Perry defends veto that led to indictment
WASHINGTON – Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Sunday defended the veto that led a grand jury to indict him on two felony counts of abuse of power, noting that even some Democrats have questioned the move by prosecutors.
“I stood up for the rule of law in the state of Texas, and if I had to do it again, I would make exactly the same decision,” Perry, a potential candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, said.
Already the longest-serving governor in state history, Perry has made it clear he plans to complete his third and final term in January as planned. In an interview with “Fox News Sunday,” the governor noted that David Axelrod, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, had called the indictment “sketchy” while Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz had questioned the move.
“Across the board, you’re seeing people weigh in and reflecting that this is way outside of the norm. This is not the way that we settle differences, political differences in this country,” Perry said. “You don’t do it with indictments. We settle our political differences at the ballot box.”
A Travis County grand jury on Friday indicted Perry for carrying out a threat to veto state funds to the local district attorney, an elected Democrat, unless she resigned following her arrest and conviction for drunken driving. That 2013 veto prompted a criminal investigation.
Trial of Texas shooting raises legal, moral issues
ANGLETON, Texas – David Barajas denies killing a drunk driver in a fit of rage after his two sons were fatally struck in 2012 on a rural road in Southeast Texas.
His defense attorney says Barajas is a good man, a grieving father and not a murderer. At the same time, his defense hasn’t publicly suggested who else might be responsible for Jose Banda’s shooting death.
Barajas’ trial is set to begin Monday in a case with many complexities: No weapon was recovered, no witnesses identified him as the shooter and many in Barajas’ community have strongly sympathized with him, with some saying they might have taken the law into their own hands if faced with a similar situation.
Legal experts acknowledge prosecutors could face a greater challenge than simply proving who committed the shooting, similar to another Texas case from 2012 in which a grand jury declined to indict a father who killed a man who molested his child.
“It’s not the right way to do it, but jurors a lot of times make judgments based on moral responsibility, not legal responsibility,” said Joel Androphy, a Houston defense attorney who isn’t connected to the case.
Associated Press
