Former DA Juan Guerra walking in protest

RAYMONDVILLE - Former district attorney Juan Angel Guerra will continue his march to Edinburg's 13th District Court of Appeals today in a fight against what he's calling "judicial injustice."

Guerra started walking at 9 a.m. Tuesday in front of the Willacy County Courthouse on Main Street.

On his walk, he carries his brief case, which holds a court document that he intends to file in Edinburg.

The brief, dated Jan. 19, asks for the reversal of a Dec. 11 decision by state District Judge Manuel Bañales, the Fifth Judicial District's administrative judge.

Bañales' order barred Guerra from attempting to re-indict former Vice President Dick Cheney, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., a private prison operator and other officials.

On Dec. 31, his last day as district attorney for Willacy County, Guerra filled a similar petition.

Guerra estimated that his walk will end today in Edinburg. Tuesday night he stopped in Elsa, spending the night in a recreational vehicle that followed him, adorned with signs that ask for support: "Fight judicial corruption" The signs include contact information for his Sebastian law office.

The fight, he said, was reignited recently after he watched a film of Martin Luther King Jr. at a bus boycott.

"I thought it was my way of getting attention," he said of choosing to walk. "A lot of what (King) was saying is still happening today, the judicial inequality."

Bañales, Guerra charged, is not making decisions based on law, but instead on money and political connections.

"I am now, asking as a citizen of this beloved country, to protect the integrity of the Willacy County Grand Jury and reverse the decision," his brief states.

By walking the document to the courthouse, Guerra said he could cast a spotlight on judicial injustice.

"It is a big deal," he said. "I'll do my part and I invite people to do the same."