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Rick Perry’s Lawyers File Second Request For Case Dismissal

Rick Perry’s Lawyers File Second Request For Case Dismissal

By Tony Plohetski, Austin American-Statesman

AUSTIN, Texas — Attorneys for Gov. Rick Perry, indicted last month on charges related to his veto threat of money for the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, have filed another request for a judge to throw out the case.

The motion to dismiss the indictment filed Monday makes many of the same claims as a previously filed writ of habeas corpus and largely cites “Constitutional grounds.”

The petitions contend the “Texas Constitution imposes no limits on the governor’s right and duty to veto; he exercises unbounded discretion in exercising his veto power, subject only to the Legislature’s right to override that veto,” among many other claims.

They also contend that the prosecution threatens to violate Constitutional separation of powers and said that Perry, in vetoing the money, was acting in his legislative capacity.

“Nothing in the Texas Constitution or law permits the judicial department to scrutinize Governor Perry’s legal decision,” the Monday filing said.

Prosecutor Michael McCrum does not yet have a deadline to respond to the motions.

Perry’s next court hearing is Oct. 13.

A Travis County grand jury Aug. 15 indicted the governor on charges of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public official arising from his threat last year to District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to resign or lose $7.5 million in funding to the state’s Public Integrity Unit after her DWI arrest.

Lehmberg did not resign, and Perry vetoed the money last June.

KVUE News contributed to this report.

AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan

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Rick Perry’s Lawyers Accuse Democrats Of Pushing A ‘Red Herring’

Rick Perry’s Lawyers Accuse Democrats Of Pushing A ‘Red Herring’

By Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s legal team on Thursday stepped up its aggressive strategy to fight two felony charges against him, arguing that Democrats were floating a “red herring” by suggesting that Perry was motivated to veto funding for a Texas public integrity unit because the office was investigating one of his pet projects.

Perry’s legal battle is complex, but basically it amounts to this: The Democratic Travis County district attorney, Rosemary Lehmberg, had an ugly, videotaped confrontation with police when she was arrested last year on drunken-driving charges. Lehmberg oversees the county’s Office of Public Integrity, which has statewide jurisdiction. Perry threatened to veto $7.5 million in funding for the unit, which investigates public officials, unless she stepped down.

Lehmberg refused and Perry followed through on his veto threat. That led a government watchdog group to file a complaint against Perry alleging improper intimidation. After being indicted by a grand jury Friday, Perry and his allies framed the legal drama as a political persecution that amounted to an attack on the U.S. system of government.

But Perry’s opponents have alleged that he had other motives to target the public integrity unit beyond Lehmberg’s conduct — namely that the office was conducting an investigation of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.

Questions had been percolating about the funding of the institute, which is known as CPRIT, and how money was being distributed to some of the governor’s allies.

But on Thursday, two of Perry’s lawyers, Tony Buzbee and Ben Ginsberg, dismissed the questions about the institute as a political diversion being pushed by Democrats.

“The CPRIT issue is a red herring that the Democrats are trying to make float upstream,” Ginsberg said on a call with reporters. “This thin indictment really falls apart without them being able to float this unsubstantiated rumor.”

Perry’s lawyers produced an affidavit by Chris Walling, who was a criminal investigator with the public integrity unit. He said he was at one time the primary investigator for the probe into the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.

In the affidavit, Walling said that Perry and other aides in the governor’s office had never been a target of the investigation. “At no time did I ever obtain evidence that suggested any wrongdoing on behalf of Gov. Perry or the Governor’s office,” Walling said in the affidavit provided by Perry’s lawyers. “Any suggestion that Governor Rick Perry or anyone associated with him was being investigated is untrue.”

But questions about Perry’s feud with Lehmberg and the office have persisted. On Tuesday, Dallas Morning News reporter Christy Hoppe detailed how Perry did not speak out against two other district attorneys who faced drunken-driving charges under similar circumstances. Both were Republicans.

