Dan Patrick's appointed counsel for Paxton impeachment trial declines assignment
AUSTIN (CBSNewsTexas.com) - The day after Lt. Governor Dan Patrick appointed former judge Marc Brown to serve as counsel during Ken Paxton's impeachment trial, Brown declined the assignment.
Patrick, who will preside over the trial, would have relied on the former state appeals court judge for advice during the proceedings.
Friday, Patrick said he was "looking for a candidate with real-life courtroom experience as a lawyer and a judge who would serve as counsel and work side-by-side with me through this process," adding that Brown met that criteria.
Brown, the former Republican justice on the 14th Court of Appeals from Harris County, wrote to decline the appointment as counsel for the president of the Senate on Saturday.
According to the letter, Patrick's staff met with Brown to discuss any "political activities and relationships to the participants" in the matter. Brown said he had "no recollection of any relevant matters" until Saturday when he remembered he and his wife contributed $250 to the Eva Guzman campaign in Nov. 2021.
Guzman, a former Texas Supreme Court Justice, ran against Paxton for Texas Attorney General during the Republican primary.
Brown says in the letter, the last time he actively campaigned for any candidate or posted any political views on social media was in 2010 when he became a District Court Judge and believes he could be fair in his advice.
He continued that the trial is too important for there to be "any distractions involving allegations of favoritism or personal bias on my part," and expressed his "heartfelt gratitude" at being considered by Patrick.
Paxton's trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 5.
