Henry Cuellar Asks Appeals Court for New Hearing in TX Congressional Primary

Laredo, TX, Morning Times ^ | 06-29-04 | AP

[Theodore R.]

Cuellar asks appeals court for new hearing

Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Congressional candidate Henry Cuellar on Monday asked a state appeals court for another hearing so he can try to reverse a ruling in the voter fraud lawsuit brought by U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez.

Last week, a three-judge panel of the San Antonio-based 4th Court of Appeals overturned a lower-court judge who had ruled that Rodriguez could not challenge the eligibility of hundreds of District 28 voters in the March 9 Democratic primary because the issue was not raised before a legal deadline.

Rodriguez led Cuellar by 145 votes on election night, but Cuellar, a Laredo lawyer, now holds a 58-vote lead after a subsequent recount turned up more than 200 previously untallied votes in Webb and Zapata counties.

Monday Cuellar asked that either all seven members of the appeals court listen to the case and issue a ruling, or that the same three-judge panel reconsider its legal conclusion.

The 4th Court rarely hears cases as a full body, although Cuellar's legal team argued that they should now because this case is of sufficient importance and because the three-judge panel split 2-1 in the decision.

06/29/04

[Dog Gone]

I hope this Democrat food fight continues through November.