Texas County Indicts Cheney, Gonzales

Charges Against Vice President Relate To Investment In Private Prison Companies

(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.

[elewis33]

I suspect this is not the last indictment we''ll see for both of these gentlemen.

[babooph]

The neanderthals are not likely extinct-how else did Bush get elected ?

[babooph]

I"m running for president next-2 more wars against Islam,no tax for the rich,all funded by giving China the rest of US assets.My base will be religous nuts,crooked corps.,& dumb fools thinking they are backing a strong patriot-what party would I run in ?

[gramto8]

Guerra should indict Bush for the murder of JFK, ending the last ice age, and sinking the Titanic. Cheney should also be indicted for the extinction of the Neanderthals and dening the right to vote for UFOs.

Posted by downsteamjim at 08:05 PM : Nov 19, 2008

Can''t get him on the Neanderthal bit. He IS a Neanderthal. That sneer is because he is trying to figure out what those sounds are.

[downsteamjim]

Guerra should indict Bush for the murder of JFK, ending the last ice age, and sinking the Titanic. Cheney should also be indicted for the extinction of the Neanderthals and dening the right to vote for UFOs.

[kansas1946]

Texas. You know, Texas is one state that retains the right of succession. Maybe they should exercise it.

[noloyalisti]

This slimewad Republican criminal deserves whatever he gets (and more). I just got an e-mail back from my Senator Diane Feinstein saying she won''t impeach because it will "divide the country". What planet has she been living on. Butch and his Government of Pigs party has divided the country with their arrogant take no prisoners, we''ll break whatever law we want killing spree. STILL TIME TO IMPEACH BOTH the vermin.

[libh8er]

Cheney and Gonzales should go after these losers with the same vengence as the Duke players went after Nifong. These assclowns need to be taught a lesson....and that goes for the other bedwetting whiners in RI and VT.

[bjcone8559]

Hardball on CNN has a funny segment going now called "Pick the Pardon". This is really going to be interesting. There are going to be a whole bunch of administration officials who are going to need multiple pardons to stay out of prison.

[david1737]

This is the least of the crimes committed by these two.