New jury to review indictments

While a new grand jury will be impaneled in Willacy County to review the findings of prior grand jurors regarding high-level officials, including Vice President Richard B. Cheney, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and State Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., the embattled former Willacy County district attorney isn't going away.

The review is in connection with the Nov. 17 indictments that a former grand jury under ex-DA Juan Angel Guerra returned. The indictments 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. Indictments also were returned 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

Presiding Judge J. Manuel Bañales threw out the indictments, finding that two alternates who sat on the grand jury were not legally seated. He also banned Guerra from pursuing re-indictments, finding that he could not be impartial.

For DA Pro-Tem Alfredo Padilla, whom Bañales appointed to assess these and fellow cases, tasks on his list this new year is to request the seating of a new grand jury.

"We'll be doing that within the next several weeks," said Padilla, who has left the Cameron County District Attorney's Office to re-enter private practice.

For Guerra, his next stop in continuing his complaints against Lucio, D-Brownsville, is the Texas Ethics Commission, which responds to ethics questions, concerns and violations regarding state officials.

In his last day in office Dec. 31, Guerra filed a civil lawsuit in Willacy County seeking to seize Lucio's 10.6-acre property in San Benito, alleging that it was purchased with money derived from the commission of a felony.

"It is just not right," Guerra said of consulting fees that Lucio has received from private firms.

Lucio's attorney, Michael R. Cowen, counters, "It is sad to see that Mr. Guerra refuses to follow the clear mandate of the Willacy County voters who threw him out of office as a result of his constant shenanigans."

And as for new DA Bernard Wayne Ammerman, it was too early Friday to ascertain if the civil lawsuit seeking seizure of Lucio's property would fall under his or Padilla's purview. He wasn't sure if Bañales' order to Guerra included civil litigation.

Padilla concurred: "We're not sure right now. We're trying to get guidance from Judge Bañales."

Cowen noted that there is no substance to Guerra's accusations. "We are confident that they will be dismissed like everything else Mr. Guerra has thrown at the Senator," said Cowen, adding that the civil lawsuit is frivolous.

"However, he keeps coming up with one stunt after another to keep his name in the newspaper," Cowen also said.

Guerra said he wants to personally appear before the Texas Ethics Commission to complain about Lucio. Guerra said Lucio has falsely claimed that the commission cleared his business dealings when that was not the case: "The ethics commission should put its foot down," Guerra said.