Judge: Guerra can't re-indict

The accuser became the accused Wednesday in a quiet Willacy County courtroom in Raymondville.

Amid pleas from Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra not to intervene, state District Judge J. Manuel Bañales stopped Guerra Wednesday from attempting the re-indictment of Vice-President Dick Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr.

The Nov. 17 indictments that a grand jury returned charged Cheney and Gonzales with profiting from private prisons, neglecting conditions and stopping inquiries into assaults. Lucio was charged with accepting fees from firms for services that he would not have been asked to provide if he weren't senator.

Bañales, during the hearing of more than three hours, also removed Guerra from pursuing a case against the GEO Group, formerly Wackenhut, and Warden David Forrest, charged with murder and manslaughter in the 2001 beating death of Gregorio De La Rosa Jr. by two inmates in a prison under their control.

Saying that removing Guerra caused him "deep regret," Bañales also told the embattled district attorney that he "violated" his oath by exhibiting bias, prejudice and conflict of interest to "such a high degree" that he could not prosecute the cases.

The ruling followed a contentious hearing in which Guerra refused to answer numerous questions and challenged the court to hold him in contempt and jail him.

Guerra urged Bañales not to manipulate the system, telling the judge that he did not have jurisdiction because the Nov. 17 indictments returned against Cheney, Gonzales, the GEO group, and Lucio already had been dismissed.

Guerra also told Bañales that he would be interfering with the constitutional role of a district attorney.

"When we circumvent the system, everything falls apart," Guerra told the judge.

But Lucio's attorney, Michael R. Cowen, argued that the senator had a right to an unbiased and disinterested prosecutor and not a prosecutor who has a vendetta against his client.

GEO co-counsel Tony Canales pointed to two sections of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure which require that a district attorney conducts himself in a manner that ensures a fair trial and presumption of innocence.

"That presumption of innocence has been breached by the state," Canales told the judge.

Guerra said he had not determined if he would appeal the court's ruling.

"This is totally, totally illegal," Guerra said after the hearing.

GEO's defense attorney David Oliveira hailed Bañales' ruling. "It is a resounding victory for all the defendants who were wrongfully indicted," he said. "Hopefully, it is the final chapter in this tragic story."

Canales predicted victory even before the start of the proceedings. "I'm so confident about today's hearing, I might not even pull out my computer," he told fellow attorneys.