Uresti wants some charges tossed in criminal cases

Indicted state Sen. Carlos Uresti on Monday asked a U.S District judge to throw out federal charges that he was involved in a bribery scheme with a one-time Reeves County judge.

Uresti also filed court papers seeking to dismiss the charge that he acted as an unregistered securities broker, which was made in a separate indictment involving a bankrupt San Antonio oil-field services company.

In the bribery case, Uresti is accused of splitting with former Reeves County Judge Jimmy Galindo about $850,000 in bribes from Lubbock businessman Vernon C. Farthing III over 10 years. Prosecutors say Farthing allegedly hired Uresti as a consultant and paid him $10,000 a month, approximately half of which Uresti funneled to Galindo — who has agreed to plead guilty.

Uresti has said he is innocent of all charges.

In his motion to dismiss the two-count indictment, Uresti, a San Antonio Democrat, argues that the alleged payments to Galindo were made after he stopped serving as a county judge.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/local/article/Uresti-wants-some-charges-tossed-in-criminal-cases-11197880.php