Texas AG Ken Paxton's criminal case moves forward as impeachment looms

AUSTIN, Texas - August 5 marks exactly one month until impeached Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's Senate trial gets underway. This as we saw some movement this week in the federal criminal proceedings against him. 

It's the first movement we've seen in quite a while. 

FOX 7 Austin's John Krinjak spoke to Eddy Carder, constitutional law professor with Prairie View A&M, about the topic. The transcript is below.

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KRINJAK: So take us through what happened on Thursday in federal court in Houston, the securities fraud case against Ken Paxton. This is a case that's been going on for years, right?

CARTER: This is a case that has been going on for literally year after year after year. And finally, we see some movement with regard to this matter of fraud that is alleged regarding Mr. Paxton. The judge in the set, the hearing date for the events leading up to the trial for October the sixth, and all of the sides agreed, both sides agreed to wait for the impeachment trials outcome. The judge said, however, to the attorneys that they should be prepared for the possibility of a trial somewhere around the vicinity of February of 2024. And then whenever I think the counsel for Mr. Paxton was consulted about that and regarding the outcome of that potential trial, he said essentially it could be a matter of dismissal, it could be a matter of settlement, it could be a matter of some other alternative that's available in the judicial context. And really concluded his comments by saying who knows what the outcome might be at this time. We're just preparing for the trial. 

KRINJAK: A lot of people are wondering, are these two proceedings kind of related or are they separate? How would you answer that? 

CARTER: There's a very real sense in which these proceedings are related. AG Paxton's a lawyer said it well himself. He said, if Mr. Paxton prevails in the impeachment trial, then the criminal case will move forward. If Paxton loses at the impeachment trial level, then this probably will end ag Paxton's political career. In addition to that, the optics of AG Paxton going through the Senate impeachment trial probably will not play well for the actual fraud trial.

KRINJAK: And just about exactly a month from right now on September 5th. A lot of attention going to be on the Texas Capitol as that impeachment trial gets underway. One month out, what are you looking for? What are you expecting? 

CARTER: It's probably going to be a rather heated and a rather theatrical event that takes place. I would add to that that we have to bear in mind that many times, if not most of the time, the mechanics of these matters are negotiated offstage. So I suspect that we are going to see some real flash fires of conflict, but we're not actually going to see how the sausage is made with regard to the outcome of the impeachment trial. 

KRINJAK: And speaking of that trial, Paxton's lawyers on Monday called for 19 out of the 20 articles of impeachment to be dismissed. They're arguing that is because the conduct happened before his most recent election. Any chance that could have any effect that these charges can be dropped. 

CARTER: And that certainly could have an impact. They are arguing the Paxton's attorneys are arguing the prior prior term doctrine, the prior turn doctrine says that he cannot be held accountable for any misbehavior that he engaged in prior to his being elected by the voters, because the voters elected him to office with full awareness of what had what had occurred in the past. However, the counter to that is that that particular doctrine judicially has been applied more in terms of local officials rather than state officials or high level officials. So that argument can go both ways, and we don't really know for sure how it will play itself out. But it would be surprising if that does not get a significant amount of attention and debate.

KRINJAK: All right. Eddie Carter, constitutional law professor with Prairie View A&M. Dr. Carter, as always, we appreciate you being here and sharing your expertise with us. 

CARTER: It is always a privilege and an honor.