A Houston appeals court has ruled that a previous payment cap set for prosecutors who worked for years on the securities fraud case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will stand.
What this means is that the prosecutors will not be paid any more than $2,000 in total for their work on the case that began in 2016.
Harris County District Judge Andrea Beall, who took over the case when it returned to Harris County from Collin County, previously set a new pay rate of $300 per hour worked by special prosecutors Brian Wice and Kent Schaffer in October.
Beall wrote in an order that the $2,000 cap per Collin County’s fee schedule was “wholly unreasonable” given the amount of investigation, evidentiary review and complexity of the case.
Wice and Schaffer had stated they were confident that the appellate court would enforce Beall’s order. Both prosecutors worked on the case without pay since 2016, when Collin County Commissioner’s Court issued a one-time payment before halting all compensation.
In October, Schaffer indicated he was owed $150,000 for his work alone. He left the case in February over disagreements with Wice regarding the case’s resolution. Houston criminal defense attorney Jed Silverman took over for Schaffer.
Paxton’s lead defense attorneys, Dan Cogdell and Philip Hilder, previously characterized Wice and Schaffer’s request for increased pay as a “dilatory sideshow” that could lead to further delays on the case.
Wice confirmed in a written statement to the Houston Press that the prosecutors are planning to appeal Thursday’s ruling:
“For the second time in three years, the First Court of Appeals has handed Ken Paxton and his Collin County acolytes a victory the law makes it clear they were not entitled to. Today, the court of appeals effectively held that the special prosecutors must be paid less than $5 an hour for all of the work they performed over the last eight years.
“In 2021, the court of appeals’ decision ordering Paxton’s securities fraud prosecutions be returned to Collin County from Harris County was resoundingly reversed by the Court of Criminal Appeals. The State is confident that today’s ruling is destined for the same fate.”
The Press contacted Cogdell for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
The longstanding dispute over prosecutorial pay is the final unresolved matter. In March, Paxton entered into a deal with prosecutors that allowed him to avoid trial over the nearly nine-year-long securities fraud charges he faced.
The 18-month pretrial intervention agreement that drew the case to conclusion requires Paxton to pay restitution and complete 100 hours of community service in Collin County in addition to 15 hours of legal ethics courses.
According to reports, Paxton will fulfill his community service at a local food bank.
Under the terms of the agreement, the attorney general avoided criminal conviction, jail time, and loss of his law license. He also did not have to admit guilt.
Paxton was indicted in July 2015 on three felony charges for allegedly soliciting investors in Servergy INC. without disclosing that he was paid to promote its stock and failing to register with state securities regulators.
This story will be updated as needed.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
