![\"Willacy](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/guerrera.jpg?resize=333%2C246&ssl=1\" "\\"guerrera\\"")
<\/a>RAYMONDVILLE \u0432\u0402\u201d Willacy County prosecutor Juan Angel Guerra stumped a presiding judge and attorneys for clients as high up as Vice President Dick Cheney when he failed to show up to court on his own grand jury\u0432\u0402\u2122s indictments.<\/p>\n
The no-show infuriated attorneys who\u0432\u0402\u2122d spent the day milling about with what they\u0432\u0402\u2122d hoped would be slam-dunk motions to quash the cases.<\/p>\n
And it put Presiding Judge Manuel Ba\u0413\u00b1ales in a position he said he\u0432\u0402\u2122d never been in before.<\/p>\n
\u0432\u0402\u045aAt the very least I expected the district attorney to be here,\u0432\u0402\u045c Ba\u0413\u00b1ales said, asking Guerra\u0432\u0402\u2122s office manager, \u0432\u0402\u045aDo you know where he is?\u0432\u0402\u045c<\/p>\n
The manager, Hilda Ramirez, was subpoenaed by defense attorney J.A. \u0432\u0402\u045aTony\u0432\u0402\u045c Canales when buzz circulated in the courthouse that Guerra was nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n
Canales summoned Ramirez to act as representative for Guerra in hopes the motions could go forward.<\/p>\n
She told the judge she had been trying to reach Guerra all day.<\/p>\n
When Ba\u0413\u00b1ales asked if she were concerned for Guerra\u0432\u0402\u2122s safety she said she would not know how to answer the question.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Guerra\u0432\u0402\u2122s cell phone message box was full much of the day, but an assistant who answered the line late Wednesday said he was not ill.<\/p>\n
Ba\u0413\u00b1ales said he would not hear the motions without the state present and set arraignments for Friday morning.<\/p>\n
He allowed all defendants to waive court appearances and appear via their lawyers and set a jury to be called Dec. 8.<\/p>\n
\u0432\u0402\u045aThe State of Texas is entitled to have its day in court,\u0432\u0402\u045c he said.<\/p>\n
Guerra, a 53-year-old Rio Grande Valley prosecutor who drew national attention for suing counterparts in the county justice system and staging a protest with barnyard animals, long has alleged high-ranking corruption in the deals that brought the impoverished county a $60 million immigration detention center.<\/p>\n
On Monday, he got a grand jury to sign off on a slew of indictments including an acceptance of honorarium charge against state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., and an engaging in organized criminal activity charge against Cheney and Gonzales.<\/p>\n
Cheney is accused of contributing to the neglect of federal immigration detainees by contracting for-profit prisons.<\/p>\n
\u0432\u0402\u045aBy working through corporations as prisons for profit, Defendant Richard Cheney has committed at least misdemeanor assaults of our inmates and\/or detainees,\u0432\u0402\u045c the indictment reads, adding that a \u0432\u0402\u045amoney trail\u0432\u0402\u045c can be traced to Cheney’s substantial investments in the Vanguard Group, which invests in privately run prisons.<\/p>\n
This morning, attorneys filed motions to quash indictments “for prosecutorial vindictiveness and failure to allege an offense.”<\/p>\n
“In most of the indictments, the prosecutor identifies himself as the victim. The prosecutor has usurped for himself the role of prosecutor, judge, victim, and director of the grand jury. His conflict of interest and abuse of office require that he be stopped,” Canales said.<\/p>\n
A number of experts were shaking their heads at the indictment.<\/p>\n
Shannon Edmonds of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, after reviewing a faxed copy of the indictment against Cheney and Gonzales, said he\u0432\u0402\u2122d never seen one like it.<\/p>\n
\u0432\u0402\u045aIt\u0432\u0402\u2122s a creative indictment, but I don\u0432\u0402\u2122t think it properly alleges any crime,\u0432\u0402\u045c Edmonds said. \u0432\u0402\u045aIt\u0432\u0402\u2122s more of just a rambling narrative \u0432\u0402\u00a6 I think a court will find that it\u0432\u0402\u2122s legally insufficient in that it fails to allege a crime.\u0432\u0402\u045c<\/p>\n
Chip B. Lewis, a prominent criminal defense lawyer in Houston whose clients have included former Enron chairman Ken Lay, said, \u0432\u0402\u045aIt\u0432\u0402\u2122s a shame. I\u0432\u0402\u2122m not a Cheney supporter by any means. I\u0432\u0402\u2122m Democrat. But the misuse of our criminal justice system is apparent \u0432\u0402\u00a6 It just smacks of partisanship and it\u0432\u0402\u2122s a shame that credence can be lent to this type of charge because you have a grand jury indictment.\u0432\u0402\u045c<\/p>\n
Lewis said, \u0432\u0402\u045aI don\u0432\u0402\u2122t think he (Cheney) will ever spend a day in court.\u0432\u0402\u045c<\/p>\n
We’ll keep you up to date on this story as it breaks.<\/p>\n
Yours and truly,<\/p>\n
Fe Bongolan from San Francisco<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Friend and Reader: Here’s the latest on the Cheney indictment in Texas from My San Antonio, a San Antonio news website: RAYMONDVILLE \u0432\u0402\u201d Willacy County prosecutor Juan Angel Guerra stumped a presiding judge and attorneys for clients as high up as Vice President Dick Cheney when he failed to show up to court on … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[36,1788,614,52,618],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6733"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6733\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}