You know, I used to think that Ronnie Earle was the most out of control prosecutor in the history of the state of Texas. Clearly, that title actually belongs to Juan Angel Guerra, who has created a bizarre new legal theory to get an indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney in a rather unusual case.

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.

And I’d argue that no reputable judge should sign the thing – which is proof that a DA can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich if he so desires. After all, consider what Cheney’s involvement in the case actually is – as well as the fact that many of those indicted are actually connected to recently resolved legal charges against Guerra himself, leading one to believe this case is more about settling political scores than doing actual justice.

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.

Got that – Cheney’s connection to the alleged assaults is based upon his investment portfolio, not anything he actually did. Are you sure that every company you own stock in as a part of your 401(k) plan is squeaky clean? If it isn’t, Guerra’s theory would allow you to be charged personally for criminal conspiracy as well as any alleged criminal activity. That is a standard that stretches the boundaries of criminal culpability to the breaking point.

The rest of the charges seem equally as bogus – and in any event the charges seem to be outside the jurisdiction of Guerra’s office, since these sort of public corruption charges ordinarily belong to the Travis County DA’s office in Austin, where not even the hand-picked liberal successor of the loony Ronnie Earle would consider bringing charges. Besides, the charges in question relate to activities at a federal facility, raising the question of whether or not a state prosecutor, grand jury, or court has jurisdiction.

Hopefully these charges will be quickly dismissed – and Guerra will be quickly disbarred and/or quickly committed to a psychiatric facility.

Posted by: Greg at 10:18 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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