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[bacasper]

Cheney, Gonzales indicted in South Texas county

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer
Tue Nov 18, 10:18 pm ET

McALLEN, Texas � Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have been indicted on state charges involving federal prisons in a South Texas county that has been a source of bizarre legal and political battles under the outgoing prosecutor.

The indictment returned Monday has not yet been signed by the presiding judge, and no action can be taken until that happens.

The seven indictments made public in Willacy County on Tuesday included one naming state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. and some targeting public officials connected to District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra's own legal battles.

Regarding the indictments targeting the public officials, Guerra said, "the grand jury is the one that made those decisions, not me."

Guerra himself was under indictment for more than a year and half until a judge dismissed the indictments last month. Guerra's tenure ends this year after nearly two decades in office. He lost convincingly in a Democratic primary in March.

Guerra said the prison-related charges against Cheney and Gonzales are a national issue and experts from across the country testified to the grand jury.

Cheney is charged with engaging in an organized criminal activity related to the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds financial interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees because of his link to the prison companies.

Megan Mitchell, a spokeswoman for Cheney, declined to comment on Tuesday, saying that the vice president had not yet received a copy of the indictment.

The indictment accuses Gonzales of using his position while in office to stop an investigation in 2006 into abuses at one of the privately-run prisons.

Gonzales' attorney, George Terwilliger III, said in a written statement, "This is obviously a bogus charge on its face, as any good prosecutor can recognize." He said he hoped Texas authorities would take steps to stop "this abuse of the criminal justice system."

Another indictment released Tuesday accuses Lucio of profiting from his public office by accepting honoraria from prison management companies. Guerra announced his intention to investigate Lucio's prison consulting early last year.

Lucio's attorney, Michael Cowen, released a scathing statement accusing Guerra of settling political scores in his final weeks in office.

"Senator Lucio is completely innocent and has done nothing wrong," Cowen said, adding that he would file a motion to quash the indictment this week.

Willacy County has become a prison hub with county, state and federal lockups. Guerra has gone after the prison-politician nexus before, extracting guilty pleas from three former Willacy and Webb county commissioners after investigating bribery related to federal prison contacts.

Last month, a Willacy County grand jury indicted The GEO Group, a Florida private prison company, on a murder charge in the death of a prisoner days before his release. The three-count indictment alleged The GEO Group allowed other inmates to beat Gregorio de la Rosa Jr. to death with padlocks stuffed into socks. The death happened in 2001 at the Raymondville facility.

In 2006, a jury ordered the company to pay de la Rosa's family $47.5 million in a civil judgment. The Cheney-Gonzales indictment makes reference to the de la Rosa case.

None of the indictments released Tuesday had been signed by Presiding Judge Manuel Banales of the Fifth Administrative Judicial Region.

Last month, Banales dismissed indictments that charged Guerra with extorting money from a bail bond company and using his office for personal business. An appeals court had earlier ruled that a special prosecutor was improperly appointed to investigate Guerra.

After Guerra's office was raided as part of the investigation early last year, he camped outside the courthouse in a borrowed camper with a horse, three goats and a rooster. He threatened to dismiss hundreds of cases because he believed local law enforcement had aided the investigation against him.

The indictments were first reported by KRGV-TV.

[caniff]

[bacasper]

One step at a time.

[Milwaukiedave]

It will never happen, as much as some of us would like to see it. If it did, it would probably say something about put the faith of the people back in the system.

[kotakji]

"Cheney is charged with engaging in an organized criminal activity related to the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds financial interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees because of his link to the prison companies."

Umm unless there is significantly more information that were not hearing, this is sounding like a pretty ridiculous charge. So he invested in a financial fund company that invested in a second company that had allegedly mistreated some prisoners.

[Kikomom]

You guys remember when Cheney had the little shooting incident in Texas a couple years ago? The lawyer he shot just happens to be an expert in prison policy, Harry Whittington.

