Name: Texas AG Ken Paxton was indicted seven years ago. When will he face a jury?
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Texas AG Ken Paxton was indicted seven years ago. When will he face a jury?

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7:24 AM on Jul 27, 2020 CDTUpdated at 2:30 p.m. with information about an appeals court decision on the case’s venue.Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton this month.And yet he appears no closer to trial than when he was charged with securities fraud in summer 2015. In fact, the criminal case against Paxton is now back to square one. With , the raises questions about when — or whether — Paxton will ever face a jury of his peers.Here are five things to know about why the case against Texas’ top lawyer has lasted this long and when it might be over.Paxton’s alleged crimes date back to his time as a state lawmaker. He represented parts of Collin County in the Texas House for 10 years before winning a seat in the Texas Senate in November 2012. He was elected attorney general two years later and indicted seven months into his first term.He is charged with two first-degree felonies over allegations that he persuaded friends to invest in a McKinney technology company called Servergy Inc. without telling them he received 100,000 shares of stock. His accusers were Byron Cook, who was a Republican state lawmaker until 2019, and Florida businessman Joel Hochberg., too, but the CEO would not let him, telling Paxton that “.”He also is charged with a third-degree felony, accused of funneling clients to without being registered with the state. The Texas State Securities Board reprimanded and fined Paxton $1,000 for this failure to register in 2014.If found guilty, Paxton could face two to 10 years in prison for the third-degree felony and five to 99 years for each of the first-degree felonies, as well as fines.Paxton pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, saying the accusations were a partisan attack from Cook, .” A past spokesman said the registration issue .Paxton successfully arising from these same allegations . He was reelected attorney general in 2018.District Court Judge Jason Luong, a Democrat, was assigned the case this month. He is the fourth judge to preside over the case.Collin County District Court Judge in 2015. . , a major blow to the attorney general.Prosecutors argued such a venue change was necessary because a local jury might be biased in favor of Paxton, who has lived in McKinney for years and is well-known in Collin County. They accused Paxton loyalists in North Texas of trying to derail the prosecution, describing their efforts as a After the case was moved, to Harris County District Court Judge Robert Johnson, a Democrat, in mid-2017. Earlier this month, however, .After handing Paxton this major victory, . The attorney general’s office is now representing Johnson in a lawsuit challenging the region’s cash bail system. According to Johnson’s recusal notice, “the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned” if he continued to preside over Paxton’s case.Luong, a Democrat who is also being represented by Paxton’s office in the bail case, did not respond to requests for comment about whether he also would recuse himself.The prosecutors appealed Johnson’s decision to move the case back to Collin County in early July. At the end of the month, the 1st Court of Appeals in Harris County abated Johnson’s ruling, giving Luong a chance to revisit his decision. The appeals court decision was a win for prosecutors; Paxton’s attorneys said they were “disappointed” and “troubled” and promised to fight the abatement.Before the indictment, , a close friend of Paxton’s, . To serve in Willis’ stead, the county’s administrative judge chose , two criminal defense attorneys based in Houston, as “special prosecutors” and agreed to pay them $300 an hour for their work.The prosecutors’ hourly fees have been controversial ever since.Collin County is on the hook to pay for the prosecution because the alleged crimes took place there. But soon after — which topped $254,000 — county officials refused to pay them again, arguing their hourly fees were exorbitant and broke the law.A Dallas Morning News analysis of similar cases showed $300 was , for high-profile cases involving special prosecutors.The Collin County Commissioners Court and the prosecutors took the fight to court. . The prosecutors have not been paid for their work on the case since that first six-figure check was cut in 2016.Paxton has for his defense. He was investigated in 2017 under bribery and corrupt-influence laws for this defense fund from . Investigators cleared Paxton and closed the investigation .In addition to the yearslong fight over how much the prosecutors should be paid, Paxton’s defense team spent more than a year attempting to have the charges against their client thrown out. . The prosecutors slowed the case by moving it out of Collin County.Each side blames the other for dragging out the fight.“This case has gone on far too long — five very long years. The vast majority of that delay has been caused by the Special Prosecutors,” Bill Mateja said in a statement on behalf of Paxton’s defense team. “The Special Prosecutors need to let stand Judge Johnson’s decision to transfer the case back to Collin County, dismiss their appeal of that decision and let Mr. Paxton have his day in court.”The prosecutors, in turn, point the finger at Paxton’s attorneys.“The assertion that we are somehow responsible for ‘the vast majority’ of the five-year delay in this matter is disingenuous and demonstrably false,” Wice said in a statement. He counted the number of months delayed by each side and came up with 24 for the prosecutors and 36 for the defense.“These numbers don’t lie: Paxton was responsible for three of the five year delay. If Paxton truly wanted his day in court, he hasn’t acted like it,” Wice added.Michael McCrum, on the , said he’s never seen a case like this be so drawn out.“I can’t think of one that is as egregious as the Paxton situation,” McCrum said. “It is horribly too long.”Political insiders and prominent defense attorneys said they expected the case will go to trial, although some acknowledged there’s a chance the two sides could agree to a deal.“Eventually they’ll wear themselves out,” said Toby Shook, a lawyer who in the 2013 slaying of the Kaufman County district attorney. Shook added that it would be unlikely for a deal to include Paxton admitting to any wrongdoing. “That’s probably the only way it could get resolved short of a trial.”Dick DeGuerin, who defended ex-U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay , said it took about five years to get that case to trial. If the Paxton case goes in front of a jury, he anticipated it won’t be soon.“It’s going to be a year, at least,” DeGuerin said, noting that COVID-19 could extend the wait.But Bill Miller, a longtime lobbyist who considers Paxton a friend, said the attorney general should put the allegations behind him before his next re-election campaign.“Five years is too damn long,” Miller said, pointing out that Paxton’s term is up in 2022. “I can’t imagine that seven years will pass before he enters a courtroom. That’s unimaginable to me. That would be a crime unto itself.”Ken Paxton has been Texas Attorney General since 2015. He is up for reelection in 2022.Want to be part of the conversation? Consider&nbsp;&nbsp;or joining the conversation in our&nbsp;.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Receive the latest political news delivered every Tuesday and Thursday from reporters in Austin, Dallas and Washington.By signing up you agree to our

7:24 AM on Jul 27, 2020 CDTUpdated at 2:30 p.m. with information about an appeals court decision on the case’s venue.Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton this month.And yet he appears no closer to trial than when he was charged with securities fraud in summer 2015. In fact, the criminal case against Paxton is now back to square one. With , the raises questions about when — or whether — Paxton will ever face a jury of his peers.Here are five things to know about why the case against Texas’ top lawyer has lasted this long and when it might be over.Paxton’s alleged crimes date back to his time as...

Texas AG Ken Paxton was indicted seven years ago. When will he face a jury?

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