Charges against former Texas governor Rick Perry were dismissed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday. Perry was alleged to have abused his power while he was in office.
The two-time former GOP presidential candidate received his first indictment by a grand jury back in August 2014. The indictment occurred after Perry threatened and carried out a veto that defunded a public integrity unit. This was an attempt at forcing a district attorney to resign from his position.
NY Times reported that the case investigated the separation of power provision by the state as mentioned in the Texas Constitution as well as the governor's veto power under the statute for "abuse of official capacity." The examination led to a couple of indictments for the former Governor, one of which was dismissed in July by a lower court. Perry faced the indictment and stated that the counts were "unconstitutional."
In a press conference, the former Texas governor had been quoted by CNN to say that he was proud that "the court upheld the law and the right of any person to speak freely without the threat of legal intimidation." Perry then shares that today's decision released by the court has proven that the indictment he faced was "nothing less than a baseless political attack, and an assault on constitutional powers."
According to the former governor, the indictment was used as a way for a political agenda to be pushed. On Washington Post, Perry had been quoted to say that "I think the people of this state do not want rogue prosecutors to use the court to get done what they can't get done at the ballot box."
True enough, the dismissal of his case supported his claim that "public servants have a First Amendment right to engage in expression, even threats, regarding their official duties."
Because of the indictment, Perry had formerly decided to suspend his 2016 presidential campaign in September. The former governor shares that it had brought his campaign unwanted attention.
Before the indictment, Perry had been the governor of Texas; earning him the title of the longest-serving governor throughout the state for a total of 15 years.
