Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will be tried on felony securities fraud charges in Harris County, the state’s top criminal court ruled on Wednesday.
In a split decision, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals chose Harris over Collin County as the trial venue because they said the judge who originally set the trial there did so properly.
“The standards we use to judge will inevitably be applied against us. Thus, even the noblest of goals, no matter how righteous, cannot justify improper means. It leads away from the enlightened order provided under the rule of law,” Judge Bert Richardson wrote for the majority. “Today we fulfill our duty by upholding our Constitution’s rule of law and affirming the wisdom of its framers.”
All nine of the court’s judges, who are elected to the bench, are Republican.
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The ruling was a loss for Paxton, a third-term Republican who grew his political career in Collin County and has fought for years to hold his trials there. It means Paxton’s fraud cases — which have been mostly stalled since he was indicted nearly eight years ago — could be restarted as the attorney general is also preparing for an impeachment trial in the Texas Senate that will determine whether he is removed from office.
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