HOUSTON (WBAP/KLIF News ) – The securities fraud trial date for suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been kicked down the road again.
He appeared in a Houston courtroom Thursday morning with his attorneys who asked Judge Andrea Beall to schedule the proceedings after his September 5 impeachment trial in the Texas Senate.
Both sides agreed the outcome of the impeachment trial would impact the state’s case.
Paxton was indicted in 2015 on several charges alleging that he defrauded investors of a McKinney-based startup called Servergy into buying stock without disclosing that he was paid by the company to promote recruit them.
The indictment came about six months after he was sworn into office.
Before the hearing, Special Prosecutor Brian Wice commented on the almost decade-long journey to get to this point.
“I know that everybody’s concern about how the wheels of justice seemed to move at a glacial pace over the course of the last eight years. I think today is the first step of a journey of a thousand miles that picks up the pace,” he said.
All parties are due back in court October 6 to discuss a trial date.
The case is now back in Houston after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld a judge’s decision last month to move the proceedings out of Paxton’s home turf in Collin County.
Paxton has been fighting to keep the trial in North Texas, where he has more support.
He’s facing two counts of securities fraud and one count of failing to register with state securities regulators. If convicted, he faces up to 99 years in prison.
Today’s hearing comes as Paxton gears up for his impeachment trial next month. He’s accused of bribery, abusing the power of his office and obstruction.
Paxton has denied the allegations.
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