Cheney, Gonzales Trial Prosecutor Yells At Judge

RAYMONDVILLE, Texas — A county prosecutor who brought indictments this week against Vice President Dick Cheney and others pounded his fist and shouted at the judge Friday during a routine hearing. Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra asked Presiding Judge Manuel Banales to recuse himself from the case, which alleges abuse at federally run prisons.

Attorneys for the vice president and other defendants leapt to their feet in objection as Guerra pounded the table and accused Banales of giving the defendants special treatment.

"Now all of a sudden there is urgency," Guerra shouted. "Eighteen months you kept me indicted through the election."

Guerra lost his bid for re-election in the March primary and will leave office in January. He was indicted last year on charges he extorted money from a bail bond company and used his office for personal business, but the charges were dismissed last month.

Guerra said the judge was wrong to allow motions to quash the indictments to be heard before the defendants were arraigned.

Banales called a recess so he could try to contact the chief justice of the state Supreme Court for suggestions on how to proceed, and ordered Guerra, who had slipped out once during the hearing, to remain in the courthouse.

Guerra first said "I will not obey that order," but then agreed to stay if the judge asked him respectfully.

After the recess, Banales adjourned for the day and announced that he would send all documents pertaining to the recusal motion to the chief justice. He tentatively scheduled the parties to return to court Wednesday.

Curious residents packed the well-worn pews of the Willacy County Courthouse's only courtroom for Friday's hearing. The defendants were not required to appear in person.

Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales were indicted in connection with privately run federal detention centers in Willacy. In particular, it alleges that Cheney's personal investment in the Vanguard Group, which invests in private prison companies, gives him culpability in alleged prisoner abuse.

Guerra also indicted judges and special prosecutors who played a role in the investigation of him.

T. Gerald Treece, a constitutional law specialist and professor at the South Texas College of Law in Houston, this week questioned Guerra's jurisdiction.

"You can't have district attorneys across the country bringing charges against federal officials," Treece said. And even in a federal probe, Cheney and Gonzales have a "qualified privilege" that would protect them so long as they were acting within their jobs, Treece said.

Comments

[woundedduck]

How can Cheney's private investments covered by "qualified privilege"?

[BetterDeadthanRedState]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that.

[cruisepuppy7452a]

They can't. His assets here and abroad, those held in trusts are considered public assets, and can be seized under federal laws, taken as collateral, frozen, used to repay all whom he harrmed over the years, he has no recourse against this given the types of crimes he and Bush committed while in office. Private investments are the first to go under the laws, then personal assets, those held in trust, other names. He will be stripped of executive privledge following this, losing any and all rights held by president or VP.

[blueskybigstar]

I sure do hope you are right.

[coastalcarla]

I'm getting really sick of all of the "privileges" these goons seem to be afforded. No matter how criminal their actions.

[gorgol]

Ah wouldn't it be great if Guerra were given a position in the Obama administration?? SWEEEET.

[blueskybigstar]

I second that. This man is good.

[argent1]

A Cheney said to Bush when he stepped on his foot "well pardon me" ;)

[nick1936]

Would anyone of us be allowed not to appear in court after we were indited??? or just the privilege


Just Asking you folks think about it first then answer

[coastalcarla]

Only the rich get away with it. Showing up in court when indicted or under subpoena is for poor people. That's been made quite obvious over the past eight years.

[stargazer13]

vanguard I remember some thing about this and another case I think in California where a Judge held stock in same company and did not recluse him self hum sounds like this story has more legs then a centipede because this Cali case had some controversy if I remember right

[blueskybigstar]

recuse

[rocketoo]

Juan is a quixotic hero in the corrupt state of Texas. He has brought similar charges against corrupt public officials and gotten convictions. It looks like this judge colluded with the Republican party to railroad him with false charges of corruption in order to get him out of the way. They apparently succeeded and now Juan is making a last stand against the machine. Rock on Juan Angel Guerra !! Give 'em hell!

[blueskybigstar]

The people who are protecting Obama should immediately send people to protect this man.

