Best mugshot ever
A state appeals court Thursday rejected Attorney General Ken Paxton’s motion to reconsider its June 1 ruling that upheld criminal charges against him.
The two-sentence order from the Dallas-based 5th Court of Appeals gave no reason for the ruling.
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Paxton will have 30 days to decide whether to take his appeal to the next, and final, stop — the Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest criminal court.
Further appeals appeared likely Thursday.
“We are evaluating our options but anticipate that we will petition the Court of Criminal Appeals, as we strongly disagree with this court’s reasoning and rationale,” Paxton lawyer Philip Hilder said.
See here for the background. At this point the only step left is the Court of Criminal Appeals, and if/when they reject the motion it’ll be on to the trial phase. On the assumption that they do reject any and all motions to dismiss, it will be important to see why they reject it. It’s one thing for them to do so on the merits of the claims, and another entirely if the reason given is basically “now is not the time to make these claims”, which was the initial reason for Rick Perry’s motions to be denied. Whatever the case, expect the filings to land with the CCA in the next few weeks.