“This case will be decided by facts not spin,” Democratic National Committee spokesman Michael Czin said of the assertions by Perry’s lawyers. “The fact is Perry will have his day in court. When that day comes we look forward to seeing the evidence that convinced a jury of Gov. Perry’s peers to indict on two felony charges.”

Earlier this week, the Texas governor appeared at the criminal justice center in Austin to be booked after a grand jury indicted him on charges of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant. The formal proceeding — where he was photographed and fingerprinted — took on the air of a campaign rally as he vowed to fight the charges against him “with every fiber of my being.”

He said the actions that he took were “lawful and legal,” and that he was entering the courthouse with his head high.

AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan

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Rick Perry Defiant As He’s Booked, Has Mug Shot Taken At Courthouse

Rick Perry Defiant As He’s Booked, Has Mug Shot Taken At Courthouse

By Wayne Slater and Marissa Barnett, The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Governor Rick Perry struck a tight smile for his mug shot Tuesday and issued a spirited defense against charges of abusing his power, vowing “to fight this injustice with every fiber of my being.”

“The actions I took were lawful, they were legal and they were proper,” he told supporters outside the Travis County Courthouse, where he was fingerprinted and his booking photo was taken.

Perry said he faces the charges with his “head held high” and vowed, “We will prevail.” Supporters and members of his staff chanted, “Perry! Perry! Perry!” Detractors in the crowd waved placards, one of which said, “Nice mug shot, criminal.”

The Republican governor was indicted Friday on two felony counts of coercion and abuse of power. He is accused of threatening to veto $7.5 million for the state public integrity unit run by the Travis County district attorney’s office and trying to push District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg to leave office after a drunken-driving conviction.

When Lehmberg refused to resign, Perry vetoed the funding for the office, which investigates state officials. A liberal group filed an ethics complaint alleging he had abused his authority by trying to force an elected county official from office rather than let local voters deal with the matter.

Perry has dismissed the indictment as political reprisal by Democrats. A Republican state district judge appointed a special prosecutor to direct a grand jury inquiry. The special prosecutor, Mike McCrum, is a San Antonio lawyer who was a federal prosecutor in the administration of President George H.W. Bush.

“It is our system of constitutional checks and balances that is being challenged here today,” Perry said outside the courthouse. “This prosecution would seek to erode the power of all Texas governors, Republicans and Democrats, to veto legislation and funding they deem proper.”

Perry made brief comments before going into the courthouse and upon leaving. He took no questions.

The indictment is the first of a Texas governor in nearly 100 years. It also poses an obstacle for Perry, who has an extensive travel schedule ahead to presidential primary states as he considers another run for the White House in 2016.

Perry faces felony counts of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant. Maximum punishment on the first charge is five to 99 years in prison. The second is two to ten years.

Perry showed up for his booking in a black suit, white shirt and blue tie. He removed his signature black glasses for the mug shot, as county rules require.

Offering an early outline of his legal defense, Perry called the indictment “a chilling restraint on the right of free speech” and said everything he did was legal because the governor has authority to veto funding for any reason.

Outside the courthouse, state GOP Chairman Steve Munisteri denounced the charges as partisan dirty tricks.

“The governor has the absolute right to appropriations,” Munisteri said. “The only conclusion you can draw is that this was politically motivated.”

Jan Soifer, chairwoman of the Travis County Democratic Party, accused Perry of committing a crime by trying to remove a public official through coercion.

“His attempts to spin this back as being either political or something about the district or something about the veto are fascinating political spin, but not an accurate view of what happened, which was that the governor abused his power,” she said.

One man in the crowd shouted “President Perry,” a reference to the governor’s anticipated second presidential bid. He plans this weekend to visit New Hampshire, a key early-voting state in the nominating contest.

Photo: Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/MCT

Gov. Perry’s Legal Team Call Charges ‘Outrageous Assault’

Gov. Perry’s Legal Team Call Charges ‘Outrageous Assault’

By Christy Hoppe and Wayne Slater, The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s team of nationally prominent lawyers previewed his legal and public relations strategy Monday, blasting the coercion and abuse of power charges against him as an “outrageous assault on the rule of law.”