[haramagoti]

Guerra is a true Brown Buffalo, he has more equipment both upstairs and down than most and is probably risking his life to prove it. There's nothing strange about his behavior, he's not wacked out, he's not even being unprofessional. This prosecutor called the judge on an issue he has with him that the judge backed off and called his superior over, that pretty much justifies at least Guerra's charge that perhaps Judge Banales acted inappropriately. Why is everyone trying to cut the guys sac off for being a diligent attorney? Would they rather prisoners get abused and those in charge of those prisons, the ones who own, thus run them get away with it? If you were that prisoner who suffered extremely, or even died, would you want the lawyer defending that from occurring again to just let things slide, like the judge is? This judge doesn't know which moves are right for his career here, because Cheney/Gonzales are on the way out, but he's slipped and gotten called on it. Guerra is the man of substance in the room, quit trying to turn him into the people he's trying to hold responsible for their actions, including the judge.

[haramagoti]

By the way, lawyers are allowed to get loud. When you ask a judge to recuse himself, you don't want anyone mistaking what you're saying. It takes great balls of fire to do what he's doing, and in his interview with Democracy Now interview the other day, he explained in detail what he's up against and why, he's no more insane not out of line than any other prosecutor simply doing his damn job. Get off his back!

[BetterDeadthanRedState]

I think anyone who's not suspicious of an "old boys" network in Texas is the person whose sanity should be called into question.

[blueskybigstar]

The guy beaten to d e a th right before he was to be released probably knew too much as well.

[winchestereast]

Guerra very gutsy guy for taking on the private prison system - cheney's holdings in vanguard are est. @ $85,000,000 - not chump change - i wouldn't find any incentive to rehabilitate prisoners or get them out if i were getting paid to keep them in - and cannot make profit for shareholders if you're spending too much per prisoner or on training your guards - in fact, helps to have the economy in a shambles, the schools systems failing, a class of chronically poor - keeps those prisons full - FREE MARKET PRISONS - great, just like 'free market capitalism' - another sham that flies under the radar and feeds the culture wars -

[sloreader]

I agree, if prisons are becoming "for profit" ventures what possible incentive could there be to rehabilitate or release even one prisoner? Nightmarish stuff.

[meemu]

I'm not real familiar with this story, but I admire this guy for trying to bring right into what seems very wrong here. I don't know who would help him in his fight. Don't think Obama could do much at this point....T­he American Protected Mafia seems to have most of the winning cards. I really wish I didn't have the impression our government is full of schemers and criminals only interested in $$$$$

[jl4141]

Look, peeps, I find Cheney and Gonzalez as repulsive as most of you do, and there's plenty they should be brought to account for, but this D.A. is one wacky piece of work, and these indictments are nothing more than ridiculous theater with no substance to them.

[winchestereast]

the importance of private ownership of prisons is a HUGE PROBLEM - under the radar - not covered by the press - creates no incentive to rehabilitate prisoners since prisons get paid to have prisoners incarcerated - removes incentive to have full employment, good schools, etc - like cheney's connection to halliburton and blackwater, this is something we should all be concerned about - FOLLOW THE DOTS - PRISONS MAKE MONEY FOR SOME PEOPLE, WARS MAKE MONEY FOR SOME PEOPLE, GAMBLING WITH DERIVATIVES MAKES MONEY FOR SOME PEOPLE - CHENEY is part of this crew - VANGUARD, CARLYLE GROUP - GOOGLE THEM ALL - money makes social policy -

[larmarch5]

The whole prison industry (private, fed and state) is corrupt and in cahoots with the so called "war on drugs." These monsters feed off casual users and small time sellers to feed their system. They get us coming and going: using our tax dollars AND slave labor for manufacturing. The prison guard unions are also in the thick of this, guaranteeing lucrative jobs for themselves. CA recently let the muggers keep a rehab funding item from passing by believing these "law and order" thugs' advertising.

It is time for a netroots groundswell to legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana. A Marin County official recently said marijuana is the biggest cash crop in that county and want to tax it. God bless 'em.

