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Ken Paxton defends 1-day plea deal for child sex offender

politicsSep 29, 202620901

Texas Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton defended a plea deal his prosecutors offered last month that would have let a Waco man charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy plead to two misdemeanors and serve a single day in jail. Paxton’s office took the case about three years ago after the locally elected district attorney recused himself; prosecutors Brenda Cantu and Dorian Cotlar told a state representative the prior trial ended in a hung jury and the victim did not want to testify again. The plea drew sharp criticism from political figures and local officials, including U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who said Paxton “could have stopped this one” and accused him of putting children at risk, and Judge Roy Sparkman, who asked, “One day. Seriously?” and imposed a 60-day jail sentence instead. The victim’s mother, who initially agreed to an early version of the plea in court, said she now disagrees and described being put in an impossible position. Legal experts interviewed by The Texas Tribune and The Texas Newsroom noted the difficulty of prosecuting complex child-abuse cases and the hard choices prosecutors face when victims will not relitigate trauma. The controversy has become a political liability for Paxton as he contests a heated Republican primary for the U.S. Senate.

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Republican strategist Karl Rove: “In the last 48 hours, Ted Cruz has reached out to me and says, ‘We’re losing,’ Ken Paxton has sent me several emails saying, ‘I’m losing, I need your help.’” www.sacurrent.com/news/politic...

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