Appeals court tosses 1 of 2 indictments against Rick Perry

A Texas state appeals court on Friday tossed one count in an abuse-of-power case against former Governor Rick Perry stemming from a 2013 veto by the now-presidential candidate.

The charges against Perry were announced just months before he left office and claim he overstepped his bounds when he threatened to veto funding against to public corruption prosecutors.

Perry, now a presidential candidate, was indicted nearly a year ago in a case that centers on his veto of state funding for the public integrity unit in the Travis County district attorney’s office.

That came after Lehmberg, whose county includes Austin, rebuffed the governor’s calls to resign following her conviction and jail sentence for drunken driving.

The 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin sided Friday with Perry’s high-powered legal team in ruling that the charge of coercion of a public servant essentially constituted a violation of Perry’s free speech rights.

The indictments have been hanging over Perry’s head as he runs for president, threatening to upend his comeback bid for the Republican nomination.

The second charge, abuse of official capacity, will go forward at the trial court level.

“This is a clear step towards victory for the rule of law”, Tony Buzbee, Perry’s lead lawyer, said in a statement.

Special prosecutor Michael McCrum, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in San Antonio, could not immediately be reached for comment.

“Accordingly, it can not be enforced”, the court found.