Updated on Monday, 9:10 a.m. to include a new statement from Judge George Gallagher.

AUSTIN — The judge presiding over Ken Paxton's criminal trials a hearing after the attorney general's repeated attempts to remove him from the case.

A hearing will be held in Houston on Thursday to address Paxton's effort to force Judge George Gallagher to step down. Paxton, who faces three felony charges of violating state securities laws, has been trying to remove Gallagher from the case since the judge ordered Paxton's upcoming trials be moved from Collin to Harris County.

Paxton will not need to attend, the judge said Monday, "a conflict with the Attorney General's schedule that the Court determined to be sufficient to waive his presence."

Paxton has not given a specific reason for seeking Gallagher's removal. His attorneys claim Gallagher, a Tarrant County judge, was approved to take on Collin County cases through 2016. Any decisions he made this year after his assignment expired, they argued, are invalid.

Earlier this week, Paxton asked Judge Mary Murphy, who appointed Gallagher to his case, to confirm this claim and reverse Gallagher's decision to move his trials outside of Collin County.

But Murphy told Paxton she did not have the authority to do so. In an email to his attorneys, she wrote that the decision lies with "the trial court and the appellate courts."

Emails obtained by The Dallas Morning News on Friday show Murphy previously confirmed to court staff that Gallagher did not need to renew his assignment in Collin County this year.

"I just confirmed with Judge Murphy that Judge Gallagher does not need a new assignment to Region 1 for 2017. His service in this Region is covered under the assignment to the Region from last year," Murphy's clerk wrote in response to an inquiry from Gallagher's administrative court on Jan. 24, 2017.

Paxton was indicted in July 2015 on three felony counts of violating state securities laws. He faces two first-degree felony fraud charges over accusations that he duped investors into buying stock in a North Texas technology firm without disclosing he was receiving a commission. These charges carry a maximum penalty of 99 years in prison and tens of thousands of dollars in fines.

He also is accused of failing to register with the state, a third-degree felony charge, while making a commission off funneling clients to a friend's investment firm.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought related civil charges against the attorney general. A federal judge threw out these charges twice, saying the SEC did not have enough proof that a trial should be held on the merits of the case.

Paxton was elected attorney general in November 2014. The allegations date to his time as a state House member representing McKinney. The first of Paxton's two trials is scheduled to kick off in mid-September.