McKinney (WBAP/KLIF News) – A judge is now deciding whether to move the trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Paxton has been charged with failing to register as an investment adviser and securities fraud.
The case centers around whether Paxton offered to sell stock in a tech company without telling investors he would receive a commission. Right now, the trial is scheduled to begin May 1.
Prosecutors want the judge to move the case from Collin County. They say Paxton’s team has launched a public relations campaign that would make finding an impartial jury impossible.
Paxton’s lawyers say he should be allowed to face trial in the county where he was charged.
“We really want to try the case here in Collin County, and the more I say, the less likely it is,” Paxton’s lawyer, Dan Cogdell, told reporters as he left the courthouse.
Prosecutors also now plan to try Paxton separately on the charges of failing to register and securities fraud. Cogdell says the change took him by surprise because he had been told the opposite.
Prosecutors say the cases are not related, so holding one trial would confuse a jury.
“There’s nothing in common except the defendant,” says special prosecutor Kent Schaffer. “Just to make it fair and simple and straight to the point, it makes sense to try that [failure to register] case first.”
The judge did not issue a ruling on whether the trials should be moved on Thursday. Schaffer says the first trial is still on schedule to start at the beginning of May.
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