Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- In the battle between former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Ronnie Earle, the Texas district attorney prosecuting him, it's sometimes hard to figure out who's on trial.

Supporters of DeLay, who faces his first court appearance today in Austin on charges of campaign-finance abuse, have run television ads in Texas depicting the prosecutor as a ``barking dog.'' The Republican lawmaker accuses Democrat Earle of being a ``partisan zealot,'' and when DeLay's lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, asked the court this week to dismiss the charges, he alleged that Earle sought the indictment ``in spite of advice from others in your office.''

``What Tom DeLay and his team are trying to do is show this is just politics on Ronnie Earle's part,'' says Calvin Jillson, a professor of political science at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. ``If they can create doubt about Earle's motives in just one juror, that's all he will need for an acquittal.''

Their target, 63-year-old Earle, has a record that provides ammunition for critics and defenders alike. Both friends and foes paint a picture of a dogged crusader who is sometimes careless about the legal minutiae that can doom a case.

``He has shown a level of tenacity that one should probably admire,'' says former Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox, 62, a Democrat who was acquitted of commercial bribery charges 20 years ago after a trial he says Earle tried to avoid. ``I don't have the greatest respect for Earle's legal skills, nor the skills of his staff.''

More Democratic Targets

In 29 years as district attorney in Travis County -- which, since it includes Austin, the state capital, makes him the only Texas prosecutor with power to investigate state officials -- Earle has brought charges against 11 Democrats and only four Republicans. He has won plea agreements or convictions against 12 of the 15.

He has also had some spectacular flameouts, as in his 1994 case against Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, who like Mattox had served with Earle in the state legislature before she was elected state treasurer and, in 1993, U.S. senator.

Earle accused Hutchison of tampering with evidence and using state employees to work on her Senate campaign while she was treasurer. On the first day of the trial, Earle asked the judge to rule that the evidence he wanted to present would be admissible. The judge refused to give that assurance and then rejected Earle's attempt to withdraw the charges so he could file them again later. The judge instructed the jury to acquit Hutchison, now 62.

`Ready to Go'

``I was ready to go'' to trial, says Steve McCleery, 59, a former prosecutor who left Earle's office in 2001 to work in a solo private practice. ``Ronnie made the decision that without a ruling on the evidence, he wasn't going to take the case to a jury.''

McCleery says Earle didn't want to risk losing the case with the jury, which might lower the standards for public officials. Earle's detractors have a different take. ``Even if the information that was in question had not been used, I think that an average prosecutor could have convicted,'' Mattox says. Hutchison, through a spokesman, declined to comment about Earle.

Hutchison's lawyer in the case was DeGuerin, now defending DeLay. DeGuerin declined to be interviewed for this story, as did a spokesman for Earle. DeLay spokesman Kevin Madden says Earle has a ``well-documented history of abusing the prosecutor's office to seek revenge on his political enemies.''

Second Indictment

Republican rules in the House of Representatives forced DeLay, 58, to temporarily step down from his leadership post after a grand jury indicted him Sept. 28. Five days later, a grand jury indicted him a second time. Earle said it was because new information came to light; DeLay and his supporters say it was because Earle realized his initial case was flawed.

Earle is charging that DeLay and two associates used DeLay's political committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, to funnel $190,000 in corporate donations through a unit of the Republican National Committee and back into state races. Texas law forbids candidates from taking corporate contributions to spend on campaigns.

DeGuerin calls the charges ``groundless.'' The money sent to Texas came from a different account at the Republican National Committee and DeLay had nothing to do with the transfers, he says. ``They were very careful to follow the law,'' he said earlier this month. He and DeLay's other lawyers say Earle shopped around for a grand jury that would indict the lawmaker after initially filing what they say were faulty charges.

`On a Mission'

``This district attorney was on a mission to indict Tom DeLay, and that's what he did,'' says Ray Bass, an Austin criminal defense lawyer with the firm of Bass & Smith PC who isn't involved in the DeLay case. ``It's business as usual.''

``The grand jury returned the indictments that the grand jury thought were appropriate,'' Earle told reporters in Austin after the Sept. 28 indictments were handed up. ``My job is to prosecute felonies. I'm doing my job.''

DeLay turned himself in for criminal prosecution in Texas yesterday, surrendering to the Harris County sheriff in Houston, where he was finger-printed and photographed. He was released after posting a $10,000 bond. His arraignment in Austin was scheduled for 10 a.m., New York time, today.

Public Case

Since the indictments, DeGuerin has filed motions and other documents alleging misconduct by Earle. Meanwhile, other DeLay supporters have been making their case publicly. The Free Enterprise Fund, a Washington-based organization that pushes for limited government, began running commercials in Austin and other cities attacking Earle.

``A prosecutor with a political agenda can be vicious,'' the ad says, with a dog barking in the background. ``Bad Ronnie, bad. It's not a crime to be a conservative.''

DeGuerin's motion to quash the money-laundering indictment says Earle realized his first indictment wouldn't stick and so engaged in ``a desperate attempt to contrive a viable charge.'' Some legal experts have their own questions about why Earle pursued the second indictment.

``It leaves you wondering,'' says Greg Wallance, a former assistant U.S. attorney in New York who now works as a defense attorney in the city. ``It's just a question of just how careful and thorough they have been in preparing their case.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Kristin Jensen in Washington kjensen@bloomberg.net; Darrell Preston in Dallas at dpreston@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: October 21, 2005 00:01 EDT