No $300/Hour Payday for Prosecutors in Felony Cases Against Texas AG Ken Paxton
The judge presiding over Paxton's case agreed to pay special prosecutors $300 per hour, but the case has been delayed for years over their fee, as Collin County commissioners argued that there's a statute saying the county can only pay the prosecutors the same fee that an appointed indigent defense attorney would receive.
June 19, 2019 at 12:41 PM
2 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Texas Lawyer
Ken Paxton.
The special prosecutors who have been handling the felony case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton were initially expecting to earn $300 per hour, but those hopes were dashed Wednesday.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied a motion for rehearing on an opinion it issued in November 2018 that determined that Texas law caps special prosecutors' pay at the same amount that Collin County pays to indigent criminal-defense attorneys.
“We're disappointed that the Court took six months to summarily deny our motion for rehearing without addressing any of the substantial legal issues it raised, something it routinely criticizes the courts of appeals for doing,” said Attorney Pro Tem Brian Wice of Houston, who is prosecuting Paxton along with Houston attorneys Kent Schaffer and Nicole DeBorde.
When a district attorney has a conflict of interest in prosecuting a criminal defendant, the district attorney must recuse his office from the case and appoint an attorney pro tem to prosecute the case.
Paxton was indicted in 2015—eight months after he won 2014's election—on two first-degree felony securities fraud charges and a third-degree felony charge for failure to register as an investment adviser representative. The Collin County district attorney, Greg Willis, had past business dealings with Paxton and recused from the case. Wice, Schaffer and DeBorde were appointed to handle the matter.
The judge presiding over Paxton's case agreed to pay them $300 per hour, but the case has been delayed for years over their fee, as Collin County commissioners argued that there's a statute saying the county can only pay the prosecutors the same fee that an appointed indigent defense attorney would receive. The Court of Criminal Appeals agreed with that interpretation last November, and the prosecutors filed a motion for rehearing.
In today's ruling, the high court denied rehearing, which means its November opinion will stand.
Related stories:
Decision Blocking Pay for Special Prosecutors on Ken Paxton Case Upheld on Appeal
Special Prosecutors, Citing Lack of Pay, Seek Delay of Paxton Trial
Read the prosecutors' motion for rehearing:
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