National

Texas Governor Rick Perry Charged with Abuse of Office and Coercion of a Public Servant


TEXAS—(ENEWSPF)—August 15, 2014. Governor Rick Perry was indicted today on charges of abuse of office and coercion of a public servant. Both charges are felonies. Maximum punishment on the first charge is five to 99 years in prison. The second is two to 10 years.

An Austin grand jury handed up the indictment following a long-running investigation of Perry’s threat to veto $7.2 million in state funding to the Travis County Public Integrity Unit unless District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg resigned from office. The Integrity Unit is housed in Lehmberg’s office.

The threat came after Lehmberg pled guilty to drunken driving and served a 45-day sentence last year. Perry called on Lehmberg to step down but she refused. Perry subsequently vetoed the funding.

Perry is considered a potential Republican candidate for president in 2016

Related Material:

The grand jury issued indictments (PDF)


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