Suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appeared briefly in a Houston criminal court on Thursday as a felony securities fraud case moves forward.
The case in state District Judge Andrea Beall’s courtroom was unrelated to his pending impeachment trial in the Texas State Senate.
Paxton, 60, learned he would face the impeachment trial before the securities case. Beall agreed to postpone discussions about the criminal trial date until October 6. Paxton has been indicted on securities charges since 2015 but has not been brought to trial.
The special prosecutors appointed in the case agreed with Paxton’s lawyers that the trial should be delayed.
Beall is expected to rule on two issues in October, the Austin American-Statesman reported. They include pay for the special prosecutors and a motion from Paxton to dismiss the case based on his right to a speedy trial.
“I know that everybody is concerned about how the wheels of justice have seemed to move at a glacial pace over the course of the last eight years,” Brian Wice, one of the special prosecutors, said Thursday. “I think today is the first step on the journey of a thousand miles to pick up the pace.”
The attorney general’s impeachment trial is set to begin on September 5. The Republican-majority Texas House voted 121-23 to impeach Paxton in May, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
After Thursday’s hearing, Paxton’s lawyer, Dan Cogdell, hinted that the Collin County politician may be willing to accept a plea deal if he’s found guilty in the Senate impeachment trial.
“Logically, if he’s impeached in the Senate, he would have greater motivation to resolve this case, because his political career would be dead,” Cogdell said, according to the American-Statesman.
Paxton previously criticized his impeachment.
“The ugly spectacle in the Texas House confirmed the outrageous impeachment plot against me was never meant to be fair or just,” Paxton said of the May vote. “It was a politically motivated sham from the beginning.”
Earlier this week, The Dallas Express reported that he filed a motion to dismiss impeachment charges against him.
