DALLAS – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ran out of his home and jumped into a truck driven by his wife, a state senator, to avoid being subpoenaed to testify Tuesday in an abortion case, according to court documents.
The process server wrote in an affidavit that he tried to deliver the subpoena in federal court Monday to Paxton’s home and ended up having to leave the document on the ground. He said the Republican avoided him for more than an hour from the house, then rushed to the truck and the couple drove off.
Paxton, who has faced various legal challenges as he seeks to win a third term in November, said he avoided the server for security reasons and said the media should be ashamed of themselves for reporting what happened.
“Obviously, the media wants to stir up another controversy surrounding my work as Attorney General, so they are attacking me for having the audacity to avoid a stranger who was lingering outside my home and showing concern for the safety and well-being of my family and. Paxton wrote on Twitter Monday night.
On Tuesday, a judge hearing a lawsuit by nonprofit groups seeking to help Texans pay for out-of-state abortions granted Paxton’s request to quash the subpoena. The attorney general wrote in court documents that he and his wife were “exposed” to the process server, and the judge also granted Paxton’s request to seal the affidavit, which was made public for several hours.
Ernesto Martin Herrera said in an affidavit that he arrived at Paxton’s home in the Dallas suburb of McKinney Monday morning and knocked on the front door, which had a window. At first, Paxton was seen approaching the door, but then turned around. Republican Sen. Angela Paxton opened it by telling the process server her husband was on the phone, according to a court document first reported by The Texas Tribune.
More than an hour later, the affidavit says, Paxton came out of the garage, but then turned around and ran back in when Herrera walked up to the driveway and called his name. A few minutes after that, Angela Paxton allegedly got out, opened the rear driver’s side door of the truck in the driveway, got into the driver’s seat and started the truck.
“A few minutes later, I saw Mr. Paxton running (yes) from the door inside the garage to the rear door behind the driver’s side,” Herrera wrote, adding that Paxton ignored his calls saying he was there to serve legal documents to the attorney general. . . Herrera said he left the summons on the ground near the truck, but the couple drove off without picking it up.
Paxton was indicted in 2015 on federal securities fraud charges, but has yet to go to trial because of lengthy delays over where the felony case should go and payments to special prosecutors. The FBI is investigating Paxton on corruption charges brought against him by eight of Paxton’s deputies two years ago. The Texas State Bar also filed a lawsuit seeking to discipline Paxton for allegedly misleading the U.S. Supreme Court in his lawsuit trying to challenge Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Paxton generally denied wrongdoing and remained popular among Republican voters. He faces Democratic challenger Rachel Garza, a first-time candidate and former ACLU attorney, in the November election.
“Texans deserve an AG who will uphold the law, not run away from it,” Garza tweeted Tuesday.
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