Guerra's term expires after career full of controversy

RAYMONDVILLE - Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra stunned the nation in November when he persuaded a grand jury to indict Vice President Dick Cheney and other officials.

The grand jury indicted Cheney, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, state Sen. Eddie Lucio, a private prison company and other officials, on Guerra's claims that their involvement in the private prison industry led to negligence that caused an inmate's murder in a Raymondville prison in 2001.

Days later, state District Judge Manuel Bañales, the Fifth Judicial District's administrative judge, threw out the cases.

Guerra made national headlines after he led the grand jury to indict Cheney and the other officials.

After Bañales lifted the indictments, attorneys for the officials said they feared Guerra's bias against their clients would lead him to return to the grand jury seeking re-indictments, even as Guerra's own term in office was winding down.

So Bañales removed Guerra as prosecutor in the cases on Dec. 10, appointing attorney Alfredo Padilla to serve as special prosecutor to determine whether there was evidence to support Guerra's accusations.

On Dec. 23, Guerra requested the Texas 13th Court of Appeals lift Bañales' order that forbids him from re-indicting Cheney and the other officials.

Guerra argued Bañales' order strips him of his authority under the Texas Constitution to prosecute criminal cases.

But Monday, a three-judge panel dismissed the case because Guerra improperly filed the motion seeking to lift the court order.

Guerra's fourth term in office expired Wednesday. He leaves a legacy that includes his 2007 arrest on charges of theft, attempted theft and tampering with government records, perjury and abuse of official capacity.

Before Bañales dismissed those indictments in October, Guerra protested his arrest with a demonstration outside the county courthouse, where he lived for two weeks in a travel trailer with a menagerie of farm animals tethered nearby.

Guerra faced public outcry early this year when Wendy Gill, who was charged with murder in the 2007 death of her newborn baby, fled after she was released from jail. Guerra had refused to prosecute her until she received psychiatric treatment.

After her release from Willacy County jail, Gill, then 18, failed to appear for her indictment hearing. Authorities believe she may be in Mexico.