AUSTIN, Texas — According to a report from KVUE's media partners at the Austin American-Statesman, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals added a key case to its docket Wednesday: a lower-court ruling that moved Attorney General Ken Paxton's securities fraud criminal case back to Collin County.
In 2021, a lower state appeals court rejected a bid by prosecutors to keep the criminal case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in Houston, the Statesman reported.
Prosecutors gave the Statesman the following statement about the decision:
"The court of appeals' majority decision was wrong. We're confident today's decision means the Court of Criminal Appeals will agree."
This comes one day after Election Day for the March primary, where it was announced Paxton would face George P. Bush in a runoff for the Republican nomination.
Paxton's reelection campaign comes in the midst of two separate ongoing legal issues: this securities fraud case where he was indicted more than six years ago in Collin County (July 28, 2015), and the whistleblower case where he's accused of abuse of office and bribery.
In April 2014, The Texas Tribune broke the news that then State senator and attorney general candidate Ken Paxton was paid for soliciting clients for an investment firm, but wasn't registered with a state board. For background on the case, click here.
On Election Night for the March primary, KVUE Political Anchor Ashley Goudeau asked Travis County Republican Party Chairman Matt Mackowiak his opinion on the potential impact that the legal issues could have on the Republican nomination for attorney general.
Mackowiak said he didn't think it would effect the outcome of the election.
"[The securities fraud] case has been pending for two years, and I don't think it's going to be resolved anytime soon." Mackowiak said. "There's a huge squabble over whether taxpayers have to pay for that ... for the special prosecutors handling that case. They have not paid for it, so those people are not willing to do more work. It's been on hold for quite a while."
The securities fraud charges are first-degree felonies with a maximum punishment of 99 years in prison. To date, Paxton paid a $1,000 civil fine.
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