Ken Paxton calls on Rep. Jeff Leach to resign over texts to judge in Robert Roberson case

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called for the resignation of state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, on Tuesday, arguing that Leach cannot effectively serve in the Texas House after improperly pleading with a judge to reconsider a death row inmate’s case.

“His conduct demonstrates that he is unfit to serve in any capacity overseeing our judicial system and unfit to serve as a member of the Texas House,” Paxton wrote in a statement. “House Speaker Dade Phelan must immediately remove him as Chairman before he can do further damage, and Leach must resign.”

Paxton also announced that he was making a criminal referral against Leach, arguing that Leach “sought to alter the outcome of capital punishment proceedings by criminally attempting to influence a judge.”

In text messages to Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Michelle Slaughter on Oct. 24, Leach asked the judge to reconsider death row inmate Robert Roberson’s case, arguing that there were “too many holes and too much uncertainty” in the conviction and that Roberson “deserves a new trial.”

Slaughter, who voted with the court’s 5-4 majority to reject Roberson’s latest appeals, declined to engage with Leach’s request and reported the messages to the court.

Leach later apologized, saying in a statement that he believed he was “in the clear” because he was not a party to Roberson’s criminal case nor to any pending matters before the Court of Criminal Appeals.

According to Texas’ Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, lawyers are prohibited from attempting to influence a court about a pending matter before that court, or about matters that are “reasonably foreseeable” to be before that court. Violations of the rules could result in disciplinary action from the State Bar of Texas.

Leach, an attorney, serves as chair of the House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence and as a member of the Texas Judicial Council.

“These entities set the policies for the state judiciary,” Paxton said. “Leach cannot effectively serve as chairman of his committee: he has confessed to ethical violations and to breaking the law.”

Paxton’s announcement escalates a sharp political battle between a bipartisan committee of Texas House lawmakers and the state’s top Republicans over Roberson’s capital murder case. The factions have traded bitter accusations of misconduct and issued competing narratives of Roberson’s case after the committee forced a delay of his Oct. 17 execution.

In response to Paxton’s announcement, Leach referred to his statement Monday on the text messages, adding, “The only news worth commenting on today is that my son Brady, a golfer at Allen High School, shot a 74 and won 1st place in his tournament this morning.”

Leach has been one of Roberson’s most vocal defenders, leading the committee’s push to stay his execution and highlight what the death row inmate’s advocates call a failure of the courts to implement Texas’ pioneering 2013 junk science law.

Roberson was convicted in 2003 for the death of his chronically ill 2-year-old-daughter, Nikki. He has maintained his innocence over two decades on death row, arguing that new scientific evidence the courts have failed to properly consider shows Nikki died of natural causes.

Leach, a former Paxton ally who represents part of the attorney general’s hometown of McKinney, also played a key role in the Texas House’s effort to impeach and remove Paxton from office last year.

He served on the House board of managers, which handled Paxton’s prosecution during the Senate trial in which he was ultimately acquitted.

In the trial’s closing arguments, Leach appealed to GOP senators in an emotional speech in which he described Paxton as a one-time friend and mentor whom he nonetheless viewed as unfit to serve due to his alleged abuse of his office.

Acknowledging that senators were about to take “the most difficult vote, the heaviest vote” they would ever cast, Leach described how, after years of frequent talks with Paxton about politics, policy and family, he found the attorney general’s once-open door “was closed, and I became increasingly concerned and alarmed at what I saw.”

In March, Leach trounced a Republican primary challenger that Paxton had backed.

“This is gaslighting and nothing but a political threat,” Jon Taylor, a political science professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said about Paxton’s call for Leach to resign. “Leach is a Republican — just not Paxton’s flavor of Republican.”