It was my contention then, and this confirms it for me now, that there was some conversation going on over US prisons being built, Cheney didn't like what he was hearing from his 'expert' friend, and shot him.

Molly Ivins tipped us off back then, God rest her soul:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/14/ivins.cheney/

The other person of interest in that hunting party is Pamela Willeford, then the U.S. Swiss Ambassador. At the time, the Swiss govt was asking questions about the secret CIA prisons in Europe. Pammy was probably there to find out how she was supposed to diplomatically keep from spilling the beans and still keep a piece of the action for Cheney and the Bush Goon Brigade.

[bacasper]

[bacasper]

Further developments. There seems to be a lot of wild stuff going on here involving the prosecutor and judge.

Hearings on Cheney, others halted

November 21, 2008 - 10:41 PM
BY EMMA PEREZ-TREVI�O/The Brownsville Herald

Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra brought a hearing to a halt on Friday when he asked that Judge J. Manuel Ba�ales recuse himself from presiding over the arraignments of several high-profile public officials.

Guerra filed a motion that Ba�ales recuse himself from the hearings, because he questioned how the judge handled the indictments and whether the state would receive a fair trial. The motion remained pending.

In a courtroom packed with defense attorneys, court personnel, media and observers, Guerra accused the judge of giving the defendants, including Vice President Dick Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and State Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., special treatment in allowing motions to quash the indictments to be heard before they were arraigned.

Guerra was indicted in March of 2007 for allegedly using county property for personal use, but Ba�ales dismissed the charges last month for lack of evidence, according Valley Freedom Newspapers archives. Guerra attributed his re-election loss in the March Democratic Primary to the indictment against him.

"Eighteen months you kept me indicted," Guerra told Ba�ales.

Clearly stunning defense attorneys who shot up from their chairs, David Oliveira noted that Guerra had done the "same thing" before, referring to the strategy.

For now, the matter is in the hands of Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson who will review Guerra's motion for recusal.

Ba�ales recessed Friday's court hearing until 10 a.m. Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving.

Neither Cheney nor Gonzales was represented in court and Cheney's Washington D.C. attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Guerra also disputed Ba�ales' appointment of Cameron County Assistant District Attorney Alfredo Padilla as district attorney pro-tem in the official oppression and abuse of office charges against 103rd District Judge Janet Leal, 197th District Judge Migdalia Lopez, former Willacy County special prosecutors Mervyn Mosbacker Jr. and Gustavo Garza, and Willacy County District Clerk Gilbert Lozano.

They allegedly were improperly involved in the investigation and indictment of Guerra last year.

Guerra also questioned the validity of his removal from five of the latest eight cases without a court hearing.

With pent-up grievances erupting, Guerra's voice cracked with emotion and increased in timbre as he cried out to the court that Ba�ales and the defense attorneys were trying to "ambush" him.

Guerra said that the problem is that 12 citizens were wise enough to "know what is happening in Willacy County."

"Do you really think that my grand jury didn't take this (indicting officials including Vice-President Cheney) seriously? They (grand jurors) took it very, very, seriously," Guerra said.

The controversial DA noted that grand jurors who returned the indictments Monday were not ignorant and that he was not crazy.

Padilla did not support Guerra's move to recuse Ba�ales from all of the cases.

Ba�ales directed Guerra to cooperate with Padilla and to allow his access to the files on the five cases. Although Guerra initially said that he would be going to the 13th Court of Appeals, he later changed his mind and said he would not.

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Prosecutor removed from Cheney case

By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN Associated Press Writer � 2008

Dec. 10, 2008, 3:46PM

RAYMONDVILLE, Texas � A judge removed a South Texas prosecutor from cases related to Vice President Dick Cheney, a state senator and a private prison group Wednesday, calling the district attorney biased and ordering Texas Rangers to escort him to his office so he could hand over case files.

