Monday, December 1, 2008

Sol Wachtler Was Right!

"A South Texas grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on state charges related to the alleged abuse of prisoners in Willacy County's federal detention centers. ... Cheney's indictment on a charge of engaging in an organized criminal activity criticizes the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds interest in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers", Houston Chronicle, 19 November 2008.

"A county prosecutor who obtained indictments against Vice President Dick Cheney, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and others, pounded his first and shouted at the judge Friday about special treatment for high-profile defendants as a routine motions hearing descended into chaos. ... [Juan] Guerra has complained about [Judge Manuel] Banales' handling of the case, a probe has has dubbed 'Operation Goliath.' Attorneys for the vice president and other defendants leapt to their feet in objection, as Guerra pounded the table and accused Banales of giving the defendants special treatment in allowing motions to quash the indictments to be heard before the defendants were arraigned. ... Charges accusing Guerra of extorting money from a bail bond company and of using his office for personal business were dismissed in October, but he had already lost the March Democratic primary. ... Outside the courtroon, defense attorneys suggested Guerra was unstable. 'What came out today was the mental state of the prosecutor was exposed to the court,' said Tony Canales, co-counsel representing private prison company The GEO Group", Christopher Sherman at the Houston Chronicle, 22 November 2008.

Wow. You can get indicted over mutual fund investments. "From the New York Daily News, January, 31, 1985, pg. 3: ... In a bid to make prosecutors more accountable for their actions, Chief Judge Sol Wachtler has proposed that the state scrap the grand jury system of bringing criminal indictments. Wachtler, who became the state's top judge earlier this month, said district attorneys now have so much influence on grand juries that 'by and large' they could get them to 'indict a ham sandwich'," Barry Popik, 15 July 2004, link: http://barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/indict_a_ham_sandwich? The Cheney and Gonzales case looks like a ham sandwich to me.

This case is a joke. I'm surprised the judge has let it get this far.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Texas indictment of Dick Cheney is a Bush crime family conspiracy to give excuse for Dubya to pardon him for "any and all crimes he may have committed"