The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled last Wednesday that the securities fraud case against now-suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton’s should remain in Houston.
The ruling settles a key issue in the 8-year-old case as Paxton faces an impeachment trial in the Texas Senate this summer.
In a 6-3 ruling, the court overturned lower-court decisions that said Paxton’s trial had been improperly moved from Collin County to Harris County because the trial judge had lost jurisdiction over the matter. However, the Texas Constitution and state law protected the judge’s authority over the case.
“We’re gratified but not surprised that the Court recognized that this defendant must stand trial before a Harris County jury and a judge who will follow the law,” prosecutor Brian Wice said.
In 2015, a Collin County grand jury indicted Paxton on two counts of securities fraud, a first-degree felony with a punishment of up to 99 years in prison, and one count of failing to register with state securities regulators, a third-degree felony with a maximum 10 years in prison.
The securities fraud charges relate to Paxton’s efforts in 2011 to solicit investors in Servergy Inc. without disclosing that the McKinney-based tech company was paying him to promote its stock.
Paxton, who was suspended from acting as attorney general when the Texas House voted to impeach him late last month, has said he was innocent of all charges.
The delay over the venue change was one of multiple holdups in the long-delayed securities fraud case. Paxton’s defense team had also tried to get the charges dismissed, citing problems with the grand jury process. Another dispute arose over six-figure payments to the appointed prosecutors, also leading to extended appeals.
The latest issue involved orders that assigned state District Judge George Gallagher to the Paxton case after another judge had stepped aside. One of those orders allowing him to serve as a traveling judge expired on Jan. 1, 2017.
Paxton’s lawyers argued that because Gallagher moved the case to Harris County in March 2017, he no longer had authority over the matter, voiding his order. A Harris County trial judge and an intermediate appeals court agreed.
Last Wednesday, the Court of Criminal Appeals said Gallagher, as an active district judge, “had constitutional authority to sit in any district court across the state” after he was properly appointed to handle the case in July 2015.