VP Dick Cheney and ex-AG Alberto Gonzalez Indicted in TX

[Ender]

Holy shit

[Elfdart]

After watching an interview with Vincent Bugliosi, I came to the conclusion that it's going to take local prosecutors and grand juries to try to bring members of the Junta to justice.

[Ender]

More trickles in

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.

Today just went from "meh' to AWESOME

[General Zod]

Ticker Article.

(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.

A little too late to do any real good, but it's a nice gesture.

[The Romulan Republic]

Won't Bush just pardon them? Can he pardon without a conviction?

[cosmicalstorm]

I believe the option of preemptive pardons exists and will be used.

[The Romulan Republic]

I believe the option of preemptive pardons exists and will be used.

Fuck:evil:. This was a good reason for the Democrats to show restraint. They could have played nice, made it look like all was forgiven, and hoped that Bush would let his guard down. Then gone after him post-Inauguration Day. Now that chance will be blown out of the water, and Bush and all his cronies will likely be fully covered:banghead:.

[CarsonPalmer]

Maybe I'm alone here, but I still have a little faith in Bush. Honestly, I feel sort of bad for the guy; he tried to do his best, he just wasn't suited for the job. I don't think he'll pull a mass pardon, but events might still prove me wrong.

[Duckie]

It's kind of traditional for presidents to mass pardon everybody no matter what kind of guy they are, and I'm kind of disappointed that I bet Cheney and Gonzales will get away with whatever they're accused of scot-free. Or even that they're actually not guilty on this particular corruption charge.

[Imperial Overlord]

It's kind of traditional for presidents to mass pardon everybody no matter what kind of guy they are, and I'm kind of disappointed that I bet Cheney and Gonzales will get away with whatever they're accused of scot-free. Or even that they're actually not guilty on this particular corruption charge.

I don't recall any mass pardons by presidents besides Bush senior and the blanket pardons he gave with regards to Iran-Contra.

[Ender]

I believe the option of preemptive pardons exists and will be used.

Fuck:evil:. This was a good reason for the Democrats to show restraint. They could have played nice, made it look like all was forgiven, and hoped that Bush would let his guard down. Then gone after him post-Inauguration Day. Now that chance will be blown out of the water, and Bush and all his cronies will likely be fully covered:banghead:.

Read the articles, watch the video. You know, like you are supposed to before you shoot your mouth off. The Dems had nothing to do with this. This was a grand jury.

[General Zod]

Won't Bush just pardon them? Can he pardon without a conviction?

Fun thing about pardons. If Cheney accepts it, it effectively means he's admitting the guilt of his acts, as per Burdick vs the United States. So I'm not sure why he'd accept a pardon without getting convicted even if it were an option.

[The Yosemite Bear]

well Washington Pardoned the Wiskey Rebellion, Johnson pardoned the Confederacy, and Carter Pardoned the Draft Dodgers.

[The Romulan Republic]

I believe the option of preemptive pardons exists and will be used.

Fuck:evil:. This was a good reason for the Democrats to show restraint. They could have played nice, made it look like all was forgiven, and hoped that Bush would let his guard down. Then gone after him post-Inauguration Day. Now that chance will be blown out of the water, and Bush and all his cronies will likely be fully covered:banghead:.

Read the articles, watch the video. You know, like you are supposed to before you shoot your mouth off. The Dems had nothing to do with this. This was a grand jury.

I know that. What I'm saying is that this Grand Jury just threw any plans the Dems might have had out the window. I'm sorry if that wasn't clear to you.

[Elfdart]

A President can only pardon for federal crimes. The grand jury indicted Dick Vader and Abu Ghraib Gonzalez on state charges. The only thing Dubya could do is try to get Gov. Rick Perry to do something about it, but there isn't much Perry could do.

This all stems from the fondness Texans have for killing convicts, ironically enough. Unlike other states and the federal government, where the chief executive can pardon at will, the governor of Texas must have all pardons and commutations approved by the Texas Board Of Pardons And Paroles -something they don't do very often.

[Scottish Ninja]

Cheney also violated something or other in getting a homeowner's tax exemption on his Texas mansion, which only applies for permanent residents, and then going to register to vote in Wyoming to dodge the requirement that the President and VP come from different states. So either he's guilty of ripping off the state of Texas or of voter fraud in Wyoming + illicit election as Vice President.

