Happy ending

Excerpt:

"The state’s top criminal court on Wednesday threw out the remaining criminal charge against Rick Perry, sparing the former governor from trial and a potential prison sentence on a felony charge of misusing the power of his office.

The charge, related to Perry’s 2013 threat to veto money for Travis County prosecutors in an attempt to force District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg from office, violated the Texas Constitution’s separation of powers provision by improperly limiting the governor’s veto authority, the Court of Criminal Appeals said in a ruling from which two of eight judges dissented.

“The constitution does not purport to impose any restriction on the veto power based on the reason for the veto, and it does not purport to allow any other substantive limitations to be placed on the use of a veto,” said the opinion by Presiding Judge Sharon Keller.

“The governor’s power to exercise a veto may not be circumscribed by the Legislature, by the courts, or by district attorneys,” Keller wrote. “When the only act that is being prosecuted is a veto, then the prosecution itself violates separation of powers."

The court also spared Perry from a second felony charge of coercion of a public official, ruling that a lower court correctly tossed out the law last summer as unconstitutionally vague and a violation of free speech rights.

Wednesday’s ruling brought an abrupt end to the politically charged legal troubles that have dogged Perry for 18 months, looming over the closing months of his 14 years in office and casting a pall over his second unsuccessful run for president."

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/appeals-court-dismisses-rick-perrys-criminal-case/nqXG5/

"Rick Perry might go away for a long, long time: What even the liberal media isn’t reporting about his indictment"

"Strupp also spoke with Morning News columnist Wayne Slater: “Many reporters in Texas know Perry and are much more familiar with the details in this case, the fact that these are Republicans investigating this and that Perry has a history of hardball politics in forcing people out,” Slater said. “This is a much more nuanced story than some in the Beltway understand.”

...1)  The indictment was not brought by the Tavis County DA. Nor were any other Democrats involved. It’s worth quoting at length from Smith at the Texas Tribune:

Not a single Democratic official was involved at any point in the process, except to recuse him or herself. That’s what the victim of Perry’s “offers,” Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, did. So did District Judge Julie Kocurek.

Kocurek referred the criminal complaint to Judge Billy Ray Stubblefield, a Republican and Perry appointee. Stubblefield could have dismissed the complaint. Instead, he assigned it to Judge Bert Richardson, also a Republican. He, too, could have dismissed the complaint. Instead, he appointed conservative, well-respected former federal prosecutor McCrum as special prosecutor. Republican U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison once recommended McCrum for the job of U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas. McCrum could have dismissed the complaint. Instead, he took it to a grand jury."

-Salon 

Rosemary Lehmberg, Cîroc

KLEM FM

Lily, Rosemary and The Jack of Hearts - Bob Dylan from Lívia Pio on Vimeo.

Rosemary started drinking hard and seeing her reflection in the knife
She was tired of the attention tired of playing the role of Big Jim's wife
She had done a lot of bad things even once tried suicide
Was looking to do just one good deed before she died
She was gazing to the future riding on the Jack of Hearts.

She Was A Beer Drinking Woman

"Texas Governor Rick Perry indicted by grand jury"

"A grand jury has handed up an indictment against Gov. Rick Perry in connection with the investigation into an effort to force Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign."

The Texas Governor was indicted on counts of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant.

At the center of the issue is a complaint about intimidation stemming from Perry’s threat to veto of $7.5 million in state funding to the Public Integrity Unit run by Lehmberg’s office. The threat came after she pleaded guilty to drunk driving and served a 45-day sentence; Perry called on her to step down but she refused to resign her position. Perry then vetoed the funding for the PIU.

The first count , abuse of official capacity, says the Governor misused government property by threatening to defund the Travis County Public Integrity Unit in June of last year after District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg was arrested for drunk driving.

The second count says Governor Perry misused his power by trying to coerce Lehmberg to resign or face the state pulling its funding from the Public Integrity Unit.

A grand jury was called to determine whether or not Perry broke the law when he threatened to veto the funding. As a result they issued indictments on two felony charges. If found guilty on the charges, Perry could be sentenced to a maximum 109 years in prison. (read more)