Paxton’s special prosecutors still unpaid
Lawyers on the case against AG make final effort for fees
AUSTIN — Special prosecutors building a criminal case against Attorney General Ken Paxton are making a last-ditch effort to convince the courts they should be paid — and they say it’s important to the entire Texas judicial system that they are.
If not, trial judges throughout Texas could lose their discretion to pay appointed lawyers reasonable fees to take on complex cases, argued Brian Wice, one of three special prosecutors from Houston assigned to Paxton’s case.
He and two other lawyers working the Paxton case haven’t been paid in 18 months after a series of lawsuits ensnarled their billings in court. Wice filed motions with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Tuesday, asking the high court to consider their effort to vacate the 5th Court of Appeals’ decision that voided payment of their last $205,000 invoice.
“One of the most serious threats to fundamentally fair trials with accurate results is the lack of adequate compensation for appointed counsel,” read the filing.
Wice, who took over the fight for their back pay this summer, said in his 52-page filing that the appeals court “clearly abused its discretion” in denying pay to special prosecutors. He contends the move would have a “chilling effect” on trial judges’ ability to appoint qualified lawyers to complicated cases.
Paxton donor blasted fees
The Dallas-area 5th Court of Appeals ruled in August that the judge overseeing Paxton’s case at the time agreed to too generous a fee schedule for Wice and the two special prosecutors. The ruling sided with the Collin County Commissioners Court and Jeffory Blackard, a Paxton donor and political ally who has long argued the attorney’s fees of $300 per hour exceeded local caps.
Wice, Kent Schaffer and Nichole DeBorde were granted a $300-per-hour fee by Judge Scott Becker, an administrative judge in Collin County. According to court records, attorneys are supposed to be paid a fixed fee of $1,000 for first-degree felony pleas, $500 for thirddegree pleas, $1,000 for pretrial preparation and $500 for each one-half day of trial.
But the Legislature gave the courts discretion to pay “reasonable attorney’s fees in extraordinary cases,” Wice said in his filing. He added that two-thirds of Texas counties — 168 of 254 — have rules allowing trial judges to deviate from fee schedules.
Allowing the 5th Court of Appeals’ ruling to stand “looms large” for prosecutors, defense lawyers and trial judges in Texas by allowing outside influences to impair the administration of justice, he argued.
The Collin County Commissioners Court agreed to pay the special prosecutors $242,000 for pre-trial work in January 2016, but the next bill, which included close to $200,000 in attorney’s fees, has gone unpaid.
Work for free or drop case
What the Court of Criminal Appeals decides to do could make or break the legal fight against Paxton, an embattled first-term Republican attorney general indicted on two counts of criminal securities fraud and one lesser count of failing to register as an investment adviser with the state.
If the court refuses to hear the case or decides against paying the special prosecutors, the trio will have to decide whether to try the case pro bono or drop the case against Paxton, who is popular among tea party Republicans and is so far unchallenged in the 2018 election.
The court is expected to decide within the next week whether it is interested in learning more about the case. Meanwhile, the Collin County Commissioners Court wants to claw back more than $200,000 already paid to the special prosecutors.
A trial court has scheduled Paxton’s long-awaited trial in Houston for December.
Paxton was indicted in July 2015. He is facing a pair of charges for first-degree felony securities fraud and one third-degree charge for failing to register as an investment adviser with the state.
The charges stem from Paxton convincing friends and colleagues to invest in Servergy, a North Texas tech company, without disclosing that he would make a commission.
A federal court judge in March dismissed similar civil charges brought against him by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.