Texas Court Dismisses Charge against Gov. Rick Perry

By Cheri Cheng - 24 Feb '16 16:21PM

The highest criminal court in the state of Texas has dropped the second and last charge against former governor Rick Perry on Wednesday. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals also reaffirmed the dismissal of the other charge, ending accusations that Perry had committed felonies while in office.

"I'm glad that the court finally put its foot down and put an end to this foolishness," Tony Buzbe, the lead defense attorney, said. "We're happy it's over, but on the other hand, me personally, I'm disappointed in the entire system. The case should have never gotten off the ground in the first place."

Perry was indicted in 2014 by a grand jury in Travis County. He was charged with coercion of a public servant and abusing his power for threatening to cut off state funding with the use of his veto power to an anticorruption unit if district attorney Rosemary Lehmberg did not step down from her post.

The court voted 6-2 to toss out the abuse of power charge, stating that if the court were to rule on veto power, it would ultimately be violating "separations of powers."

"The [Texas] Constitution does not purport to impose any restriction on the [governor's] veto power based on the reason for the veto, and it does not purport to allow any other substantive limitations to be placed on the use of a veto," the court concluded reported by the Washington Post. "The Legislature cannot directly or indirectly limit the governor's veto power. No law passed by the Legislature can constitutionally make the mere act of vetoing legislation a crime."

Perry had vetoed the $7.5 million in financing for the unit, stating that he could not support giving money to "an office with statewide jurisdiction at a time when the person charged with ultimate responsibility of that unit has lost the public's confidence."

Lehmberg had been arrested for driving under the influence. Lehmberg never resigned from office and is still the county's top prosecutor.

The coercion charge was thrown out back in July by a lower appeals court.