AUSTIN — One of the three attorneys pursuing criminal charges against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked to step down from the case.

Last week, Nicole DeBorde filed a motion to withdraw from the case just a week after the state's top court thwarted the special prosecutors' attempts to retain their $300-an-hour pay rate. The presiding judge, Robert Johnson of Harris County, will now consider her request.

"As a result of a series of professional obligations over the past several months, the undersigned can no longer devote the requisite time and attention to discharging her duties as an Attorney Pro Tem in these matters," DeBorde wrote. "The undersigned has obtained the consent of her fellow Attorneys Pro Tem to her withdrawing in these matters."

DeBorde and two other Houston-based private practice attorneys, Kent Schaffer and Brian Wice, were asked to take over the case after Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis recused himself from the investigation, citing his long friendship with the attorney general and his family. Their hourly rate soon came under fire from Paxton loyalists and local budget writers, who refused to pay them, claiming $300 an hour was exorbitant and broke county rules capping fees for court-appointed attorneys.

The prosecutors challenged the claim, taking the fight all the way to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. On June 19, these judges sided with the county for the second time, upholding their previous ruling that struck down the prosecutors' rate and voided their second six-figure invoice.

The special prosecutors had threatened to step down if the court ruled against them. But on Wednesday, Wice did not answer questions about his and Schaffer's future regarding the case.

"I am respectfully declining comment on behalf of the Special Prosecutors," Wice told The Dallas Morning News in an email. DeBorde did not immediately return a call requesting comment.

Paxton, a Republican, was indicted in July 2015 for allegedly violating state securities laws and duping investors to buy into a North Texas technology startup called Servergy, Inc. He was charged with two first-degree felonies for fraud and one third-degree felony for failing to register with the state as an investment adviser representative. If convicted, he could a maximum sentence of up to 99 years in prison and tens of thousands in fines.

Paxton has pleaded not guilty and denied the charges, saying they are politically motivated.

Paxton's criminal trials, which were moved out of Collin County due to jury impartiality concerns, have been postponed repeatedly due to this change of venue, the naming of a new presiding judge, significant court delays after Hurricane Harvey and the fight over the prosecutors' fees. In the four years since he was indicted, Paxton has weathered two federal probes, been investigated and cleared on bribery allegations unrelated to his indictments and celebrated his wife Angela Paxton's Nov. 6 election to the Texas Senate.

Last year, Paxton was re-elected to a second term as attorney general.

CORRECTION, 4:15 p.m., July 1, 2019: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Judge Robert Johnson had granted Nicole DeBorde's request to step down from the case.