During depositions taken in the weeks before the February trial, DeGuerin had foreshadowed his plans to question the seriousness of Hutchison's misdeeds. When Kelly Gilbert, for example, told DeGuerin that she kept a hair brush and hair clip in her state-owned desk drawer, the lawyer quipped, "You know, they indict United States senators for doing that."
As the trial neared, DeGuerin challenged the legality of the seizures in the June 10 raid -- which technically included the "pizza-box tapes." The D.A.'s office had obtained the tapes and much of the other physical evidence in the case with a grand-jury "forthwith" subpoena, instead of a search warrant.
The prosecutors considered the tapes -- and the testimony about how Hutchison had ordered the documents they contained purged -- the linchpin of their case. But Judge Onion refused to rule before trial on whether he would allow the tapes into evidence, prompting the sequence of events that led to Hutchison's dramatic acquittal.
Ronnie Earle subsequently dropped the charges against Barron and Criss, saying it would be unfair to prosecute Hutchison's former subordinates while their boss walked.
It was an extraordinary anticlimax, leaving dramatic confrontations unstaged and fascinating questions unanswered.
Would David Criss -- who had flirted with both sides since the first revelation of Treasury misdeeds -- testify against Hutchison?
How would the angst-plagued computer bureaucrats fare in their showdown against the self-righteous U.S. senator? (On the eve of the trial, Burkett's doctor had advised the D.A. that his patient might have a stroke or nervous breakdown in court.)
Would Senator Hutchison take the stand?
The case against Kay Bailey Hutchison has affected many lives. It has severely damaged Ronnie Earle's political stature. Deputy Treasurer Mike Barron resigned June 22, 1993, and went to work as chief financial officer for the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. John Bell remains at the Treasury, as do R.T. Burkett and Wesley McGehee.
David Criss has entered law school.
Kay Bailey Hutchison, meanwhile, continues in office. With her legal ordeal behind her, she is working hard to win her first six-year term.
"I believe in her mind she thinks she did nothing wrong in this," Bell told the Travis County grand jury. "And she can convince herself of anything."
Whether voters are similarly convinced will remain unanswered until November 8, when Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison will finally face a verdict based on public knowledge of her actions.
Miriam Rozen is a staff writer for the Dallas Observer.
