Ken Paxton's Next Power Grab?
For over a year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been prosecuting Jefferson County Sheriff Zena Stephens – the first, and one of only two, female African American Sheriffs in Texas. The case has been controversial and political from day one. First, the felony charge is for a minor, technical error. Sheriff Stephens was charged after correcting a donation entry on a campaign finance form. Moreover, Paxton forum shopped the case from majority minority Jefferson County to solidly Anglo Republican Chambers County, betting that a Chambers-based Republican judge would go harder on Sheriff Stephens. The Lone Star Project detailed the case in a report last summer.
Yesterday, State District Court Judge Randy McDonald, a Republican, flatly dismissed the felony charge against Sheriff Stephens, ruling that Paxton did not have the authority to prosecute a case focused on altering state documents in Chambers County.
A responsible Attorney General without a larger agenda would have accepted the judge’s ruling and moved on to other state matters. However, attorney’s representing Paxton revealed that his office was considering appealing the ruling.
Why would Ken Paxton appeal an unfavorable ruling around such a minor charge?
Read more: http://lonestarproject.net/ken-paxton%E2%80%99s-next-power-grab#.XHGnDKB7nRY