Third Prosecutor Added to Ken Paxton Case

The team prosecuting state Attorney General Ken Paxton is growing as Paxton looks for a new lawyer to defend him against charges of securities fraud. 

Houston lawyer Nicole DeBorde has been added as the third prosecutor in Paxton's case, according to Brian Wice, one of two special prosecutors originally appointed to look into Paxton's self-admitted violation of state securities law last year. The website of DeBorde's law firm says she has nearly 20 years of experience, some in the Harris County district attorney's office. DeBorde did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

On Thursday, Paxton pleaded not guilty to three felony charges stemming from claims he misled investors in business dealings before he became attorney general. At the same hearing, his top lawyer, Joe Kendall, withdrew from the case for unspecified reasons, and Paxton said he planned to find new counsel within a week. 

Wice and fellow special prosecutor Kent Schaffer did not object to Kendall's withdrawal, but voiced some skepticism about Paxton cycling through lawyers. Schaffer said Thursday he hoped the sequence did not mean the attorney general was stalling.