Another article recently showed there are more deaths from "legal" drugs than from illegal drugs.

Stop the madness now.

[Barbie40]

cheney is the mob

[Durango]

Private Prisons

Worst idea ever.

Let me repeat:

WORST IDEA EVER!

[junebug08]

I would be a mad hatter too, had the cheney/gonzalez thugs tried to accuse me of extortion, etc. These people truly think they are above the law, and quite honestly continue to get away with it. It's a shameful reflection of ourselves to have allowed these people to work for us.

[DIAGER]

He could be a 'wacky peice of work", or he could be a man who's simply had his fill of judicial loop holes for the privileged. Either way, I applaud him for pursuing these crooks on something. Someone needed to, especially since the rest of the us are still sitting silently in denial.

[zippywpinhead]

trouble is- if he is indeed the whack job he appears to be, it's going to damage the credibility of any future charges brought against Cheney or Gonzo...

[mathme]

He's mad a heII and he's not going to take it any more.

[MissingAmerica]

It sounds like this guy has good cause. I'm sick of watching the most powerful officers in this land get away with murder, literally. Every little bit helps. You go, Guerra.

[chaos4700]

Ugh. While it's great that /somebody/ raised any sort of case at all against Cheney and Gonzales (or anyone in that administration, for that matter) is anybody else a little bit worried that this prosecutor's a little bit too wacky? I mean, I don't know the whole story behind Guerra's own indictments and exoneration, maybe he has every reason to be angry and maybe the Republicans did try to sabotage his career, but if he acts like a buffoon in court this trial run (no pun intended) this isn't going to bode well for other attempts to use local prosecutions to take the Bushies to task after their Commander in Chief issues the blanket pardons against federal prosecution. They'll be painted like partisan manuevers and in the current political landscape, the national Democrat party will denounce them, leaving them torpedoed.

[carallen]

Yeah totally, I mean these guys need to go down for any list of crimes during the past eight years but an out of control prosecutor is not the way to handle it.

[Durango]

Sounds like the judge might be the one out of control.

He holds indictments over the prosecutor until after he loses the election, and then drops them?

Sounds like cause for outrage to me.

[blueskybigstar]

Have you not got Cheney and Bush's modus operandi yet? Please, we know they're bad and we know how they do it. This sounds like more of the same. Guerra has had that job for 20 years and has brought down some very big people.

[eugenegerard]

This web address was set up to get donations for the buying of Vincente Bugliosi's book. All copies bought will be sent to prosecutors across the USA. The book is "The Prosecution Of George Bush For Murder". http://prosecutegeorgebush.com Hopefully more prosecutors will "get it".

[wolfmanman]

Is anyone else reminded of Al Cappone's "tax evasion" trial? I mean, of all the things to bring these guys to court over...

[lmab]

This article is so poorly written, it makes no sense. Come on!

[SabrinaFair]

Bush, Cheney and Gonzales should be tried in front of a War tribunal.

[DarkandStormyNight]

I completely agree, but how do we make that happen? In our dreams, I guess.

[Samalabear]

Nothing less.

[jrlaco]

Read article II of the US Constitution, then remember that there were two formal votes in the US congress regarding both Iraq, and the more nebulous "War on Terror"

The executive branch was given the express authorities just so there would not be political prosecutions, or legal second guessing.

This is a foolish endeavor, and serve only to satisfy all of your fantasies about political retrobution.

[TheFabOne]

Typical Repuglicrap bongo nonsense. If you break the law, you must appear in court!! Why is it that these people get to dance nonchalantly around the law while innocent American troops don't get to dance around those bullets and stuff the Iraqi insurgents are tossing at them?

WAR CRIMINALS!!!!

[BSERIUS]

Get ready America...­The antics of Guerra are what we can expect out of the witch hunters coming out of January

[Lynnwood]

Except, in this case, there actually ARE witches.

[bluguy8]

in this case--we need witch hunters

[zippywpinhead]

no, we need credible prosecutio­ns...

[LiberalBuzz]

Do you actually believe the hogwash you spew bser or are you paid to come here and spout this nonsense?