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For the blues musician with a similar name, see Ronnie Earl.

Ronald Dale "Ronnie" Earle (born February 23, 1942) is the district attorney for Travis County, Texas. He recently became widely known for filing charges against House majority leader Tom DeLay in September 2005 for conspiring to violate Texas' election law and/or to launder money. Earle has also prosecuted other Texas politicians, including Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, and on one occasion turned himself in for an election law violation after missing a campaign finance filing deadline by a day; he was fined $212. Earle has also gained notoriety for his involvement in the 1996 capital murder prosecution of 11-year old LaCresha Murray and was accused of racism in the manner he handled the case.

Biography

Earle was born in Fort Worth, Texas and raised on a cattle ranch in Birdville, Texas. He achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, earned money working as a lifeguard, played football, and was president of his student council. Earle graduated from the University of Texas, then served as a municipal judge in Austin from 1969 to 1972. Earle was elected to the Texas Legislature as a Democrat in 1972, serving until 1977. Earle was elected district attorney of Travis County in 1976.

Earle has been married to his second wife, Twila Hugley Earle, a former junior assistant, for more than two decades. He has three children and one grandchild by his first wife.

Role as Travis County District Attorney (DA)

Because the Texas Constitution grants unique political prosecution powers to the Travis County DA, Earle is uniquely and far more politically powerful than the D.A.s in many larger Texas cities such as Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Moreover, most U.S. states grant this authority to state attorneys general. Although he is a locally elected prosecutor, Earle's authority is nation wide in its impact when national political figures are its targets.

Earle's Public Integrity Unit has a mandate and legislative funding to prosecute public officials who break the law. Elected as a Democrat within the perennially left-leaning capital city of Austin, he has held office for 27 years, and is the only Democrat with statewide prosecutorial authority.

The Travis County District Attorney's office investigates and prosecutes crimes related to the operation of the Texas state government. Targets of Earle's prosecutions have accused him of having a political bias. In his career as District Attorney, which spans almost three decades, Earle has prosecuted more Democrats than Republicans. Notably, the Texas state government was predominantly Democratic for the majority of Earle's tenure, though it has become predominantly Republican in the last ten years.

Investigation and indictment of Tom DeLay

For over two years, Earle and eight separate grand juries investigated possible violations of Texas campaign finance law in the 2002 state legislative election. His investigation of two political action committees that spent a combined $3.4 million on 22 Republican Texas House races focused on a PAC founded by DeLay and directed by Jack Abramoff (Texans for a Republican Majority PAC). During the investigation, DeLay charged that Earle was a "runaway district attorney" with "a long history of being vindictive and partisan".

Abramoff has since been indicted on a fraud charge arising from his involvement in the purchase of SunCruz casinos and is under investigation by at least three other grand juries including an investigation centering on making possibly illegal gifts to DeLay.

Earle failed in his first attempt to secure an indictment against DeLay. That grand jury returned a "no bill" due to insufficient evidence according to at least one grand jury member. That member also indicates the "no bill" visibly angered Earle.

On September 28, 2005, the grand jury indicted DeLay for conspiring to violate Texas state election law. Texas prohibits corporate contributions in state legislative races. The indictment charged that Texans for a Republican Majority, DeLay's political action committee, accepted corporate contributions, laundered the money through the Republican National Committee, and directed it to favored Republican candidates in Texas.

On October 3, 2005 Delay's lawyers filed a motion to get the indictment of conspiracy to violate election law thrown out as fraudulent claiming that the crime of conspiracy did not apply to Texas' election laws in 2002 and that the indictment was therefore a violation of the US Constitution's ban on ex-post facto applications of law.

Earle sought and received a new indictment of Delay from a new, seventh grand jury in Austin on charges of conspiracy to launder money. Delay's lawyers have quickly asserted that there are problems with that indictment as well. While the Texas Penal Code defines laundered money only as money gained as the "proceeds of criminal activity," Delay's lawyers maintain the corporate donations came from normal and legal business activity.

Texas Penal Code Chapter 34:02

"§ 34.02. MONEY LAUNDERING. (a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly

(1) acquires or maintains an interest in, receives, conceals, possesses, transfers, or transports the proceeds of criminal activity

(2) conducts, supervises, or facilitates a transaction involving the proceeds of criminal activity; or

(3) invests, expends, or receives, or offers to invest, expend, or receive, the proceeds of criminal activity or funds that the person believes are the proceeds of criminal activity."

