His political career collapsed in 2005 when Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican who was the House majority leader, was indicted on money-laundering charges that resulted in a three-year prison sentence.  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/us/politics/conviction-of-delay-in-texas-donation-case-is-overturned.html?ref=us    Thursday as a Texas appeals court threw out the November 2010 verdict, ruling that what he was convicted of — laundering corporate contributions to divert money to elect Republicans to the State Legislature — did not violate any state laws.

Mr. DeLay, as it turned out, was in Washington at a luncheon with his former Republican colleagues when the decision was announced. The former congressman, known as the Hammer for a political style that embraced hard-edge political tactics and a relationship with Washington lobbyists that invited scrutiny from prosecutors, was nothing short of jubilant.

The decision by the Third Court of Appeals, which voted 2 to 1 on party lines, was the latest time that a high-profile prosecution of an elected official invoking unusual legal theories has been stymied by an appeals court or stumbled in the legal process. Others who avoided convictions or had them overturned include former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and former Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska.

When he stepped down as majority leader in 2005, and later decided not to seek re-election from his district in Sugarland, Mr. DeLay, now 66, faced not only the indictment in Texas but also an investigation by the Department of Justice into his relationship with Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist at the heart of an ethics investigation.

The Justice Department never brought charges against Mr. DeLay for, among other things, accepting gifts from Mr. Abramoff like a 10-day golf trip to Scotland and England for Mr. DeLay, his wife and some staff members.

Mr. DeLay has been free on a $10,000 bond. He has been anything but low profile, delivering speeches, offering consulting advice, writing a blog and — in a career turn that might have eclipsed his work in Washington — appearing on “Dancing With the Stars” while wearing a vest with leopard trim.

Mr. DeLay was convicted with two associates of funneling $190,000 in corporate contributions through the Republican National Committee to Republicans running for the State Legislature in 2002.

This was the first time that prosecutors in Texas had attempted to use a money-laundering statute against a politician charged with trying to circumvent the state ban on corporate contributions that has been in place since 2003. Mr. DeLay never denied he engaged in the practices described in the indictment, but said they were common and accepted campaign practices.

“They never got rid of me,” Mr. DeLay said.