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Cheney, Gonzales indicted in South Texas county
Nov 18, 10:18 PM (ET)
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
McALLEN, Texas (AP) - 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.
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Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann in Washington contributed to this report.
I suppose that's a start. I'm just wondering how long it is before people stop pretending that the last eight years didn't happen.SandRider wrote:Cheney, Gonzales indicted in South Texas county
Nov 18, 10:18 PM (ET)
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
McALLEN, Texas (AP) - 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.
---
Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann in Washington contributed to this report.
Yeah, I finally got a hold of you in the right thread and I wanted to ask you, why not protest other things, besides religious displays, like the very thing talked about here. It seems to me that most of Bush's supporters are just fine with what George hase done while in office. I do not see passion in the few complainers of the Bush's administration policies. There was more passion in the protest against Clinton for having lied.SandRider wrote:This indictment ain't goin' nowhere - it's political grandstanding and
local distraction - but it's a harbinger of things to come - when you've
abused the hell outta your power for a long time and pissed folks off,
well ....the chicken's are comin' home to roost ....
Forgive my ignorance, what happened in January 1861?SandRider wrote:We protested pretty good up in St Paul this year. Hell, we got the fools to arrest Amy Goodman, for the love of g-d.
But GWB, like Nixon, will never answer for his crimes.
Never.
The Nation of America is built on a sack of lies.
Oh yeah, I forgot to address this in the "War on Xmas" thread -
"In G-d We Trust" wasn't put on the money until 1954, by a reactionary,
right-wing facist Congress to differentiate their nation from the godless
communists. It has no basis in American History, and is blatantly
unconstitutional.
But then, the entire American Government has been blatantly uncontitutional
since January 1861.
SandRider wrote:alllllrighty, then. Lemme get a few more drinks in me, there, Mr. Lawyer,
and we can get after that one .....
Bend in the wind, or break, better to be flexible. Times change, what was applicable hundreds of years ago might make zero sense now.I think it's because religion is the cause of all of the fucked up problems in this country. I get real pissy this time of year when other teachers try to put up lights in their rooms and stupid shit like that. I'm thinking of making an anonymous tip to the fire marshal.Jean Marai wrote:Yeah, I finally got a hold of you in the right thread and I wanted to ask you, why not protest other things, besides religious displays, like the very thing talked about here.
We as in Democrats or were you really up here? I found myself in a couple frustrating situations with Republicans and cops in riot gear.SandRider wrote:We protested pretty good up in St Paul this year. Hell, we got the fools to arrest Amy Goodman, for the love of g-d.
Did Robspierre used the wrong kind of color.SandRider wrote:Paintin' with a mighy broad brush, ain't ya there, pardner ?
I love me some County music, ever since Municipal music went mainstream and all.SandRider wrote:"We got both kinds of music - County AND Western."