Perry Attorneys Want List Of Grand Jury Witnesses, Evidence
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AUSTIN (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Attorneys for former Texas Governor Rick Perry want a judge to order prosecutors to produce a list of witnesses who testified before the closed-door grand jury that indicted their client on abuse-of-power charges.
Perry's legal team in filings Tuesday said state law mandates that prosecutors produce names of witnesses upon whose testimony the indictment was based.
They also asked for a hearing Friday morning to inspect grand jury evidence.
Perry was indicted in August by grand jurors in closed proceedings in Austin, though he had a defense attorney present.
Judge Bert Richardson refused last week to quash the case on constitutional grounds. Defense lawyers has argued Perry was acting within his constitutional rights as governor when he threatened, then carried out, a veto of funding for public corruption prosecutors after the Democrat leading the unit refused to resign following a drunken-driving conviction. The special prosecutor leading the case, Michael McCrum, says the matter should go to trial.
Perry left office January 20. He's expected to soon announce a 2016 presidential run.
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