Judge KP George
A Houston appeals court on Monday rejected Fort Bend County Judge KP George’s last-ditch attempt to remove the county’s top prosecutor from his money laundering case, clearing the way for his trial to begin Tuesday.
George’s trial on felony money laundering charges will move forward as scheduled before Fort Bend County Judge Maggie Jaramillo.
Special prosecutor Brian Wice described the effort as a “desperate 11th-hour Hail Mary.”
“We’re gratified but not at all surprised by how quickly the court of appeals rejected this defendant’s 11th-hour ploy to avoid answering to a Fort Bend County jury,” Wice said.
George filed the emergency requests Friday after the trial judge refused to remove Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton and his office from prosecuting the case.
The appeals court denied both petitions Monday, stating in brief rulings that George had not shown he was entitled to the extraordinary action he requested.
George had previously asked the court to step in and order the trial judge to hold a hearing on his claims that Middleton and his office should be removed from the case.
Fort Bend prosecutors opposed the request and argued George was trying to stall the trial.
Wice said in an interview Sunday that the appeal would not stop the case from moving forward.
Prosecutors also argued George could challenge the ruling through a normal appeal if he is convicted.
See here for the previous update, and here for the early morning story in the Chron about the appeal. The story doesn’t say which appeals court had this matter, but a little searching confirmed that it’s the 14th Court of Appeals. Their order was not published when I went looking, but you can find the relevant appellate documents, along with the order when it is published, here. And yes, that is the same Brian Wice who special-prosecuted Ken Paxton. Dude knows his way around cases like this. All this after KP finished last in his primary race. Tough stuff. I look forward to the start of the trial and will keep an eye on it.