Final felony charge dismissed against former Gov. Rick Perry

A Texas court on Wednesday dismissed an indictment against former Gov. Rick Perry alleging an abuse of official power. The appellate court ruled to toss the abuse-of-power charge against Perry before any evidence was presented. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed the remaining abuse of capacity charge in a 6-2 ruling handed down Wednesday morning, after almost three months of consideration.

“The attempt to prosecute the governor for the exercise of his absolute veto power has been held to be unconstitutional by the court of criminal appeals as violative of the separation of the powers clause of the Texas constitution”.

The decision comes nearly two years after he was indicted by a grand jury in the summer of 2014 after he threatened to veto funding for the public corruption unit in the Travis County District Attorney’s office. Perry’s legal team argued in stacks of legal briefs and oral arguments that the indictment violated Perry’s First Amendment tights. “The Legislature can not directly or indirectly limit the governor’s veto power”.

Perry dismissed the case as a political witch hunt; legal scholars from across the political spectrum also raised objections about it. “This is, from what I understand, a special ruling tailor-made for Rick Perry”.

The dismissal of charges ends the criminal case against Perry.

Perry served as the governor of Texas for 15 years, where he was the longest-serving governor in the history of the state.

Perry blamed the criminal indictment for his sluggish fundraising.

Perry blames the lingering felony charge for his failed presidential campaign, straining both his reputation and finances.

In September 2015, Perry, struggling to raise money and languishing near the bottom in presidential opinion polls, became the first member of the crowded Republican field to drop out of the 2016 White House race.

The court said, ‘The governor acted and has the power to do so. Perry asked Lehmberg to step down from her position after she was arrested and convicted on DWI charges.

And that’s what the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals did on Wednesday.

“When another elected official votes on something – whether its a governor vetoing or a senator voting – and does it for ulterior motive and wrongful motives that exceed his authority, or what we would consider reasonable, what it basically says is that it opens the door to protect those politicians”, McCrum said.