01:26 pm October 27, 2010

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/10/27/130861685/delay-money-laundering-trial-to-begin-monday-in-texas

The jury is set for the money-laundering trial for former House leader Tom DeLay, accused of illegally funneling corporate donations through campaign accounts in 2002. The Texas state trial will begin Monday.

Here's more, from a report from Matt Largey of KUT in Austin:

Lawyers spent eight hours Tuesday wading through the pool of potential jurors, ultimately choosing six women and six men, along with two alternates.

The jurors were asked about their political beliefs, and whether those beliefs would affect their deliberations in the case.

DeLay’s lawyers had argued that the former Republican majority leader wouldn’t be able to get a fair trial in Austin—the center of what is, by far, the most heavily Democratic county in the state.

Earlier this year, the Justice Department cleared DeLay of corruption charges. After that decision, DeLay told reporters about what he called "the new politics":

"They have to completely drown you and put you in prison and destroy your family and your reputation and your finances, and then dance on your grave," he said.

DeLay resigned from Congress in 2006, after a top aide pleaded guilty to charges connected to the corruption and bribery trial of lobbyist Jack Abramoff.