Medina official’s election fraud case is tossed
A judge has dismissed an election fraud case that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton brought earlier this year against a Medina County official.
Bandera County Judge Melvin “Rex” Emerson dismissed all charges on Dec. 21 against Tomas “Tommy” Ramirez, a justice of the peace in Medina County. Three days later, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct said Ramirez could return to his JP position. It had suspended him when he was indicted in February.
“This case was politically motivated and was totally unjustified,” Ramirez said.
He accused Paxton of pushing for an indictment just to get headlines and rile up his base.
“My family and I have received anonymous hate mail and ugly social media attacks,” Ramirez said. “My law office was vandalized and I was even asked by the State Bar of Texas if I wanted to voluntarily surrender my law license.”
Paxton did not respond to calls and messages seeking comment Tuesday.
The crux of Paxton’s case appeared to stem from Ramirez’s 2018 run in the Republican primary, which he won. He had no Democratic opponent. In a news release of the February indictment, Paxton’s office said Ramirez and three women ran a vote harvesting operation that worked out of assisted living centers.
The dismissal followed a ruling by a separate court that struck down a law allowing the state attorney general to unilaterally prosecute election law cases.
In an 8-1 ruling, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said a provision of the law violates the separation of powers clause in the Texas Constitu
“This case was politically motivated and was totally unjustified.” Tomas “Tommy” Ramirez, accused of election fraud
tion. The state attorney general can only get involved in a case when asked to by a district or county attorney, the court determined.
That ruling was a blow for Texas Republicans who have promoted former President Donald Trump’s discredited claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Paxton blasted the appeals court ruling at the time.
His office had provided no further details of the Ramirez case since he accused Ramirez with numerous election-related offenses, including engaging in organized election fraud, illegal voting, unlawful possession of a ballot or ballot envelope and enhanced election fraud for multiple offenses in the same election.
But Ramirez said he never engaged in any improper conduct, and that the allegations are false. He added that one of Paxton’s investigators early on found no probable cause for pursuing the case, yet Paxton still pushed for an indictment.
“The attorney general conducted an investigation that took a year, and their conclusions failed to find any probable cause of any law that I had violated,” Ramirez said.