Best mugshot ever
A state district judge on Friday rejected Ken Paxton’s request to throw out his three felony indictments, likely sending the first-term attorney general to trial next year unless his lawyers appeal the ruling.
“Yes, all the motions we filed have been denied,” said Philip Hilder, one of Paxton’s attorneys, Friday. “We are extremely disappointed with the court’s ruling today as we believe that each of the motions was well founded. And we are currently reviewing options at this point, which may include appeal.”
[…]
Gallagher’s Friday ruling is a huge blow to the attorney general’s team of high-powered lawyers, who presented their arguments to the court at a daylong hearing in Collin County earlier this month. Sitting in a courtroom filled with Paxton supporters, Gallagher heard the team’s many motions to quash. Several of their arguments laid the blame at the feet of state district Judge Chris Oldner, whom they accused of improperly empaneling the grand jury, entering the grand jury room when he shouldn’t have and divulging news of the indictments to his wife when they were meant to remain secret. Paxton’s attorneys did not call Oldner to testify at the hearing, however, so he went to the media to tell his side of the story.
See here for some background, and here for Oldner’s side of the story. The Trib, which notes that Judge Gallagher did grant a couple of Team Paxton’s minor motions, has a copy of the ruling. I am certain they will appeal this. What does Paxton have to lose, other than more money down the legal rathole? Remember, you can string this all out for a very long time. I expect nothing less.
Judge Older, who is running for the CCA this cycle, raises an interesting point;
He said the defense’s claims against him are emblematic of a split that has formed among Collin County Republicans between those who think Paxton is guilty and those standing by his side.
“We’re seeing a huge rift. Now, the question could be, was it there all along and this is just exposing it, or is this causing it? I think it’s a little bit of both,” Oldner said. “I don’t know if it’s just a political hit job or there are motivations beyond that. I hear different things from different people.”
That sounds an awful lot like a political opportunity to me. I don’t know what the candidate filing situation looks like in Collin County, but it seems to me that one could do worse than to tie one’s opponent to Ken Paxton over there. May not get you much, but it can’t hurt and if nothing else it would be nice to have some empirical evidence about how far the needle can be moved via this route. 2018 isn’t that far off, after all. The Scoop Blog has more.
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