The attorneys, in their first appearance, made it clear that they will put the local district attorney on trial.

“This is nothing more than banana republic politics,” said Houston personal injury attorney Tony Buzbee, who is leading the legal team.

Perry is accused of threatening to withhold funding last year for an anti-corruption unit overseen by Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg unless she resigned. Perry has said he lost confidence in Lehmberg, a Democrat, when she was charged with drunken driving and became belligerent with sheriff’s deputies.

She refused to quit, and Perry vetoed the $7.5 million for the Public Integrity Unit, which investigates state officials. But even after the veto, Perry’s office continued to try to entice her to step down, promising to restore the funding and to allow her to stay working in another job at the DA’s office, according to reporting by the San Antonio Express-News.

The governor’s lawyers made clear that Lehmberg’s behavior the night of her 2013 arrest would be a big part of their case, playing video of her shouting at officers. Building on his defiant tone after his indictment was announced Friday, they suggested Perry was targeted by political opponents, although a special prosecutor appointed by a Republican judge is handling the case.

“Anybody who saw that tape would have lost confidence in the Travis County district attorney,” Buzbee said.

Ben Ginsberg, a veteran GOP lawyer who led George W. Bush’s legal team during the 2000 Florida ballot recount, said that he has seen “a lot of cases that go beyond the pale. This goes furthest beyond the pale of any I’ve seen in my time.”

Democrats contend Perry wanted her out so his own appointee could control the Public Integrity Unit and shut down an investigation into a cancer research institute, which Perry had championed. They said Perry’s attorneys were trying to hide the real issue _ that the governor used public money to try to coerce an official.

“We didn’t expect Governor Perry to take responsibility for his actions, but smearing Rosemary Lehmberg and complaining the indictment was political does not answer the charges,” said Joe Deshotel, a spokesman for the Travis County Democratic Party. “Perry’s defense by character assassination and deflection may work in the court of public opinion, but it won’t work in a court of law.”

Perry is expected to be arraigned this month on the two felony charges, which could bring a sentence of more than 100 years in prison. And while he will have to be booked and have a mug shot taken, he’s not expected to have any restrictions on travel. He’s been building toward another run for the GOP nomination for president and is scheduled to appear in Washington, New Hampshire, and South Carolina this week and next.

Since the charges were announced, Perry has taken to friendly media outlets to try to build support among Republican politicians and conservative voters. He told conservative radio host Erick Erickson, an influential tea-party blogger, that he is a victim of “a prosecutor run amok.”

“These are the types of things we would expect in the old Soviet Union, not the United States of America,” he said.

Prosecutor Michael McCrum, a San Antonio lawyer, was not available for comment Monday. He has little history of public partisanship, and he has served and been recommended to various posts by prominent Republicans.

Lehmberg’s office recused itself from the case, and when Erickson incorrectly said twice that it was Lehmberg who indicted Perry, the governor did not correct him.

Buzbee, who won a $1 billion judgment in the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and Ginsberg were joined by Bobby Burchfield, who was general counsel for the George H.W. Bush campaign. Also on the team is former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips, who did not attend the news conference, and top Austin criminal attorney David Botsford.

The state is paying Botsford $450 an hour on Perry’s behalf — a bill that already has reached $80,000. Attorney General Greg Abbott, who is the GOP nominee to replace Perry, was asked several months ago for an opinion on whether the public should be expected to pay the legal bill, but he has yet to respond.

Buzbee said he expected that part of the new team’s fees will come from taxpayers but that a Perry defense fund also will be established.

The governor, whose term ends in January, indicated he’s going to push for a quick resolution.

“Hopefully we can expedite this, get it over with and shine the sunshine of appropriate righteousness” on the case, Perry said on the radio show. “We’re going to fight it.”

AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan

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