Can Ronnie Earle spell mistrial?

Want proof that the indictment Wednesday of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, is a Democratic gotcha game with the script pre-written in advance?

You may be able to see it soon at your local movie theatre.

Travis County prosecutor Ronnie Earle has allowed a documentary film crew "extraordinary access" (in their words) behind the scenes as he has has gone through six grand juries, five of which refused to find an indictable offense. The filmmakers epic, "The Big Buy," was shown as a work-in-progress at the Dallas Film Festival, according to National Review correspondent Byron York.

The brains behind the film already had a story line when they started:

"Raymond Chandler meets Willie Nelson on the corner of Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue in The Big Buy, a Texas noir political detective story that chronicles what some are calling a 'bloodless coup with corporate cash,'" reads a description of the picture on Birnbaum's website, markbirnbaum.com. The film, according to the description, "follows maverick Austin DA Ronnie Earle's investigation into what really happened when corporate money joined forces with relentless political ambitions to help swing the pivotal 2002 Texas elections, cementing Republican control from Austin to Washington DC."

Certainly nice that the story worked out to fit the documentary outline. Or did it? The indictment handed down -- one count of conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws -- is so vague as to be ludicrous. Unless there is substantial meat somewhere in all the sauce, two filmmakers may discover that they have a piece of fiction on their hands.

The filmmakers are currently shooting a new ending. Our advice: wait a little longer. A judge may decide that a prosecutor-gone-Hollywood, who's been tipping off top officials in the national Democratic Party on the details of his progress, is a prosecutor who deserves a good public humiliation.

A third ending might be required.