soliciting and accepting more than $100,000 in bribes and kickbacks for favorable discretion, including in decisions to minimize charges, pretrial diversion agreements and case dismissals. His indictment together with his former law partner Eduardo Lucio stemmed from a yearslong investigation that has implicated attorneys, a former legislator and at its center, former state District Judge Abel Limas, who pleaded guilty to racketeering last year.Prosecutors have a tremendous amount of discretion and when that discretion affects people's lives, it can become a commodity in the hands of the unscrupulous, which is what's alleged here. County Judge Carlos Cascos isn't wrong that "the indictment puts the office under a cloud and would affect morale," but I only agree that's reason to resign if Villalobos really did exercise "favorable discretion" in exchange for money. Indeed, if he did that, the consequences should and likely will be far worse than just losing his job. But those are serious charges and somebody still has to prove them.
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
Cameron County DA accused of exchanging 'favorable discretion' for money
In Cameron County, reports AP, federal prosecutors have accused District Attorney Armando Villalobos of
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12 comments:
And I thought prosecutors in Texas were never held "accountable?" Dang!!!
By the feds! It's not like the state bar did anything to him.
Yo 3:30PM
LMAO at your post! That isn't even scrathing the surface of accountability. It is simply one example of why there needs to be serious overhaul.
Cause for celebration! If I look at my taxes, I pay a boatload to the feds. A few public, bloody FEDERAL prosecutions of these terrorists masquerading as Texas DA's might go a long way!
I'm guessing Villilobos would trade that federal indictment for a state bar sanction in a heartbeat!
Sure, 3:57, but the point is there's no state-level entity doing any policing of prosecutors here, this is the Obama Administration going after allegedly corrupt Democrats.
Grits, wasn't the County Attorney in Winkler County prosecuted just last year by the Texas AG for filing some retaliatory charges against a couple of nurses?
What, if any, is the connection between co-defendant Eduardo Lucio and Senator Eddie Lucio?
No wonder lawyers told me, 'justice costs more.' Any mistake of a crook getting caught teaches THE REST how to better circle the wagons.
The "lawyers' union" (State Bar---put in unconstitutionally, since the Senate voting it in was mostly lawyers) will NEVER do anything to lessen its power. The Legislature enables them, with travesties like "moving violations" for fund-raising.
Have the electronic voting machines and "news"-ownership made unelection impossible? Then what's the alternative?
(Oh-oh, it's CAPTCHA!)
It will be quite interesting to see the impact this will have on the race for state party chairman of the Texas Democratic Party - a two way race between populist Rachel Van Os of Austin/San Antonio and her establishment opponent from Cameron County. This race will be decided at the state party convention in Houston in June.
According to the AP article, elected officials are not required to step down on an indictment...
"However, there is a process for petitioning a district judge to remove an elected county official from office on the grounds of official misconduct. Anyone who has resided in Cameron County for at least six months and is not under indictment can make the petition to the judge, according to state law. The petition must explain the grounds for the removal in detail. After another step, the judge can make the elected official appear to answer the charge and possibly suspend him or her pending trial on the alleged misconduct. That process would be separate from the federal indictment."
So any citizen can initiate the petition then a Judge can initiate hearings and remove an elected official for misconduct.
Citizens not initiating petitions and Judges ignoring misconduct are part of the problem...
Republicans are just waiting to see if Democrats are dumb enough to elect anyone from this corrupt Cameron County bunch as state party chair. Even Texas Democrats aren't that dumb -- or are they?
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