HOUSTON -- A judge Friday rejected Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's attempts to throw out felony securities fraud charges that have shadowed the Republican for nearly a decade.
The decision by state District Judge Andrea Beall, an elected Democrat, keeps Paxton on track for an April 15 trial on charges that he duped investors in a tech startup.
If convicted, Paxton faces up to 99 years in prison. Paxton, who has pleaded innocent, appeared in the Houston courtroom for the hearing.
"He's ready for trial. ... This thing has been pending for eight years. [The special prosecutors] want to dance," Dan Cogdell, one of Paxton's attorneys, told reporters after Friday's court hearing.
Brian Wice, one of the special prosecutors handling the case, said it was important that Paxton's case go to trial because "no one is above the law. And that includes Ken Paxton. And that's why this case matters."
During Friday's hearing, the other special prosecutor in the case, Kent Schaffer, announced he was withdrawing ahead of the trial.
After the hearing, Wice said the two prosecutors parted ways after disagreeing over Schaffer's push to avoid a trial and instead settle the case through pre-trial intervention. Schaffer did not immediately reply to a call seeking comment Friday.
Wice said another Houston lawyer, Jed Silverman, will take Schaffer's place.
Paxton is charged with defrauding investors in a Dallas-area tech company called Servergy by not disclosing that he was being paid by the company to recruit them.
The case has been delayed for years with pretrial disputes over whether to hold the trial in the Dallas area or Houston, and payment for the state's special prosecutors, who have contended they have not been consistently paid in the case.
During the hearing, Cogdell argued Paxton should not have his rights violated because of the payment dispute.
Wice argued most of the delays were caused by Paxton's side and his attorneys had never previously raised the issue of a speedy trial violation.