HOUSTON – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appeared Thursday before a court in Houston in the process against him on charges of securities fraud.
The hearing, which lasted about 10 minutes, served to set the date for a new hearing, which was set for next October.
Paxton He was accused in 2015 of defrauding investors in a North Texas technology company.
The case is back in court in Houston after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals last month upheld a judge’s decision to move the trial out of Paxton’s hometown near Dallas.
Paxton has spent years fighting to keep the trial in Collin County, where he enjoys broad support among Republican activists and his wife, Angela Paxton, is a state senator.
Paxton has rarely appeared in court for hearings in the securities fraud case.
The changes take up priorities established in April 2022 and are based on the figure of “procedural discretion”.
The hearing was held before State District Judge Andrea Beall.
The indictments accuse Paxton of defrauding investors in a Dallas-area tech startup by failing to disclose that the company, called Servergy, paid him to recruit them. The indictments were delivered just months after Paxton was sworn in as Texas’ top law enforcement officer.
A multitude of reasons have delayed the trial, including the legal debate over whether the case should be tried in the Dallas area or in Houston, changes in the judge who will handle the case, and a protracted battle over how much prosecutors should be paid. specials.
If convicted of the securities fraud charges, Paxton faces up to 99 years in prison.
Thursday’s hearing came as Paxton faces removal from office following his historic impeachment trial by the state House in May. A trial in the Texas Senate is scheduled to begin on September 5.
