DeLay's Lawyer: MOVES TO RECUSE HIMSELF?

[berni_mccoy]

If he's asking the judge to recuse himself because he's a Democrat, then the SAME MOTION says he needs to step aside and let a true Republican DEFEND DeLay... how about Kenn Star?

If DeLay can't trust a Dem to judge the case, then he can't trust a Dem Lawyer to defend him can he?

And vice versa, if DeLay trusts a Dem Lawyer, then he should trust a Dem Judge.

MOTION DENIED (at least, that's the argument I would use if I were the judge)

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Seriously?

[berni_mccoy]

4. Partially... The motion to have judge recuse himself

Should be EQUALLY APPLIED TO THE DEFENSE LAWYER!

[funflower]

6. It's OK. The Texas Supreme Court is big-time republican.

[Justitia]

18. 100%, in fact. Costs lots of $$$ to run for TX Supreme Court - $ 4 mil

and that is if you are a REPUBLICAN - ha!

Any Dem wanting to run for a spot would be looking at at least 4 x that amount to defend himself.

And that is thanks to Rove and the BugMan hisself...

[funflower]

26. Cool name, Justitia. I like the Jefferson pic, too.

Where is a politician like Jefferson when you need him?

[Walt Starr]

2. ROFL

:rofl:

[liberalnurse]

7. It has meit.....

We easily can go full circle on this in my warped mind....

The wheels started spinning a few moments ago.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1867799&mesg_id=1867811

[karlrschneider]

3. Kinda misleading sub line there...

..

[berni_mccoy]

5. Not Really.. the SAME MOTION could be used to FORCE the LAWYER TO RECUSE

Himself... he's a Democrat!

[SF Bay Area Dem]

8. Is Deguerien a Democrat? Really?

Where did you find this out?

[berni_mccoy]

9. It was publicized when DeLay was indicted n/t

[roguevalley]

11. I was under the belief that 'no litmus tests' were necessary in our

little gumit. What is the deal here? Only dems do dems and pigs do pigs?
amazing, these people.

[Justitia]

13. He claims to be a Dem for PR value. He's no Dem.

We do not register party affiliation here in TX.
I could claim to be whatever party I want, there is no record.

DeGuerin only defends REPUBLICANS. His biggest political client ('til now) is Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), he has bailed her ass out of trouble many times and given her thousands of $$$. He also trashes Dems quite regularly on TV.

He is most notorious in these parts for defending and letting loose on our streets Robert Durst, who dismembered his neighbor and threw his body parts into Galveston Bay. Now Durst freely roams the streets of Houston thanks to DeGuerin.

Real classy client list, huh?

[Sapphire Blue]

10. Your subject line is stated as fact... and IS misleading.

[Lerkfish]

12. well, the title implies an action directly taken, rather than the logical

consequence of a different action.

it is misleading.

I should instead perhaps insert "may have" or "inadvertantly acts to" recuse self.

[mondo joe]

15. But the thread title is inaccurate, since he's not moving to do that.

In addition, the judge and the attorney have different roles, so one motion does not extend to the other.

[karlrschneider]

16. By what legal principle or precedent?

:wtf:

[katty]

14. that's rich! he wants out of the messy entanglement known as DeLay

[berni_mccoy]

17. TO NITPICKERS: I changed the title so it wasn't so misleading

[stopbush]

19. Looks like DeLay is going for the "As long as there are Democrats

around (judges, jury members...waitresses) I can't get a fair trial" defense.

[Justitia]

21. LOL - "waitresses", and an astute observation of the matter! -eom

[jmowreader]

27. I can kinda understand that

I mean, the guy only redesigned the Texas electoral map so that most of the congressional districts in Texas were majority-Republican, then filtered tons of corporate dollars through the RNC to Republican congressional candidates. You know, baby shit.

If they stick DeLay in front of a Democratic judge, he'll be singing "Feel Like A Number" about ten minutes into the trial.

[mod mom]

20. Cool, would that mean we could have a Dem judge reopen the Ohio election

fraud case?

[Justitia]

22. and 2000's "Bush v. Gore" ???? -eom

[demobabe]

23. See, this is one of the big problems with our courts

So, a Democrat judge is incapable of a fair ruling?

If having a political affiliation is tied to the outcome of the trial, then it could be equally said that a Republican would also be incapable of giving a fair ruling.

Our judges are supposed to interpret the law FACTUALLY, and not tailor it to suit the outcome they wish. Being a judge isn't supposed to have anything to do with partisanship.

This is exactly what we saw in Bush v. Gore in 2000; the Supreme Court had absolutely no reason to have interfered with Florida's ruling, instead opting to do anything to get their guy in office.

[Marr]

24. Exactly. Excellent point.

If the assumption is that the judge's political affiliation will influence the outcome of the case, you could use the same argument against his desired Republican replacement.

The request itself assumes political corruption is inherent in the system. Not surprising, coming from DeLay's camp.

[TahitiNut]

25. The recusal motion emphasizes the POLITICAL meme and ignores the financial

Recusal is a valid request when there's a conflict of INTEREST. By making a motion for recusal of the judge on a POLTICAL basis, the defense is again speciously claiming the issues themselves are political rather than legal/criminal.

The question would be: Would a Republican judge be equally required to recuse him/herself?? After all, that would be an equivalent conflict of INTEREST. Indeed, anyone who VOTES would have a conflict of INTEREST.

Since the answer is obviously 'No' then the supervising judges should say so - making clear that the only INTEREST at issue in the case is a legal one, not a political one. To acknowledge a political 'interest' at issue in this case by recusing the judge would itself be a biased decision, essentially confirming the LIE that the issue is political.