[Elfdart]

Looks like Dick Vader will be arraigned on Friday:

Huffington Post

RAYMONDVILLE, Texas — A Texas judge has set a Friday arraignment for Vice President Dick Cheney, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and others named in indictments accusing them of responsibility for prisoner abuse in a federal detention center.

Cheney, Gonzales and the others will not be arrested, and do not need to appear in person at the arraignment, Presiding Judge Manuel Banales said.

In the latest bizarre development in the case, the lame-duck prosecutor who won the indictments was a no-show in court Wednesday. The judge ordered Texas Rangers to go to Willacy County District Attorney Juan Guerra's house, check on his well-being and order him to court on Friday.

Half of the eight high-profile indictments returned Monday by a Willacy County grand jury are tied to privately run federal detention centers in the sparsely populated South Texas county. The other half target judges and special prosecutors who played a role in an earlier investigation of Guerra.

One indictment charges Cheney and Gonzales with engaging in organized criminal activity. It alleges that the men neglected federal prisoners and are responsible for assaults in the facilities.

The grand jury accused Cheney of a conflict of interest because of his influence over the county's federal immigrant detention center and his substantial holdings in the Vanguard Group, which invests in private prison companies.

The indictment accuses Gonzales of stopping an investigation into abuses at the federal detention center.

An attorney for the private prison operator The GEO Group filed motions accusing Guerra of "prosecutorial vindictiveness."

Too bad the judge decided Cheney didn't have to appear in person. A Dick Vader mugshot would be priceless!

[starslayer]

the requirement that the President and VP come from different states.

Um, what? There's no such requirement that I can find.

[Broomstick]

Won't Bush just pardon them? Can he pardon without a conviction?

Ford gave Nixon a pardon and there was no conviction there, so yes.

Won't Bush just pardon them? Can he pardon without a conviction?

Fun thing about pardons. If Cheney accepts it, it effectively means he's admitting the guilt of his acts, as per Burdick vs the United States. So I'm not sure why he'd accept a pardon without getting convicted even if it were an option.

'Cause it's a "get out of jail free card" and it means he gets away with it.

.... to dodge the requirement that the President and VP come from different states.

WTF? Since when?

It's customary for them to be of different states, just as for a long while it was custom to have one of the two from the north and one from the south but it's not required.

[General Zod]

'Cause it's a "get out of jail free card" and it means he gets away with it.

Without even going to trial? I have a hard time believing he wouldn't fight tooth and nail to get the charges dismissed or thrown out before accepting a pardon.

[CmdrWilkens]

the requirement that the President and VP come from different states.

Um, what? There's no such requirement that I can find.

12th Amendment:

The electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves

Thus is an elector for Texas casts a ballot either Bush or Cheney MUST be a resident of a state other than the elector or the votes are disqualified. In other words if Cheney was a resident of Texas then the 34 electoral votes from Texas are disqualified and Gore is President

[Elfdart]

'Cause it's a "get out of jail free card" and it means he gets away with it.

Without even going to trial? I have a hard time believing he wouldn't fight tooth and nail to get the charges dismissed or thrown out before accepting a pardon.

Courts are always a roll of the dice. What happens if you fight tooth and nail and get convicted anyway? Sure you might win on appeal, but you'd still be known as a CONVICTED criminal. What's more, the next administration might not want to stick its neck out to pardon the current one. Most political figures remember that the main reason Gerald Ford lost the 1976 election was because he pardoned Nixon.

[starslayer]

<kersnippety>

Interesting. The way I read it though, either Bush or Cheney would be disqualified, not both. So the courts would have a choice between saying Bush was President illegally or Cheney was VP illegally. My guess is they'd go with Cheney being there illegally, but this was gone over back in 2000, and the courts said Cheney got the Wyoming residency through in time according to snopes.

[CmdrWilkens]

Actually it wouldn't be decided by the SCOTUS but rather by the US Congress in joint session. Because the objection would have to occur after the electoral votes from Texas are counted the objection would be made in the joint session as part of the first day of the new congress. 3 USC 15 provides for objections to the votes from any given state. Now the thing is that while the Senate (at the time) still had Gore presiding and thus able to break a tie in favor of the Dems there was a 9 seat republican majority in the house. Per 3 USC 15 each chamber retires seperately to consider each objection and while the Senate might have voted against the Texas ballots it is unlikely the House would. The same section provides that if the two houses disagree then so long as the vote of the Electors is delivered under the Seal of the State and Signature of its Governor they shall be counted.

Long story short the only way this would have been decided for Gore was if you get at least 5 Republican defections in the House and perfect party unity from the Democrats.