The disciplinary rules of the Texas State Bar provide that a prosecutor is to neither pursue nor threaten to pursue "...a charge that he knows is not supported by probable cause." Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 3.09. Probable cause requires evidence sufficient to support a reasonable belief that a crime has been committed and that the person to be prosecuted probably committed it. While this standard is nowhere near as difficult to meet as a the burden for conviction under Texas law and throughout the United States, namely "beyond a reasonable doubt", it cannot by definition exist where the law alleged to be violated did not exist at the time the prosecutor sought the indictment.

DeLay lawyers file compaint against Earle

A legal complaint was filed in an Austin, Texas court against Earle on Friday, October 7, 2005 charging prosecutorial misconduct in connection with the DeLay indictment. Attorney Dick DeGuerin claimed Earle "and his staff engaged in an extraordinarily irregular and desperate attempt to contrive a viable charge and get a substitute indictment of Tom DeLay before the expiration of the statute of limitations." DeGuerin also claims Earle "unlawfully incited" William Gibson, the foreman of the grand jury that indicted DeLay on conspiracy, to talk publicly to the media to bias the public and still sitting grand jurors. Earle has claimed the charges have "no merit." If the Austin courts affirm the complaint Earle could be disbarred and the indictment of DeLay can be disallowed.

DeGuerin served Earle with a voluntary subpoena to appear in discovery to answer questions under oath about his conduct with the grand jury Tuesday October 11, 2005. Earle declined to accept the subpoena as was his right under Texas law since it did not bear a Court seal. DeGuerin claims he will now obtain a court seal and have Earle served with the subpoena again.

Documentary

Earle's investigation of DeLay is the subject of an upcoming documentary film, which was filmed with Earle's cooperation over the past two years.

The film was shown at the Dallas Film Festival shortly before the announcement of the indictment of DeLay. Supporters of DeLay have argued that Earle's cooperation in the production of this film might violate the Texas Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys.

Rule 3.07, provides that a lawyer shall neither make nor assist another to make, "...an extrajudicial statement that a reasonable person would expect to be disseminated by means of public communication if the lawyer knows or reasonably should know that it will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicatory proceeding. The rule adds that the likelihood of a comment being a violation increases when litigation is ongoing or imminent. Examples of conduct that "...ordinarily will violate...." the rule include those regarding the "...character, credibility, reputation of a...suspect in a criminal investigation."

Other politicians investigated by Earle

• Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Yarbrough (Democrat - 1978) - Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Yarbrough was convicted of lying to a grand jury and forgery. He gave up his seat and was sentenced to five years in prison.

• Texas State Rep. Mike Martin (Republican - 1982) - Martin, who represented Longview, pled guilty to perjury and did not run for re-election.

• State Treasurer Warren Harding (Democrat - 1982) - Harding pled no contest to official misconduct and did not run for re-election.

• Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle (Democrat - 1982) - Earle once brought charges against himself, rather than recusing himself and seeking to have a special prosecutor appointed, and secured a conviction, and paid a $212 fine after his campaign filed required campaign finance reports a day late.

• Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox (Democrat - 1985) - Mattox, a political rival of Earle's, was aquitted of bribery and went on to win re-election.

• Texas House Speaker Gib Lewis (Democrat - 1992) - Lewis pled no contest to charges of failing to disclose a business investment after a plea bargain. He did not run for re-election and was fined $2000.

• U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Republican - 1994) - Earle filed charges against Hutchison, then Texas State Treasurer, for allegedly misusing state telephones and allegedly assaulting a staffer. Earle attempted to drop the charges on the first day in court — in fact, at the pre-trial hearing — after the judge in the case questioned the admissibility of his evidence. The judge refused to allow it, instructing the jury to return a "not guilty" verdict so the charge could not be brought against her again. In the case against Senator Hutchison, when it became clear that a dismissal was necessary, he dispatched an assistant to stand up in court and make the motion. A less widely known fact in the Hutchison fiasco is that the senator was indicted twice. The first grand jury included a member who was under accusation of a crime and disqualified to serve. Thus, the original indictment was void under Texas law. Earle's failure to realize that the first grand jury was improperly constituted led to all the indictments from that grand jury being declared void, both in the Hutchison case and in the cases of everyday citizens. Earle sought re-indictment of the Senator, reviving the case. Ultimately, the Senator was acquitted.

