Texas Grand Jury Indicts Cheney, Gonzales

A grand jury in a small southern Texas county has handed down indictments against Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for "organized criminal activity" connected to abuse in federal prisons, Reuters reports. The indictments, overseen by controversial local District Attorney Juan Guerra, accuse Cheney of illegally profiting from his investment in a group with stakes in private prisons, and charge that Gonzalez quashed probes into prison assaults.

Cheney's office declined to comment but a lawyer for a state senator, also indicted, accused Guerra of using his final weeks in office to seek revenge on his perceived enemies. "This is not the first time that Guerra has attempted to turn the justice system into a circus," the lawyer said, citing an occasion last year when Guerra camped in front of the courthouse in a trailer with three goats, a horse and a rooster to protest a police search of his office.
(More Texas stories.)