At the time Bush was bounced from the jury pool, it was widely believed that he was looking to avoid questions about his hard-drinking past that would surely have come up during jury selection. The Houston Chronicle reported at the time that Bush's dismissal by the court was "a development that allowed him to avoid potentially embarrassing questions about whether he had ever climbed behind the wheel after drinking."

On Oct. 8, 1996, after Bush was struck from duty in the case, he was asked by reporters if he had ever been arrested for driving while intoxicated. "I do not have a perfect record as a youth," Bush replied.

During the 1996 jury selection process, Oden says, Lastovica, Gonzales, defense lawyer Wahlberg and Judge Crain met in Crain's chambers at the request of Gonzales. In chambers, Gonzales presented his pardon argument. A few minutes later, Lastovica presented the information to Oden for approval. Gonzales' pitch was a "legal argument relating to his [Bush's] position as governor that none of us had ever heard," recalled Oden. "My response was, 'That's an unusual argument.' In 20 years of prosecuting in a town full of government officials, I'd never heard that position before."

"Our position was that as a matter of courtesy to the governor we would not oppose his request for release from service. At that point, not knowing that he hadn't answered the questionnaire, or [had] other motives, he was released," he said.

Oden adds that he told Lastovica not to object to Gonzales' argument, but he wanted to make sure that there was no chance that Wahlberg could use Bush's removal from the jury as a basis for any possible appeal. Oden said he instructed Lastovica "to make sure the defense attorney can't complain about this later. And the cleanest thing would be for him to make the motion to excuse the governor."

"With that agreed-upon script," Oden says, the lawyers came out of Crain's chambers and Wahlberg made the motion.

Bush spokesman Dan Bartlett pointed out on Friday night that it was Wahlberg who made the motion to excuse Bush, and therefore Bush's dismissal from jury service shouldn't be controversial. But the defense lawyer confirms he did it at the behest of Gonzales and Lastovica, and says he believed bouncing the Republican governor from the jury pool, for whatever the reason, was the best move for his client.

While Gonzales' argument about the potential pardon may have carried the day in court, the likelihood of a governor -- and particularly a tough-on-crime politico like Bush -- being faced with pardoning someone for a misdemeanor drunken-driving offense is minuscule, at best.

The aggressive stance Bush took to avoid service stands in stark contrast to the just-folks story that he was feeding the media. When he first reported for jury duty at the Travis County Courthouse on Sept. 30, Bush told Wayne Slater of the Dallas Morning News, "I'm glad to serve." Bush added, "I think it's important. It's one of the duties of citizenship." He also told KVUE-TV in Austin, "I'm just an average guy showing up for jury duty."

And in video footage shown by KVUE in 1996 and again on Friday night, Bush had some additional comments on his feelings regarding the case. The KVUE reporter asked Bush if he didn't "really just want to give the guy a pardon and go home?"

Bush answered, "No, I probably want to hang him and go home."

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