Texas court drops one felony charge against Perry

A Texas appeals court has dropped a felony coercion charge against former Gov. Rick Perry, a victory for the Republican during his presidential campaign.

The opinion, released Friday by Judge Bert Richardson of an Austin appeals court, ruled that Perry’s First Amendment rights protect him from the “coercion of a public servant” charge and dismissed it.

But Richardson denied Perry’s call to dismiss another count of “abuse of official capacity.”

{mosads}Perry was indicted last year for threatening to veto funding for a public integrity unit, which was led by a district attorney who had been arrested on drunk driving charges.

He threatened to withhold the unit’s almost $4 million budget unless the district attorney, Rosemary Lehmberg, stepped down.

When she didn’t, Perry vetoed the budget, which prompted accusations that his actions constituted an abuse of power.

Perry has dismissed the charges as politically motivated.

The court wrote that the state’s coercion definition “impinges upon the First Amendment protected speech of Texas’s public servants,” leading to the dismissal.

Tony Buzbee, one of Perry’s lawyers, celebrated the decision and said he expects the entire case to be dismissed once trial begins.

“The appeals court made clear that this case was questionable,” he said in a statement, according to the Texas Tribune.

“The remaining charge is hanging by a thread, and we are confident that once it is put before the court, it will be dismissed on its face.”

Perry is currently polling toward the rear of the crowded GOP presidential field. His average of 2 percent in a RealClearPolitics analysis puts him at 11th place, of 16.

—This story was updated at 12:45 p.m.