AUSTIN, Texas — Lawyers for impeached Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday sought to have a lot of the expenses towards him dismissed, arguing that they depend on alleged acts of corruption earlier than he was reelected to a 3rd time period in 2022.
In motions filed with the Senate, the place Paxton’s impeachment trial is scheduled to start Sept. 5, his attorneys mentioned they imagine state regulation bars the removing of an official for conduct that occurred earlier than their most up-to-date election. Paxton was first elected lawyer common in 2014 and the impeachment expenses embrace alleged conduct since then.
“The Articles allege nothing that Texas voters have not heard from the Attorney General’s political opponents for years,” Paxton’s attorneys wrote. They accused the GOP-dominated Texas House of Representatives of looking for to oust Paxton as a result of they have been unable to unseat him by widespread vote.
“Texas voters rendered their judgement by re-electing Attorney General Paxton to serve a third consecutive term. As a matter of both common sense and Texas law, that should be the end of the matter,” his attorneys wrote.
Only one of many 20 impeachment expenses – an allegation that Paxton settled a whistleblower lawsuit in an effort to cover from the general public corruption allegations towards him – wouldn’t need to be dismissed below the so-called “prior term doctrine,” Paxton’s lawyer mentioned. Paxton requested state lawmakers this 12 months to have the state pay the proposed $3.3 million settlement.
In a second submitting, Paxton’s attorneys mentioned the trial ought to exclude any proof of alleged conduct that occurred previous to January 2023, when his third time period in workplace started.
The motions from Paxton’s attorneys are much like strikes in a legal or civil authorized circumstances when protection attorneys search to have expenses or lawsuits dismissed earlier than trial.
In this case, the presiding officer over Paxton’s impeachment trial can be Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a strong Republican who additionally serves because the president of the state Senate. The Republican-controlled Senate will think about the proof and resolve whether or not to convict or acquit Paxton within the first impeachment trial of a statewide official since 1917.
Patrick has already issued a sweeping gag order over the events and attorneys concerned forward of the Senate trial. Attorneys for House of Representatives managers prosecuting Paxton didn’t instantly reply to the motions filed Monday.
Paxton has been suspended from workplace for the reason that House first accredited the articles of impeachment on May 27. He could possibly be completely eliminated if convicted by the Senate.
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