A look at a law being used against DeLay

The conspiracy charge is based on a 2003 law meant to fight voter fraud at nursing homes

Tired of absentee ballot fraud in his races for the Texas House and in his wife's first race for Dallas mayor, then-Rep. Steve Wolens pushed a bill in 2003 making it a crime to mark a mail ballot without a voter's consent.

That bill, which made conspiracy to violate state election laws a felony, was made law Sept. 1, 2003. It has become a key point of contention in an indictment of Congressman Tom DeLay, accusing him of conspiring to violate a century-old ban on corporate contributions to political candidates.

Lawyers for DeLay said that before Wolens' conspiracy bill became law, the alleged crime did not exist, and the charge should be dismissed.

Donna Goode, head of the Public Integrity Unit of the Harris County District Attorney's Office, said she doesn't think conspiracy to violate election laws was a crime before Sept. 1, 2003.

"Before that, I don't believe we had any kind of statutory authority that would allow you to apply the Penal Code, Title 4 (conspiracy), to the Election Code," she said.

Earle has said little about the dispute over the original indictment.