Criminal defense lawyers group yanks brief supporting special prosecutors' pay



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AUSTIN — The state's association of criminal defense lawyers has withdrawn its amicus brief to a Texas high court which is expected to weigh in on whether Attorney General Ken Paxton's special prosecutors are owed back pay.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars are at stake.

The Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association filed a brief with the Court of Criminal Appeals Friday in support of the special prosecutors' quest to be paid, an issue the prosecutors argue could have far-reaching implications for attracting quality lawyers to take appointments to complicated cases.

However, the group representing 3,200 members yanked its amicus brief Tuesday morning, saying procedures published on the group's website were not followed and "this brief was in fact not authorized to be filed by TCDLA."

According to David Moore, president of the association, the executive committee is supposed to vet recommendations forwarded by chairs of an amicus committee and decide whether to authorize the filing. None of that happened, he said, but added the executive committee could meet in several weeks to decide whether and how to move forward.

The Court of Criminal Appeals is expected to decide in the next few weeks whether to continue exploring the case.

The decision to pull the brief speaks to the touchy politics surrounding Paxton. One of his criminal defense lawyers, Dan Cogdell, said in a statement he wanted to "express my grave disappointment in the impropriety of the filing of such a pleading in a case of this magnitude and am gratified that the proper steps to correct the situation have begun."

Brian Wice, one of the special prosecutors who spearheaded the fight for his team's back pay shot back with his own statement: "I'm at a loss to understand just why Mr. Paxton's defense team is in such an absolute lather about an amicus brief that is one of the most well crafted I've seen in 38 years as an appellate lawyer."

The amicus brief was one of several filed weighing in on the pay for a trio of Houston lawyers — Wice, Kent Schaffer and Nicole DeBorde — who were tapped to build a case against Paxton, a first-term attorney general under indictment on three charges of securities fraud.

The question over pay for special prosecutors has become a long, winding tangent in the criminal case against Paxton, a tea party favorite who was indicted in July 0f 2015 in his home of Collin County. He faces two first-degree felony charges of securities fraud and a third-degree charge of failing to register as an investment adviser.

Paxton has maintained his innocence. His allies have convinced judges in the lower courts the pay promised to special prosecutors busts a local cap on how much appointed attorneys can be paid. The special prosecutors say they are owed about $200,000 in back pay and say local rules in Collin County and throughout much of Texas give judges discretion when deciding how much to pay appointed attorneys in special circumstances.

Paxton is running for reelection to the state's top law enforcement job in 2018. His wife, Angela Paxton, is also seeking office. She is running for Senate District 8 north of Dallas.