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Both the prosecution and the defense in the Michael Ratcliff case have presented a plea bargain agreement to visiting Judge Mark Luitjen in a Victoria courtroom. The agreement is that Ratcliff will plead guilty to aggravated perjury. Part of the agreement is that Ratcliff receives 10 years deferred adjudication, and is prohibited from visiting any internet chat rooms and is prohibited from visiting any pornographic Websites. The defendant will also waive his right to appeal the plea or sentence imposed in this case if the plea bargain is accepted by the court. The prosecution also agrees not to prosecute any criminal offenses that were the subject matter of this investigation.
Ratcliff was indicted by a grand jury last October for Aggravated Sexual Assault of a teenage boy, Criminal Solicitation of a Minor and Criminal Conspiracy. The alleged incident happened back in 1997 when Ratcliff was the Victoria County Sheriff. At the time of the indictment, Ratcliff was office manager of the District Attorney’s office, hired by D.A. Stephen Tyler.
Meanwhile, other indictments have been handed down by a grand jury. Victoria Mayor Will Armstrong, Police Chief Bruce Ure, Police Lieutenant Ralph Buentello and former City Attorney David Smith have all been charged as a result of the Ratcliff investigation. Mayor Armstrong is charged with Misuse of Official Information and Criminal Conspiracy. Chief Ure, Lt. Buentello and David Smith are charged with Misuse of Official Information, Aggravated Perjury, Tampering With A Witness, Official Oppression and Criminal Conspiracy. This is all centered on the Ratcliff sex scandal, and private discussions with Victoria Advocate newspaper reporters and management on the nature of the grand jury investigation. According to the indictments, those discussions involved information that hadn’t been released yet by the grand jury. The Tampering With A Witness counts involve the key witness, who is also the alleged victim, in the Ratcliff case.
As part of today’s plea agreement, the State would not be opposed to an early determination after the defendant completes 5 years of his term of community supervision.
The court will convene again on August 15th at which time the judge will render his decision on the agreement.
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