Whew.
Mike McCrum
Mike McCrum, the special prosecutor in the criminal case against Gov. Rick Perry, was cleared Monday of an attempt to find him in contempt of court stemming from a separate case.
Visiting Judge Dick Alcala declined to find McCrum, a prominent local defense lawyer, in contempt after a daylong hearing.
The district attorney’s office here had accused McCrum of instructing a punishment-phase witness in an October 2013 intoxication manslaughter trial to “get lost for awhile” and turn off her phone to avoid testifying.
Alcala said he was troubled by two things — that the witness, Melanie Little, was kept for more than seven hours in a locked room under threat of prosecution herself when she gave her side of the story to a district attorney’s office investigator the day after she testified, and McCrum’s business practices regarding subpoenaing witnesses.
“I’m concerned with the circumstances” under which the DA’s office obtained Little’s statement, the judge said, adding it was difficult for him to believe they didn’t play a role in what she said.
McCrum said he felt gratified by the ruling.
“I’m glad that it finally came out in the open the horrendous treatment that Melanie Little and her colleagues were put through, being locked up for seven or eight hours — that’s just reprehensible,” he said.
He said he was pleased that Monday’s ruling came before District Attorney Susan Reed left office so it could be a comment on her administration. Reed, a Republican, lost a bid for re-election to Democrat Nico LaHood on Nov. 4.
“When you see the lack of evidence that they had and the circumstances under which it was done, certainly it calls into question the motives of the DA and her supervisors,” McCrum said.
See here for the background. Nice little twist of the knife on Susan Reed there. The contempt charge always seemed like a stretch, but you never know. Now McCrum can focus exclusively on the Perry prosecution. Which has now survived the motion to disqualify McCrum.
The special prosecutor pressing criminal charges against Gov. Rick Perry will not be disqualified from the case over questions around the oath of office he took. A judge ruled Tuesday that the prosecutor was properly sworn into office.
“This court concludes that [Special Prosecutor Michael] McCrum’s authority was not voided by the procedural irregularities in how and when the oath of office were administered and filed,” Visiting Judge Bert Richardson wrote in a 16-page ruling filed in Austin.
On Nov. 6, Perry watched his attorneys argue in court that McCrum was improperly sworn in as special prosecutor more than a year ago. Perry attorney Tony Buzbee said the Texas Constitution required McCrum to sign an anti-bribery statement before taking his oath. McCrum testified that he did the reverse, taking the oath first.
Buzbee said he and co-counsel David Botsford “respectfully disagree with the judge, but as always, will respect the court’s decisions and will await his further rulings.”
Buzbee also said he and Botsford were confident they will prevail on other challenges and “expect a favorable ruling ending this case hopefully by the end of November.”
That ruling is here. We are still waiting on a ruling from Judge Richardson on the other defense motions to dismiss the indictments. I guess we can now assume we’ll know something by Thanksgiving. The defense has filed yet another brief with the court, responding to McCrum’s response to earlier briefs. Hope Judge Richardson knows how to speed read.