After third attempt, trial is set in Paxton fraud case
AG gets December date, but prosecutors want delay until related pay issue settled
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will face trial in December on the first of three criminal charges, a Houston judge ruled Thursday.
Jury selection will begin Dec. 1 and testimony will start Dec. 11 on the count of failing to register as an investment adviser with the state. Paxton, who was indicted in 2015, also faces two first-degree felony charges of securities fraud.
The hearing Thursday was the second in the case for state District Judge Robert Johnson of the 177th Criminal Court, a freshman jurist assigned to oversee Paxton’s case after it was moved from the attorney general’s home of Collin County.
Paxton’s trial was originally scheduled for May, then moved to September. Both those dates were scrapped amid upheaval over where the trial should
be held and whether the visiting judge would remain at the bench.
The three special prosecutors building a case against Paxton want the judge to delay the trial until a tangential case holding up their pay is settled. Johnson was set to consider those arguments after getting up to speed on the case.
In court Thursday, special prosecutors Kent Schaffer and Brian Wice agreed to give defense attorneys the names of witnesses who appeared before the grand jury that indicted Paxton.
Other issues will be resolved at a pretrial hearing scheduled on Nov. 2.
Paxton attorney Dan Cogdell showed confidence in prevailing in the case quickly, noting that prosecutors have the burden to prove the charge.
“We think the case is shorter than they think it is,” Cogdell said.
Schaffer shot back: “The punishment phase could last longer.”
Paxton, a lawyer and former state legislator who won a fouryear term in 2014, is planning to run for re-election. The filing deadline for the 2018 elections is Dec. 11 — the trial’s scheduled start date. If found guilty, Paxton faces fines and up to 99 years in prison.
A federal court dismissed similar charges brought against the high-profile Republican earlier this year.
There was no mention Thursday of the unresolved issue of compensation for the special prosecutors; Collin County has indicated it no longer will pay for the prosecution.