Hearings on Cheney, others halted

Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra brought a hearing to a halt on Friday when he asked that Judge J. Manuel Bañales recuse himself from presiding over the arraignments of several high-profile public officials.

Guerra filed a motion that Bañales recuse himself from the hearings, because he questioned how the judge handled the indictments and whether the state would receive a fair trial. The motion remained pending.

In a courtroom packed with defense attorneys, court personnel, media and observers, Guerra accused the judge of giving the defendants, including Vice President Dick Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and State Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., special treatment in allowing motions to quash the indictments to be heard before they were arraigned.

Guerra was indicted in March of 2007 for allegedly using county property for personal use, but Bañales dismissed the charges last month for lack of evidence, according Valley Freedom Newspapers archives. Guerra attributed his re-election loss in the March Democratic Primary to the indictment against him.

"Eighteen months you kept me indicted," Guerra told Bañales.

Clearly stunning defense attorneys who shot up from their chairs, David Oliveira noted that Guerra had done the "same thing" before, referring to the strategy.

For now, the matter is in the hands of Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson who will review Guerra's motion for recusal.

Bañales recessed Friday's court hearing until 10 a.m. Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving.

Neither Cheney nor Gonzales was represented in court and Cheney's Washington D.C. attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Guerra also disputed Bañales' appointment of Cameron County Assistant District Attorney Alfredo Padilla as district attorney pro-tem in the official oppression and abuse of office charges against 103rd District Judge Janet Leal, 197th District Judge Migdalia Lopez, former Willacy County special prosecutors Mervyn Mosbacker Jr. and Gustavo Garza, and Willacy County District Clerk Gilbert Lozano.

They allegedly were improperly involved in the investigation and indictment of Guerra last year.

Guerra also questioned the validity of his removal from five of the latest eight cases without a court hearing.

With pent-up grievances erupting, Guerra's voice cracked with emotion and increased in timbre as he cried out to the court that Bañales and the defense attorneys were trying to "ambush" him.

Guerra said that the problem is that 12 citizens were wise enough to "know what is happening in Willacy County."

"Do you really think that my grand jury didn't take this (indicting officials including Vice-President Cheney) seriously? They (grand jurors) took it very, very, seriously," Guerra said.

The controversial DA noted that grand jurors who returned the indictments Monday were not ignorant and that he was not crazy.

Padilla did not support Guerra's move to recuse Bañales from all of the cases.

Bañales directed Guerra to cooperate with Padilla and to allow his access to the files on the five cases. Although Guerra initially said that he would be going to the 13th Court of Appeals, he later changed his mind and said he would not.