HOUSTON CHRONICLE

A Harris County grand jury indicted Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina's wife this afternoon, alleging she burned down their Spring home and damaged two neighbors' homes.

Prosecutor Vic Wisner said Francisca Medina was indicted on a felony arson charge for the destruction of her home, felony criminal mischief of more than $200,000 of damage to their neighbor's home and criminal mischief, a state jail felony, for damage done to the house behind the Medina's home.

Wisner said he didn't expect any other indictments in the case, effectively clearing David Medina, who had been indicted by a different grand jury earlier this year, of any wrongdoing. The prosecutor said he remains open to receiving more information about the fire.

In January, a grand jury indicted Francisca Medina on an arson charge and David Medina on a charge of tampering with a document.

Hours after the Jan. 17 indictment, then-Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said the charges would be dismissed due to ``insufficient evidence.''

The grand jury had handed up the indictments despite objections from the district attorney's office. Shortly after Rosenthal moved to dismiss the indictments, two grand jury members publicly denounced Rosenthal's unwillingness to prosecute, a rare move for the group whose actions are typically secret. They alleged that Rosenthal's actions were politically motivated.

At the time, Rosenthal insisted there was not sufficient evidence to charge the Medinas. Arson investigators had determined the fire was deliberately set and caused almost $1 million worth of damage to three homes in the Olde Oaks neighborhood in Spring.

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