{"slug":"rick-perry-2014-abuse-of-power-indictment","title":"Rick Perry Indicted on Felony Abuse-of-Power and Coercion Charges Over Veto Threat (2014); Charges Dismissed (2016)","date":"2013-06-14","lastUpdated":"2026-10-09","description":"In August 2014 a Travis County grand jury indicted Texas Governor Rick Perry on two felony counts, abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant, arising from his June 2013 veto of state funding for the Travis County District Attorney's Public Integrity Unit after he had threatened the veto unless District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, who had pleaded guilty to drunken driving, resigned. Texas's highest criminal court ordered the indictment dismissed on February 24, 2016, holding the prosecution unconstitutional. Perry became Secretary of Energy on March 2, 2017.","summary":"The indictment alleged that Perry misused funds appropriated to the Public Integrity Unit (Count I) and coerced a public servant by threatening to veto the unit's funding unless the district attorney resigned (Count II). A state appeals court quashed the coercion count in 2015; the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals then ordered the whole indictment dismissed on separation-of-powers and First Amendment grounds. Perry was never tried.","category":"corruption","severity":"pre-office","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://search.txcourts.gov/SearchMedia.aspx?MediaVersionID=68138db0-9e0e-4928-b39d-dd16cb47ddd8&coa=coscca&DT=OPINION&MediaID=457489da-dfc2-4de6-a0b4-723dd35a014a","title":"Ex parte James Richard \"Rick\" Perry, No. PD-1067-15, opinion of the Court (delivered February 24, 2016)","publisher":"Texas Court of Criminal Appeals"},{"url":"https://www.texastribune.org/2016/02/24/texas-high-court-dismisses-rick-perry-indictments/","title":"Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Dismisses Rick Perry Indictment","publisher":"The Texas Tribune"},{"url":"https://www.texastribune.org/2014/08/16/five-things-know-about-perry-indictment/","title":"Five Things to Know About Perry Indictment","publisher":"The Texas Tribune"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["abuse-of-power","indictment","Texas","pre-office"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2013-06-14","title":"Veto of Public Integrity Unit funding","summary":"The indictment alleges that on or about this date Perry misused funds appropriated to the Travis County District Attorney's Public Integrity Unit by vetoing them, after threatening the veto unless the district attorney resigned."},{"date":"2014-08-15","title":"Grand jury indictment","summary":"A Travis County grand jury indicts Perry on one count of abuse of official capacity and one count of coercion of a public servant (The Texas Tribune describes August 16, 2014 as \"the day after a grand jury indicted him\")."},{"date":"2016-02-24","title":"Indictment ordered dismissed","summary":"The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals orders the indictment dismissed in Ex parte Perry, No. PD-1067-15."}],"location":{"name":"Austin, Texas"},"custom":{"posture":"judicial-finding","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Rick Perry","role":"Governor of Texas (2000–2015)","institution":"State of Texas"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2026-10-09","summary":"Added for the Before Office record. Perry first joined the administration as Secretary of Energy on March 2, 2017."}],"keyPoints":["A Travis County grand jury returned a two-count indictment: abuse of official capacity (Tex. Penal Code § 39.02) and coercion of a public servant (§ 36.03)","Count I alleged that on or about June 14, 2013 Perry misused funds appropriated to the Travis County District Attorney's Public Integrity Unit; Count II alleged he threatened to veto that funding unless District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg resigned","The Texas Tribune reported the veto concerned $7.5 million in two-year state funding for the unit, after Lehmberg had pleaded guilty to drunken driving","Perry said he \"wholeheartedly and unequivocally\" stood behind the veto","In 2015 the Third Court of Appeals quashed the coercion count; on February 24, 2016 the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed that ruling, reversed on the abuse-of-office count, and ordered the indictment dismissed","The majority held that prosecuting the exercise of a veto violated the Texas Constitution's separation of powers and that the coercion provision as applied was facially unconstitutional under the First Amendment; two judges dissented"],"verificationStatus":"cross-referenced","postureNote":"Indicted by a Travis County grand jury in August 2014; indictment ordered dismissed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Ex parte Perry, No. PD-1067-15 (February 24, 2016). No trial, no conviction.","subjects":["rick-perry"],"legalStatus":"charged"}}