Embattled Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton lost a motion in state court to keep his felony securities fraud trial in the deep-red county for which his wife serves as a state senator, with the highest criminal court in the state ruling the trial be moved to Democratic-stronghold Houston, the Associated Press reports.
A timetable for the start of the trial regarding allegations that Paxton defrauded investors in a tech startup, for which he was charged in 2015, is undetermined. After being elected as the state’s Attorney General in 2014, Paxton has successfully thwarted attempts to start the trial. He wanted his trial to be held in Collins County, which his wife Angela Allen represents as the Republican state senator for Texas District 8.
Facing a sentence of up to 99 years in prison, Paxton is also facing multiple impeachment charges for other financial malfeasance while in office. These felony charges are part of the 20-count impeachment articles passed by the state house last month.