," he said in an interview from Austin.

The white-hot political nature of this case has resulted in a sluggish appeals process, with several changes having been made to the appeals court panel deciding on the case.

Three Republican justices on the panel recused themselves and DeLay argued successfully for having Democratic Judge Diane Henson replaced because of anti-Republican comments she made during a speech at a Texas Democratic convention in 2006.

Wice has repeatedly maintained that the case is a political conspiracy against his client. Most recently, he told the Wall Street Journal that the case was "as inherently a political prosecution as any that I've ever seen."

Wice told the Journal that he plans to argue that Texas's money-laundering law doesn't apply to the way in which Mr. DeLay delivered the funds in question. Texas law in 2002 covered use of cash in money laundering, Wice says, but not personal checks or bank checks, so what Mr. DeLay did wasn't technically against the law.

However, Assistant Travis County District Attorney Steve Brand, who also spoke with the Journal, doesn't see it that way.

"The conviction was properly obtained and the judge made sound rulings and we're confident it will be upheld on appeal and we'll get a fair hearing," Brand said.

The appeals court will issue a ruling on the case at a later, unspecified date.