[JURIST] The first hearing in the criminal trial of US Rep. Tom DeLay [official website; JURIST news archive] will be held November 22, Senior Judge Pat Priest has announced. Attorneys for DeLay have asked the judge, who was appointed to the case [JURIST report] last week, to first hear a motion for change of venue; DeLay has said that the trial should be moved out of Travis County because there exists in the county, "so great a prejudice against me that I cannot obtain a fair and impartial trial." DeLay has also asked the judge to consider motions to quash the indictments and to sever his trial from his co-defendants, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis. DeLay and his alleged co-conspirators are accused of violating state election law, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with how a DeLay-founded lobbying organization spent corporate money in the 2002 Texas House elections. The Houston Chronicle has more.

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