Texas’ Perry in court for pretrial arguments in abuse of power case

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Gov. Rick Perry made his first court appearance Thursday but left the dramatics to his attorneys, who argued strenuously that the felony charges against him should be thrown out on technicalities.

His high-powered defense team said the counts of abuse of official power and coercion of a public servant ought to be quashed since the special prosecutor bringing them was never properly sworn in and some paperwork wasn’t correctly filed.

Attorneys for the Republican governor and possible 2016 presidential hopeful sniped so frequently with the special prosecutor leading the case, Michael McCrum, that the proceedings often felt like a television drama – complete with a courtroom packed with reporters and carried live on the Internet.

The presiding judge, San Antonio-based Republican Bert Richardson, said he planned to rule next week on whether the case can continue.

Perry, the longest-serving governor in Texas history, is leaving office in January. He was indicted in August by a grand jury in Travis County, a liberal enclave in otherwise fiercely conservative Texas.

He is accused of publicly threatening – then making good on – a veto of $7.5 million in state funding last year for a public corruption division within the office of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. That came after Lehmberg, a Democrat, refused to resign following a conviction and jail time for drunken driving.

Perry calls the indictment a “political witch hunt” and told reporters outside the courtroom, “I stand behind my veto and I would make that veto again.”