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Michael Lewis Ratcliff will likely accept a plea bargain next week, sources close to the case said Wednesday.

Terry McDonald, the case’s San Antonio special prosecutor, said he proposed the plea.

“We have a tentative agreement,” McDonald said.

McDonald was appointed in March to try the case after District Attorney Steve Tyler recused himself. McDonald wouldn’t discuss the plea’s details.

He did say, though, that if Ratcliff, 49, accepts the plea, the defendant would admit to at least one felony.

McDonald talked to those involved in the case – from investigators to the accuser – and then proposed the plea, he said.

“That’s what the process is all about,” McDonald said.

Ratcliff, a former 12-year Victoria County sheriff, is charged with multiple counts of aggravated sexual assault of a teenage boy.

The charges contend he committed the crimes while he was sheriff from 1992 to 2004.

Ratcliff was to plead Friday, but scheduling conflicts pushed the plea to at least Tuesday, District Clerk Cathy Stuart said.

George Filley III, a former longtime Victoria County district attorney and Ratcliff’s defense lawyer, declined comment.

“I’m not going to comment one way or the other,” Filley said.

A grand jury indicted Ratcliff in late October. He pleaded not guilty to the charges a month later.

Since then, Tyler and each of four local district judges recused themselves from the case.

Tyler hired Ratcliff as his chief of staff, according to county documents, just before taking office in January 2007.

Tyler says Ratcliff was nothing more than an office manager.

Tyler stepped down from prosecuting his former employee because the professional tie might have required him to testify, the district attorney said in February.

The four local district judges also recused themselves, citing a prior working relationship with Ratcliff.

District Judge Mark Luitjen is the visiting San Antonio judge appointed to the case.

If Ratcliff pleads guilty, McDonald said, Luitjen will likely ask for a presentencing report.

This report, compiled by local probation officers, details a defendant’s history and helps judges to determine appropriate sentences.

Sentencing will be delayed until the report is compiled, which may take weeks, McDonald said.

If Luitjen accepts the plea, the judge will sentence Ratcliff, McDonald added.

Stuart will call Luitjen on Friday to discuss the judge’s schedule, she said.

Stuart is not privy to the plea’s details, she said.

Tyler, meanwhile, said it’s risky to assume anyone will agree to a plea before the agreement is official.

“I don’t know it’s happened until after it’s happened,” Tyler said.

Would Tyler, who knows the evidence of the case, have agreed to a plea or pushed for a trial?

The district attorney said he can’t discuss such scenarios before a plea is official – and that he trusts the attorneys involved to represent their clients well.

“Who knows? It’s quite possible I’d have handled it differently,” Tyler said. “Experience shows I do things a little differently.”

And different prosecutors offer evidence in differing ways during plea agreements.

It’s unknown if McDonald will discuss much of his case’s details to the court or if the evidence he submits will be largely in paper form.

Thus, it’s unknown how much information the public will learn about the case.

Greg Cagle, a League City attorney who is representing Victoria Police Chief Bruce Ure in an equally high-profile case, offered his thoughts.

“In a case where the charges are of this nature – where the victim is a child and the offense is of a sexual nature – no, I don’t think there’s an overwhelming public interest in the case,” Cagle said.

Offense reports, however, become public after a case is closed.

McDonald said that less evidence is presented during a plea than would be if Ratcliff goes to trial.

And that worries Laura Prather, an Austin media attorney who represents the Advocate, among many clients.

In a high-profile case, the public deserves to know who is involved, she said, and the manner in which they were involved.

“When a community votes an individual in to public office, they’ve expressed faith in that individual,” Prather said. “When there’s a breach of that trust, the public should have the right to know what happened to create that breach.”

Gabe Semenza is Public Service Editor for the Advocate. Leslie Wilber is a Reporter for the Victoria Advocate. Contact them at 361-580-6519 and 361-580-6521, or gsemenza@vicad.com and lwilber@vicad.com.