Gov. Rick Perry speaks on the opening day of Texas’ biennial legislation season, at the State Capitol in Austin on January 8, 2013.
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A Texas appeals court on Friday, July 24, 2015, threw out one of two felony indictments against Perry, a potentially huge legal victory for the 2016 hopeful battling flagging polling numbers in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. The abuse of power charge wasn’t affected by Friday’s ruling.
Perry is accused by state prosecutors of abusing power when he was governor of Texas for seeking the resignation of a county attorney he claimed was unfit for her post.
That came after Lehmberg, whose county includes Austin, rebuffed the governor’s calls to resign following her conviction and jail sentence for drunken driving. Although Perry has adamantly insisted that the indictments against him were political and a farce, the judges hearing the case – including those on the 3rd Court of Appeals – have been fellow Republicans.
Perry is now working on his presidential campaign and has been touring the country to meet with voters.
On the misuse of power charge, the court found that the challenge could not be made prior to trial.
“Because the First Amendment bars enforcement of the statute on which the “coercion of a public servant” charge is based, that charge must be dismissed”, the court ruled.
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Special prosecutor Michael McCrum didn’t immediately respond to telephone or e-mail messages on the ruling.
