Prosecutors ask to delay Texas AG Ken Paxton's trial until they are paid
AUSTIN — Prosecutors pursuing criminal charges against Attorney General Ken Paxton have asked to delay his trial until they are paid more than a year's worth of back wages.
"Everyone in the courtroom is being paid to be there except us. No one expected us to work for free when we accepted our appointment as special prosecutors," Brian Wice, one of three criminal defense attorneys asked to prosecute the case, said in a prepared statement. "It's only fair to compensate us for the hours we've already spent and will continue to spend to adequately prepare to try this case on behalf of the citizens of the State of Texas."
The prosecutors haven't been paid for hundreds of hours of work on the case they performed in 2016. In January, they submitted a $205,000 invoice for those efforts. But Jeffory Blackard, a local taxpayer and past donor to Paxton, sued to block them from getting that money, claiming their hourly fees violated a local cap on prosecutors' pay.
The 5th Court of Appeals in Dallas will make the final call; judges have previously ruled in the prosecutors' favor. But since it's unclear when the judges might issue their decision, the prosecutors are asking to delay Paxton's first trial, scheduled for May 1, until they do.
Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas-politics/2017/03/09/prosecutors-ask-delay-paxton-trial-paid-back-wages
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