• Texas State Rep. Betty Denton (Democrat - 1995) - Denton was convicted of listing false loans and contributions on campaign finance reports and was sentenced to six months probation and fined $2000.

• Texas State Rep. Lane Denton (Democrat - 1995) - After funneling money from the Texas Department of Public Safety Officers Association, Denton was convicted of theft and misapplication of fiduciary property. He was sentenced to 60 days work release, six years probation, and fined $6000.

• Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) Members David Bradley (Republican), Bob Offutt (Republican), and Joe Bernal (Democrat) - Earle initiated a criminal investigation against three SBOE members in 2002. Earle accused the board members, who are elected from districts in Texas, of violating the state's "Open Meetings" law when the three met for lunch at a restaurant in Austin, Texas on the day of an SBOE meeting. The law requires a public meeting when elected bodies assemble in a quorum of three or more persons to conduct business. The SBOE members responded that they were simply eating lunch. Earle turned the investigation over to Travis County Attorney Ken Oden, who in turn indicted the members on misdemeanor counts.

LaCresha Murray case

In 1996 Earle made a controversial indictment of 11 year old LaCresha Murray for capital murder - the youngest homicide prosecution in Texas history. Earle's evidence rested on an alleged confession by Murray, which he obtained by interrogation of Murray at a children's shelter in the absence of any attorney or family member. Murray's case provoked several public protests of Earle's office and at the Texas State Capitol from her detainment in 1996 until her 1999 release, when the case was reviewed.

Earle's prosecution of Murray, who is African American, has been said by detractors to have racist overtones. According to Murray's attorney Frank P. Hernandez, Earle reacted differently in a 1978 case where John Christian, the 13 year old son of a personal friend, shot and killed his teacher at an Austin junior high school. In Christian's case, Earle offered the defendant psychiatric evaluation that placed him under mental care until he was 18 and then permitted his release. According to Hernandez, "the reason (Murray) was treated differently is because she is black, compared to John Christian, who is white." In 2001 the charges against Murray were dropped.

Perception of Earle

During his rise to statewide prominence in Texas, and more recently national prominence during the DeLay investigation, Earle has attracted both praise and criticism from political commentators, observers, and other politicians who interact with him. To Earle's supporters, he is seen as a strict law-and-order prosecutor who is not afraid to challenge powerful figures. To his critics, Earle is viewed as a self-promoting partisan operator, a carrier of grudges, and even mentally unstable. He has the reputation of being unapproachable by most criminal lawyers, favoring an elitist approach under which he will discuss cases directly only with the community's most prominent members of the bar. His over-reaching has even extended to having an investigator follow a young criminal lawyer who referred to one of Earle's assistant's by a vulgar name during a witness interview. And, in the 1990's he instituted what he termed the "Appropriate Punishment Team" concept in his office. Under that program, suspects were charged by information rather than grand jury indictment, a process available under Texas law only with the consent of the accused. Under the APT program, the consent of the accused was not obtained prior to the filing of an information. While the process sped cases through the criminal courts, it also deprived defendants of their right under Texas law to not be brought before a felony court judge until and unless they were indicted by a grand jury.

• Terry Keel, a Republican Texas State Representative, candidate for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, attorney, former sheriff, and a loyal former employee of Earle, with his take on the DeLay indictments: "...I disagree strongly with the way he's handled these cases. I can't see how any crime has been committed. Ronnie's stance in all this has not been constructive. If we have problems with campaign finance, then he needs to come to the table and work with the Legislature. He's not going to get anything but resentment from holding a gun to the leadership's head. Republicans are really angry about this. They see an unscrupulous DA abusing his office to pick on Republicans. I can tell you that Ronnie Earle would never prosecute someone he believed was innocent. He sees his role as reweaving the fabric of society. He sees his role as prosecutor like that of the proverbial Dutch uncle. He really believes all that. But sometimes he gets bad advice, such as in the Kay Bailey Hutchison case. His enthusiasms get him in serious trouble." Keel nodded at the photograph of the senator on his wall. "This is going to end up just like the Hutchison debacle."

