ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)--Jurors in a federal weapons case can hear about Halliburton Corp.'s (HAL) ties to a Canadian anti-terrorist consultant who faces trial next week, but they can't hear about Vice President Dick Cheney.
Federal Judge John Conway ruled Monday that Cheney, who headed Halliburton in the 1990s, was irrelevant to the impending trial of David Hudak.
Hudak faces 50 years in prison if convicted of stockpiling 2,400 missile warheads, providing military training to troops from the United Arab Emirates and several other charges.
He goes on trial Aug. 19, a year after the warheads were found at his Roswell-based High Energy Access Tools Inc., or HEAT -a counterterrorism consulting and training company. Authorities allege he did not register the material with federal authorities as required.
Hudak was arrested last August with co-defendant Michael Payne, who pleaded guilty last month in exchange for a recommendation of leniency.
Hudak has been in federal custody for one year.
He contends Halliburton, a Houston-based oilfield-services and construction company, initiated the sale of the missile tips, billing them as demolition devices rather than warheads. Halliburton, through a spokeswoman, has confirmed selling demolition devices, but not warheads.
The devices were bought "as demolition charges, stored as demolition charges and used as demolition charges," defense attorney Robert Gorence told the court.
The devices were used to demolish unwanted buildings and for similar activities, the defense has said.
Cheney did not come aboard as CEO at Halliburton until a year after the 1994 purchase of the explosives.
But Gorence said in court documents that Cheney's presence at Halliburton underscored Hudak's belief that the company would operate legally.
A key issue in the case is what Hudak intended to do with the explosives, Gorence said.
But prosecutor Greg Wormuth said the explosives are warheads regardless of what Hudak intended.
Online, the headline for this story is "Judge Says Cheney Irrelevant To N Mexico Fedl Weapon Case," which somehow misses the mark by at least an ocean.
Incidentally, High Energy Access Tools Inc., or HEAT, is the lamest, forced-acronym podunk name for a crypto-military commercial enterprise I've heard all day. Hudak must be a total shithead, just like his masters.
UPDATE: Nice to know that HEAT is conveniently headquartered at a post office box in Casper, Wyoming. It has a vague website and a sister company called Hydro Cut, "the leader in tactical breaching equipment and training for law enforcement, military, corrections and government agencies." The latter website features an animated United We Stand US flag and lists its headquarters as a post office box in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
