Pre-Pulishing Update: Arraignment hearing recessed until next week pending decision in whether State District Judge J. Manuel Bañales will recuse himself.
Online at The Brownsville Herald
A recess has been called at a hearing in Willacy County where attorneys representing U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other state, federal and local officials are attempting to quash a number of indictments that accuse the officials of various charges...in Willacy County.
But just as the proceedings got started, they took a number of surprising twists.
First, Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra, who only has six weeks left in office, filed a motion to have State District Judge J. Manuel Bañales recused from the case, which clearly stunned attorneys who shot up from their chairs.
Then Bañales, called a recess to the hearing, telling the court he would call the Texas Supreme Court for guidance on whether he should recuse himself from the hearing.
Anybody else following the events in Willacy Co. this week?
Hat tip to enough already for the video!
In short, on Monday, a Southest Texas grand jury handed down indictments against a slew of local and national officials stemming from conditions in private prisons in Willacy County. Vice President, Dick Cheney, and former Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales are named, in addition to Texas State Senator, Ed Lucio and several Willacy County judges.
Whether or not the high profile indictments stand, this case highlights human rights abuses in for-profit prisons. Whether the D.A. wins or loses, he's put the story of a forgotten piece of America on the map.
This is the heart of the argument from the Cheney/Gonzales Indictment:
While it is obvious that private prison companies prioritize their profits over the needs of those in their custody, it is appalling to find that numerous elected officials from different levels of our government throughout our country to our U.S. Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Defendant, are profiting from depriving human beings of their liberty. This is inherently unethical in that these are the same elected officials that should be looking out for the well being of our state and/or federal prisoners or detainees. It should be the role of our state and federal government to house and maintain custody of our inmates and/or detainees and not contract them out to private prisons (whose) fiduciary duty is to make a profit to their stockholders and not for the well being of those in custody.
At the center of the story is D.A. Juan Guerra, a colorful character who was recently voted out of office - his term expires December 31st after 12 years in office.
According to Guerra, the private prisons named in the indictment have inmate deaths at FIVE TIMES the rate of public prisons. I don't have his documentation on this, but I do know that he has had an extremely difficult time getting information from the companies which have refused to provide information time and again.
Attorneys for the defendents claim that the indictments are merely retribution against political enemies. But as Guerra describes in an interview on Democracy Now!, this case started for him in 2001 as he began unraveling the circumstances of the murder of an inmate De La Rosa. Guerra went after the prison owner and won a verdict of $47 million for De La Rosa's family. This is when he began unraveling the trail which led to the indictments this week.
...this investigation has been going on for quite a bit. I personally started back in ’01, when the death of De La Rosa occurred, and so that quickly escalated. I prosecuted the individuals that killed De La Rosa, the other two inmates, and at that point I realized that the security and the welfare of the inmates was very lax. And at the same time, we also learned—I investigated the auditor, who was in the—also involved in the corruption. So the two things were coming in at the same time. So when the issue came up about the corruption, we brought the federals to get involved.
The federals picked up the investigation and dragged it all through 2006. In November 2006, they convicted the commissioners and Cortez, who worked for a private prison. But then, a week later, Cortez and commissioners were given only a three-month sentence, and at that point, they basically shut down the investigation. The US attorney for the southern district who was under investigation was—informed me that the investigation was over, even though just a week prior had told me that these individuals were given very light sentences, because they were bringing down higher-ups. So that stopped the federal investigation.
By now, you're desperate to know how the highest level officials are involved. Gonzo is easy to explain based on what you've just read - he's blamed for stopping the investigations/prosecutions, simple as that.
Cheney takes a bit more breath to explain - this is a real David vs. Golliath story, but the logic of it makes sense to me (sorry, this isn't online anywhere or I would have lifted it and linked):
*Vanguard is one of the major holders of stock in the several private prison companies named which have prisons in Willacy Co.
*Cheney's income taxes state he has $85 million in investments with Vanguard. Mind you, this isn't invested in a blind trust, it's actually on hit tax documents.
