It was an astounding act of chutzpah when Willacy County DA Juan Angel Guerra, in the waning hours of his term as District Attorney, indicted the Vice President of the United States of America.  It was less than astounding when Judge Manuel Banales tossed the indictment.  But that doesn’t mean that Guerra wasn’t right.

By all accounts, including mine, this was a bizarre case from the outset.  Some believed it was a hatchet job by Guerra, as a way to get back for the 18 months he spent under indictment before the very same judge.  Others believe that, Guerra’s baggage aside, he had an indictment and it’s no different when it’s the VP than anyone else.  It ceased to matter when Banales tossed the indictment since Guerra’s term of office ends at the end of the month, and after that he won’t have the ability to indict anyone.

According to the AP Report,

“I suggest on behalf of the law that you not present any cases to the grand jury involving these defendants,” Administrative Judge Manuel Banales said in court while ruling that eight indictments against Cheney, Gonzales and others were invalid.

Why would Judge Banales take such a position? 

Even in defeat, Guerra saw the outcome as confirmation of the very conspiracy he had pursued. “I expected it,” he said. “The system is going to protect itself.”

Even the court’s order contributed to the circus.

Banales withheld judgment on whether probable cause existed for the Cheney and Gonzales indictments because they were not represented in court and did not present any argument.

It isn’t often when an indicted defendant gets the option to not appear.  I suspect many defendants would prefer that choice to the one where they are shipped off to jail on bail they can’t make, made to face the indictment and put on trial.  From now on, the “Cheney Option” may be favored by accused felons in Willacy County, Texas.

But as Grits for Breakfast points out in his review of the Brownsville Herald, despite all the nasty issues swirling around DA Guerra, opening him to ridicule and allegations of using his office for a personal vendetta, it doesn’t mean that the indictments weren’t legitimate.  Hey, even paranoids have enemies.

[Nueces County retired District Judge Michael J.] Westergren told The Brownsville Herald Wednesday that Guerra is the only one who has had the “gumption” to investigate privately owned and managed prisons and their lack of oversight.

“I certainly think it is a serious matter. It’s not frivolous by any means,” Westergren said, referring to Guerra’s case relating to private prison firms. He said there is “substantial support” to the allegations.

Opining that investigations into activities within the private prison system had been suppressed, Westergren said, “That’s not good.”

“It’s a nationwide problem,” said Westergren, adding that the incidence of death in private prisons is estimated to be substantially higher than at other facilities. “That’s pretty bad,” he said.

So Guerra is a nut, in a County that is more zoo than body politic, before a Judge who may be every bit as biased against Guerra as Guerra is against him.  That doesn’t make Cheney’s indictment wrong.  It doesn’t make him guilty either.  The question still remains whether former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez covered up the death of an inmate, De La Rosa, to protect Cheney’s financial interest in Vanguard and it’s subsidiary private prison interests.  Is this just the tip of an iceberg of rampant conspiratorial abuse in private prisons?  Bear in mind, Cheney may be the headlines, but many others were indicted as well and all enjoyed the benefit of Judge Banales’ subjective decision to overrule the grand jury (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

But it looks like we’ll never know, unless some other District Attorney decides to pick up the ball and carry it toward the end zone.  Any takers?