"Ronnie's set a record for three grand juries in five days. Getting rejected by a grand jury should put an end to the efforts," he said. "There's no new evidence. The new evidence is he knew we were on to his game and knew we were going to file the motion to dismiss."

Earle didn't say what his new evidence was.

There's also news about the ex-deputy sheriff that served as Grand Jury Foreperson that indicted in the first case. This could be a bigger problem for Earle:

William Gibson, the foreman of the grand jury that returned the first indictment against DeLay, said in an interview with Austin radio station KLBJ on Wednesday that he was friends with a Democratic candidate who had been defeated by the corporately funded ad campaign run by the Texas Association of Business in 2002.

James Sylvester, one of the losing Democratic candidates who has sued the business group, worked at the Travis County sheriff's office. Gibson is retired from that same office. Gibson said newspaper stories about the TAB's activities, which were coordinated with TRMPAC, convinced him that improper political activity had occurred before he ever was on the grand jury.

Grand jurors from Friday's "no-bill" grand jury spoke to the press yesterday, saying Earle was angry when they wouldn't indict.

The sources, who only commented anonymously because of grand jury secrecy, said Travis County prosecutor Ronnie Earle became visibly angry when the grand jurors last week signed a document declining to indict, known as a "no bill."

One source said the sole evidence Earle presented was a DeLay interview with the prosecutor, in which DeLay said he was generally aware of activities of his associates. He is charged in an alleged money laundering scheme to funnel corporate money to Texas legislative candidates in violation of state law.

The source said that Earle tried to convince the jurors that if DeLay "didn't say, 'Stop it,' he gave his tacit approval." The mood was unpleasant," another source said, describing Earle's reaction.