In the Houston Chronicle today, Janet Elliott looks at the law Ronnie Earle used to get his original indictment against Tom DeLay.

Believe it or not, the law was written with the intent of trying to curb vote fraud at nursing homes. It was passed on September 1, 2003, the year after the alleged money laundering scheme that Earle says DeLay participated in. In other words, there was no law on the books prior to September 1, 2003 that would have allowed Earle to prosecute DeLay for criminal conspiracy.

Think about the details and timeline of this case for a minute: after years of effort and five failed attempts, Ronnie Earle finally got a conspiracy indictment returned on the final day (September 28) of the term of his sixth grand jury. Two days later (September 30), after discovering problems with the original indictment, Earle rushed to present charges before another grand jury. That grand jury issued a "no-bill," effectively rejected Earle's charges against DeLay. Finally, on October 3, after impaneling yet another grand jury, Earle got an indictment returned against DeLay and two associates on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to launder money.

You don't have to be a huge fan of Tom DeLay (and I'm not) to see this as a frantic, reckless, and astonishingly brazen example of prosecutorial abuse that has gone virtually uncommented on by the mainstream media. We've gotten plenty of reports parroting the charges contained in the indictments, but it's almost impossible to find any fact-based reporting or criticism on the dubious ethics and questionable tactics Earle has applied in his fervid pursuit of Tom DeLay.