Pay disparity pointed out in Paxton cases
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s criminal trial has been stalled for years as he and his allies argue in court that a $300 hourly rate is too much for special prosecutors pressing felony charges against him.
Yet $300 an hour is the same rate Paxton paid to the “special prosecutor” he appointed to delve deeper into a complaint from his friend and donor Nate Paul about law enforcement authorities who raided Paul’s business and home in 2019.
Now the special prosecutors in Paxton’s criminal case are pointing out this twist of irony to a Harris County judge. In a supplemental motion Friday, they argued that Paxton’s actions are proof that their rates are not as exorbitant as Paxton and his allies had made it out to be.
“If this hourly rate sounds familiar, it should: it is the very rate the Pro Tems were promised when they were appoint
ed in 2015 but have been not been paid for their services since the first week of January 2016,” wrote special prosecutors Brian Wice and Kent Schaffer. “In successfully derailing this prosecution by spearheading a concerted effort to defund it, the defendant has repeatedly referred to the Pro Tem's $300 hourly rate in his filings as unreasonable and unwarranted.”
Paxton's attorney Philip Hilder in a response filing said prosecutors' brief lacked “any legal analysis or merit,” and the rate paid by Paxton to the special prosecutor in the Paul investigation was “wholly unrelated to the issues in this case.
“It is a naked attempt to insert irrelevant sensational allegations into this case to cause this Court to render a decision on an improper basis because there is no legal one,” Hilder wrote.
The dispute over prosecutor pay began in December 2015 when Paxton donor Jeff Blackard sued, saying the rate exceeded the compensation allowed under Texas law. Commissioners in Collin County agreed to make one payment of more than $200,000 but refused to pay more while the legal battle continued to play out.
The three special prosecutors on the case — Wice, Schaffer and Nicole DeBorde — were appointed by then-Collin County Judge Judge Scott J. Becker after the county's District Attorney Greg Willis recused himself because of his friendship with Paxton. DeBorde last summer requested to be removed from the case. Court records show Becker and the attorneys agreed to the $300-an-hour rate.
In November 2018, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled against the special prosecutors, and in
June 2019, the court declined a rehearing of the case. The special prosecutors haven't let up, however, and have brought the issue before the district court.
Paxton has been awaiting trial since 2015, when he was indicted by a Collin County grand jury on felony security fraud charges.
Paxton is accused of encouraging investors, including friends and a Texas lawmaker, in 2011 to invest in a technology startup without disclosing that he was being paid by the firm for those referrals. He is also accused of soliciting clients for a friend's investment company without registering with the state.
The case is now before Harris County Judge Jason Luong, who is currently considering the pay issue along with a request by Paxton's lawyers to move the case back to Collin County.