As you Tom Delay was convicted by a jury of mostly liberal democrats in front of a liberal judge. Speaking with two legal experts I have access to both told me after looking over the trial that this would likely be overturned. Today Fox News also reported on the possibility and blasts the biased nature of the court and the jury.

“With Tom DeLay vowing to fight his conviction Wednesday on conspiracy and money laundering charges, a broad array of lawyers, professional political operatives, and analysts has begun assessing the grounds that DeLay might have for an appeal and, too, the implications the verdict could raise for political fundraising operations across the country.

A jury of six men and six women from Travis County, Texas — including nine who identified themselves as Democrats or liberals and three who said they were Republicans or conservatives — deliberated for just nineteen hours before finding the former House majority leader guilty.

Prosecutors had alleged that the former Republican powerhouse — known to friends and foes alike as “the Hammer” — had used his political action committees to funnel corporate campaign contributions, back in 2002 and in violation of Texas laws, to seven GOP candidates for state office. DeLay argued that the corporate money was not the same set of funds that was transferred to the GOP candidates.

“We’ll really have to look at this verdict and examine exactly what happened here,” said Ron Bonjean, a former aide to House Speaker Dennis Hastert in the period when DeLay was majority leader. “I’m sure there are similar patterns that have happened across the country, and it didn’t seem, on the face of it, to be nefarious in nature. It seemed to be the way business is done. And if the state of Texas is saying, ‘No, that’s not the way business is done in Washington,’ some people may have a problem on their hands.”

A former top aide to DeLay, demanding anonymity so he could speak candidly about fundraising operations, agreed, telling Fox News shortly after the verdict was handed down: “If this is upheld, then fifty state parties — both Democrats and Republicans — should be very concerned about everyday money transfers that fund both federal and state races.”

DeLay maintained Wednesday night that he was innocent, the victim of a politically motivated prosecution.

“The criminalization of politics undermines our very system,” the former congressman told reporters outside the courtroom. “I’m very disappointed in the outcome. But you know, it is what it is, and we will carry on, and maybe we can get it before people that understand the law.”

When I asked one of the experts about why an appeal would be successful was the surprise that the trial happened at all.

“This was obviously a classic example of a crime being manufactured from a grudge”. In other words as the Fox News story brought out what Delay did actually happens across the country, including right here in Broward County. I know because I’ve participated in such transfers in the past. They are not illegal, but apparently this prosecutor who we all know had an obvious grudge against Delay because he wupped their buts in a couple of elections sought and succeeded in making the legal illegal.

Delay will file an appeal and I too believe it will be overturned. Appealing it would take it out of the biased venue it’s been it and would most likely be a quick turnaround.

By the way Ronnie Earle who brought the original charges was keenly profiled by Byron York in 2005

“EDITOR’S NOTE: Travis County, Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle, the man behind Wednesday’s indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on state campaign-finance charges, has also indicted several corporations in the probe. But last June, National Review’s Byron York learned that Earle offered some of those companies deals in which the charges would be dismissed — if the corporations came up with big donations to one of Earle’s favorite causes. Here is that report, from June 20, 2005:

Ronnie Earle, the Texas prosecutor who has indicted associates of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in an ongoing campaign-finance investigation, dropped felony charges against several corporations indicted in the probe in return for the corporations’ agreement to make five- and six-figure contributions to one of Earle’s pet causes.

A grand jury in Travis County, Texas, last September indicted eight corporations in connection with the DeLay investigation. All were charged with making illegal contributions (Texas law forbids corporate giving to political campaigns). Since then, however, Earle has agreed to dismiss charges against four of the companies — retail giant Sears, the restaurant chain Cracker Barrel, the Internet company Questerra, and the collection company Diversified Collection Services — after the companies pledged to contribute to a program designed to publicize Earle’s belief that corporate involvement in politics is harmful to American democracy.

Some legal observers called the arrangement an unusual resolution to a criminal case, at least in Texas, where the matter is being prosecuted. “I don’t think you’re going to find anybody who will say it’s a common practice,” says Jack Strickland, a Fort Worth lawyer who serves as vice-chairman of the criminal-justice section of the Texas State Bar. Earle himself told National Review Online that he has never settled a case in a similar fashion during his years as Travis County district attorney. And allies of DeLay, who has accused Earle of conducting a politically motivated investigation, called Earle’s actions “dollars for dismissals.”"