*By virtue of being a part of the Bush Administration, Cheney has played a major role in Homeland Security and has participated in management and budget oversight (my words, not his, so yell at me if I've said this incorrectly)
*Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is part of Homeland Security
*ICE contracts with the private prisons in order to house detainees and other prisoners
*Per diem payments for detainees/prisoners have increased from $54 to $80 and are currently being negotiated to raise to $120.
*Increased prison revenues benefit company shareholders
VOILA - the assertion is that Cheney has budgeting influence over companies in whose shareholders will benefit by increased revenue, and under his direction, revenues have increased. As a result, since he is a major shareholder, he is directly benefiting himself.
MSM is mostly ignoring the story, treating it like the D.A. is a nutcase as exemplified in yesterday's New York Times piece A Prosecutor Indicts Foes, and Cheney and Gonzales A Prosecutor Indicts Foes, and Cheney and Gonzales. Here's how they frame it:
The longtime district attorney in Willacy County, Tex., is not retiring from public office quietly after a defeat at the polls this year. Instead he has issued a flurry of indictments against his local political enemies, and then for good measure filed charges against Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.
Huffington Post ran an AP story on it yesterday as well which is less directly derrogatory:
Cheney and 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.
But even if the Times thinks he's nuts, remember that the grand jury had to be convinced before signing off on the indictments. Here are their words:
By personally investing and having stocks in private prisons corporations such as Corrections Corporation of America, aka C.C.A., Geo Group, Inc., formerly Wackenhut Correction Corporation, and Cornell Companies, Inc., these same private prisons for profit that house our detainees and/or inmates and that contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Defendant Richard B. Cheney, our Vice President, is illegally profiting contrary to our Texas Constitution article III, section 18 which its proscription is intended to prevent an office holder from personally profiting as a result of holding said office.
Defendant Alberto Gonzales, while acting as the Attorney General for the United States of America, participated by further having used his position as United States Attorney General on or about the 22nd of November (note: I presume this is 2006 – not listed), A.D. to stop the investigations as to the wrong doings which includes the assaults committed in the prison for profit in Willacy County, Texas.
WE THE GRAND JURY OF WILLACY COUNTY TEXAS duly selected and empaneled, and with great sadness, concerned and because we love our contry have no choice but to move to indict our sitting Vice President Richard B.Cheney and Alberto Gonzales, formerly the United States Attorney General of ENGAGING IN ORGANIZED CRIMINAL ACTIVITY against the peace and dignity of the State.
The arraignment which was scheduled for this morning, is usually the time for defense attorneys to challenge indictments and for a judge to rule on tossing them out or allowing the case to proceed.
As you've seen in the intro, the judge has called a recess to confer with the Texas Supreme Court - the Brownsville paper (linked in intro) is posting continual updates, and at present, the Judge Banales is attempting to speak with the general counsel of the Texas Supreme Court:
Bañales told the court just a short time ago he has had difficulty reaching the supreme court justices. Chief Justic Wallace B. Jefferson is in Washington and another justice is attending an all day conference. Bañales said he is now working to get an answer from the supreme court's general counsel, but admits it may be Monday before he receives a ruling from the high court.
Here's the freakiest thing: Presumably, Shooter and Gonzo would want to distance themselves from the prison companies to demonstrate that there is no tie from them to the companies. So how will they explain that they are ALL represented by the same counsel:
Attorney Tony Canales, who represents Cheney, Gonzales and the GEO Corporation, formerly Wackenhut Corrections Corp., told the judge to recess the hearing and to call the supreme court to appoint someone, if need be, for the other cases.
I will post more about this case over the weekend, but this is getting long, so I'm going to summarize the cases against Cheney and Gonzales very briefly. Links are hard to provide for this - the videos from local news shows don't have embed codes, and documents I've received related to the case aren't posted for me to send folks reliably for their own verification. Tomorrow's diary will have more background information on District Attorney Guerra.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
KRGV Broadcasts: Guerra Speaks and Judge to Decide if VP Indictments to Stick, Indictments Arraignments
airamerica.com/live has a link to an interview Jon Elliott did with Juan Guerra on Wednesday night - well worth listening to... click on the icon in the righthand column.
Print Media:
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/...
http://images.onset.freedom.com/...
Copies of the indictment are here: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/...