The judge in the abuse of power case against Governor Rick Perry is overruling objections from Perry's legal team over the way the special prosecutor was sworn in.
Perry's attorneys argued that special prosecutor Michael McCrum had not taken the oath of office and filed a required document in the proper way. The defense said because the oath wasn't done properly, McCrum was not authorized to act as prosecutor and everything he had done to this point -- including overseeing grand jury proceedings that produced the indictments against Perry -- were invalid.
Today, Judge Bert Richardson dismissed those objections, citing previous cases in which irregularities in the oath process had not invalidated state officers from acting.
A grand jury indicted Perry in August over his 2013 veto threat of state funding for the Travis County District Attorney's Public Integrity Unit. At the time, Perry reportedly said he would veto $7.5 million for the office, unless Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg resigned, in the wake of drunk driving arrest in April 2013.
