Cheney no longer under indictment

Indictments against Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez were both dismissed Monday, only hours after an indictment against state Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr. (D-Brownsville) was also dismissed.

Presiding Judge Manual Banales said Monday that the indictments — won two weeks ago by Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra — were improperly returned by a Willacy County grand jury.

All of the politicians were charged with various crimes related to the alleged abuse of prisoners at federal detention centers within the South Texas county. But Guerra struggled to prove that the defendants had knowledge of the alleged crimes.

"I expected it," Guerra told The Associated Press immediately after the hearing. "The system is going to protect itself."

In addition, five related charges raised against South Texas officials were also dismissed. Banales ruled the cases were were unlawful because Guerra was the alleged victim and the person prosecuting the cases.

An attorney for one of the defendants showed Monday that two alternates were part of the 10-member grand jury that initially handed down the indictments, making it an easy decision for Banales to dismiss. However, in all of the cases except for Cheney and Gonzalez, Banales added that he found no probable cause to support the indictments.

He did not comment on the Cheney and Gonzalez indictments because they were not argued in court.

Cheney was indicted on a charge of engaging in organized criminal activity. More specifically, the vice president was accused of a conflict of interest and “at least misdemeanor assaults” on detainees because of his $85 million investment in the Vanguard Group. The Vanguard Group holds interests in the prison companies that run the detention centers.

Gonzalez was accused of attempting to use his political position to stop a 2006 investigation into abuses at one of the prisons. And Lucio was charged with profiting from his public office by accepting honoraria from multiple prison management companies.

But law experts questioned whether Guerra, a Democratic D.A. in the final weeks of his term, had the legal standing to bring such charges against federal officials in activity related to a federal building.

Guerra was also accused by the defendants’ attorneys of attempting to settle scores with “political enemies” through the indictments.

Guerra will lose his position on Jan. 1, 2009.