Dick Cheney, Al. Gonzalez indicted in TX

[rhoenix]

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.

Experts testified to grand jury
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.

Settling political scores?
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.

[rhoenix]

And here's more...

(CNN) — A grand jury in south Texas indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on separate charges related to alleged prisoner abuse in federal detention centers, Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra told CNN Tuesday.

On the southern tip of Texas, Willacy County is on the United States-Mexico border.

Democratic state Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr. is also charged in the indictment. Michael R. Cowen, an attorney for Lucio, issued a statement calling Guerra a "one man circus."

"In the March 2008 Democratic Primary, 70 percent of the Willacy County voters elected to remove Juan Guerra as Willacy County District Attorney," Cowen said in a statement. "Now, with only a few weeks left in his term, Mr.Guerra has again chosen to misuse his position in an attempt to seek revenge on those who he sees as political enemies."

Cheney spokeswoman Megan Mitchell said, "The vice president has not received an indictment."

The Associated Press reported that the indictment stems from Cheney's investment in the Vanguard Group — an investment management company that reportedly has interests in the prison companies in charge of the detention centers. It also charges Gonzales halted an investigation into abuse at the detention centers while he was attorney general.

I really can't muster up very much sympathy for them.

[The Minx]

I pondered on what witty remark I could post here, but honestly nothing I could say would increase the awesomeness of this news. Best of all, these are charges of state crimes!

[frigidmagi]

Yikes that was quick.

[rhoenix]

Yikes that was quick.

I know - not only is Bush's seat still warm, he's still sitting in it for the time being. I thought the whole deluge would start the instant President-Elect Obama does the swearing-in thing, but it appears people aren't waiting that long.

Wow.

[General Havoc]

Is this just political theatre, or does this have the slightest chance in hell of actually going somewhere?

[SirNitram]

Is this just political theatre, or does this have the slightest chance in hell of actually going somewhere?

We'll see. As a friend of mine often says, you can indict a ham sandwich.

In rural areas, you don't even have to prove it's ham.

[General Havoc]

We'll see. As a friend of mine often says, you can indict a ham sandwich.

In rural areas, you don't even have to prove it's ham.

As long as it's TERRORIST ham...

[Derek Thunder]

It's theatre. Nothing will ever come in the way of prosecutions of the outgoing administration; there's not really a precedent for it, and the democrats are afraid of turning the Bush administration into a martyr for conservatism. Whether it's a rational belief or not doesn't matter. I hate to be the board fatalist, but it really does seem like the Bush administration will have gotten away with murder.

[The Minx]

It's theatre. Nothing will ever come in the way of prosecutions of the outgoing administration; there's not really a precedent for it, and the democrats are afraid of turning the Bush administration into a martyr for conservatism. Whether it's a rational belief or not doesn't matter. I hate to be the board fatalist, but it really does seem like the Bush administration will have gotten away with murder.

Even if nothing comes of it, the indictments are still better than nothing, as they will serve to irreprably damage the legacy and credibility of those involved and give future criminals in high places pause.

These charges are brought up by the grand jury at the state level, so the Democrats at the federal level don't have to raise a finger to move this forwards, and needn't be seen as being connected to this. Also, Bush can't pardon anyone before he leaves office.