Presiding Judge Manuel Banales ordered outgoing prosecutor Juan Angel Guerra to stop work on cases related to already dismissed indictments against Cheney, state Sen. Eddie Lucio and The GEO Group. Attorneys for Lucio and The GEO Group argued that Guerra's comments to the media condemning their clients, identifying grand jury witnesses and suggesting the judge was part of a conspiracy denied their clients due process.

The 3 1/2-hour hearing, during which Guerra rejected the judge's authority and refused to answer questions under oath, ended much the way the first hearing on the cases began last month � with an appearance from the Texas Rangers. Last month, Banales sent Rangers to look for Guerra when he did not appear in court after the indictments were returned. Wednesday he told the Rangers to accompany Guerra to his office to relinquish the files in those cases.

Banales said the only reason he did not hold Guerra in contempt was to deny the prosecutor "any dignity whatsoever" after the disrespect he showed the court.

Banales said he recognized the separation of powers that Guerra said precluded the judge from removing him from cases and respected the district attorney's office, but "the problem lies regrettably in the person in office."

"With deep regret this court has heard evidence that clearly shows you have violated that oath," Banales said earlier. "You have shown clear bias."

Guerra, whose term ends this year, will not be able to speak to a grand jury without the presence of the pro tem district attorney Alfredo Padilla.

The hearing should be the final chapter in a twisted saga that began nearly a month ago when a grand jury returned eight indictments against public figures, including one accusing Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales of organized criminal activity.

Cheney was accused of profiting from investments in private prison companies, which Guerra alleged abused prisoners in federal detention centers in Willacy County. Gonzales was accused of stopping an investigation into the abuse.

Banales dismissed all of the indictments this month. Defense attorneys, fearing Guerra would seek to re-indict their clients in his remaining days in office, asked Banales to disqualify the prosecutor. Banales had already substituted Padilla on five of the cases, in which Guerra was the prosecutor but also would have been a victim and witness.

Guerra himself was under indictment on charges of improper use of public office for 18 months until Banales dismissed the case in October.

Most of Guerra's testimony Wednesday, and earlier, centered on accusations of a conspiracy that drove Guerra from office and kept him from investigating prison abuse.

"This court has no jurisdiction," Guerra said at the start of Wednesday's hearing. He argued that since the indictments were already dismissed the court had no authority to consider disqualifying him. Later Guerra balked when Michael Cowen, an attorney for Lucio, called him to testify.

"With all due respect to the court, I'm not going to participate," Guerra said.

Banales persuaded him to take the stand, but Guerra remained uncooperative.

"Find me in contempt," Guerra said. "Put me in jail ... I don't recognize this hearing ... I'm not going to answer any questions."

Cowen said he would normally ask the judge to hold Guerra in contempt, but he believed that was exactly what Guerra wanted.

Later, Guerra put Cowen and Tony Canales, an attorney for The GEO Group, on the stand.

In earlier testimony and statements, Guerra showed himself to be biased and pursuing a personal agenda that denied his client his right to due process, Cowen said. Cowen showed media clips of Guerra suggesting that Banales was corrupt and part of a conspiracy along with Lucio.

Lucio was indicted on charges of profiting from his public office by consulting for private prison companies.

Guerra refused to answer questions about whether he would follow Banales' order not to present cases to the grand jury scheduled to meet Friday. Guerra lost re-election in a March primary and Friday would be the grand jury's last scheduled meeting during his term.

[Milwaukiedave]

When they actually go through with the indictment I'll run around Seoul City Hall naked.

Come to think of it, I have been saying that about a lot of things lately. One of these days I may be unlucky enough to have to actually follow through with doing it.

[bacasper]

[Kikomom]

Guys, the indictments were dismissed already. I don't know what circus is going on now, but this whole prison industry is shadier than hell and afaic, just another part of the Funnel, Inc. machine where profits are being garnered by govt. hacks with connections and prison investments.

While the shenanigans in Texas were going on in November, Alaska had a little sideshow of their own:

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[Kikomom]

Technically they did happen, so YES.