• The Wall Street Journal accuses Earle of having "a history of indicting political enemies, Democrat and Republican, on flimsy evidence that didn't hold up in court."

• Paul Burka, of Texas Monthly said, "I don't think Ronnie is seen here as a total partisan. . . didn't look the other way in his own party. . . not your typical DA."

• Jim Mattox, who was acquitted of charges brought by Earle, said, "You might question his competence as district attorney, but I don’t think you could question his motivations as being overly partisan about the matter." Mattox nevertheless questioned the political motives of Earle's case, stating "Ronnie Earle had visions of grandeur. He was using it as a steppingstone."

• A friend of Jim Mattox, Jim Marston, said, "Ronnie Earle is a Boy Scout who is offended by wrongdoings, chief among them, public officials' abuse of power. . . If I have any complaint about Ronnie, it's that he is overly cautious about who he prosecutes. The fact that it has taken two years to investigate Tom DeLay is a sign not of partisanship, but of being completely careful."

• According to U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who was also exonerated of charges brought by Earle, "Ronnie Earle's record is spotted with controversy, allegations of misuse of power, and corruption. This should not be tolerated in a prosecutor with such awesome responsibility." Earle responded by telling supporters, "The attack of the 50-foot cheerleader isn't over yet."

• The Christian Science Monitor writes, "Indeed, many describe Earle as a populist. 'He really believes that the people govern,' says David Anderson, a UT law professor and longtime acquaintance. 'He's suspicious of corporate power in all its forms. I don't think he's irrational about it, but ... he's vigilant and zealous about maintaining the individual's power in the political system.'"

• Dick Morris, former pollster to President Bill Clinton and current Fox News analyst, has likened Earle to former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison and questioned his mental stability. States Morris, "This guy not just a loose cannon, he's a loose hand grenade. There are good prosecutors and there are crazy ones. This guy makes Garrison - the guy who made that whole deal about the Kennedy assassination - look like a model of respectability."

• Bob Stein, Rice University political science professor: "He is notorious for going after power... I read this indictment. This is not a frivolous lawsuit."

• Dick DeGuerin, high-profile Houston attorney for DeLay and Hutchison: "I represented Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison 12 years ago, and to me this seems like what Yogi Berra said: `It's deja vu all over again,'" DeGuerin said. "That was a political prosecution. This is a political prosecution."

• According to the Dallas-Fort Worth Star-Telegram "The late Bob Bullock, the legendary Democratic state comptroller and lieutenant governor, once described the Travis County district attorney as "a little boy playing with matches." Earle had looked into Bullock's dealings but never brought an indictment."

• Rosemary Lemberg, an assistant district attorney in Earle's office, explains that Earle singlehandedly pushed forward the DeLay investigation over the objections of colleagues. "Ronnie was the only person in maybe a group of six or seven lawyers in a room who thought we ought to go ahead and investigate and look at those things."

• Roy Minton, an attorney for one of the organizations investigated by Earle. "The problem that Ronnie has is that he sees something that he believes is wrong. If you ask him, when he says, 'They're doing this' and 'They're doing that,' you say, 'Alright, let's assume they're doing that, Ronnie, is that against the law?' He will say it's wrong. You say, 'Well, OK, let's assume that it's wrong. Where is it that it is against the law?'"

• Pat Buchanan has claimed that Ronnie Earle should be "behind bars".

External links

• "Dems Have Criminalized Politics" Robert Novak for the Chicago Sun-Times, October 3, 2005
• Advocate for the accused, Texas-Justice's, collection of articles on Earle
• Wall Street Journal on Earle following Delay's indictment
• Corruption hunter seeks last political scalp of his career, a September 2005 article from the Financial Times
• Washington Post's take on the Delay indictment.
• The Texas DA pitted against the power of Tom DeLay Christian Science Monitor article on Earle
• Televised interview with William Gibson, chairman of the grand jury which indicted Delay.
• Archive of biased media articles about Earle & the Delay indictment

• Texas politicians
• Members of the Texas House of Representatives
• 1942 births