David Oliveira, Canales' partner, said after the hearing, "the news media told him there was a hearing today and he ran." Canales asked Banales to consider holding Guerra in contempt. Canales said if Guerra shows up Friday, he will put him on the stand.

The highest-profile indictment charges Cheney and Gonzales with engaging in organized criminal activity. It alleges that the men neglected federal prisoners and are responsible for assaults in the facilities.

The grand jury traced a sketchy line between Cheney's influence over the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency, which oversees the county's federal immigrant detention center, and his substantial holdings in the Vanguard Group, which invests in private prison companies.

Combining those interests, the grand jury accused Cheney of a conflict of interest because the more the prison companies were paid to hold inmates, the better he did financially.

"It is appalling to find that numerous elected officials from different levels of our government throughout our country to our U.S. Vice President Richard B. Cheney, defendant, are profiting from depriving human beings of their liberty," the indictment said.

The indictment accuses Gonzales of stopping an investigation into abuses at the federal detention center.

Canales filed two motions Wednesday accusing Guerra of "prosecutorial vindictiveness" and of not presenting the indictments to the trial court.

In one motion, Canales said Guerra had hijacked "the grand jury process and disregarded the requirements of the Code of Criminal Procedure designed to protect defendants' due process rights."

T. Gerald Treece, a constitutional law specialist and professor at the South Texas College of Law in Houston, questioned Guerra's jurisdiction over federal officials and federally-run buildings.

"You can't have district attorneys across the country bringing charges against federal officials," Treece said. If there are issues at the federal detention centers, then Guerra should turn the investigation over to the federal government, he said.

And even in a federal probe, Cheney and Gonzales have a "qualified privilege" that would protect them so long as they were acting within their jobs, Treece said.

The attorney for state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., who was indicted on a charge of profiting from his position through his consulting work for private prison companies, said that on the chance the indictment was not dismissed