A process server alleged that Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton left his house on Monday to evade a subpoena, per reports from Austin-based media outlets.
A Texas Tribune article that was ran by Austin CBS affiliate KEYE reported that Ernesto Martin Herrera unsuccessfully served the state’s top legal counsel at the latter’s North Texas residence.
Federal court documents show that Paxton, a Republican, was ordered to appear at a federal court hearing as part of a lawsuit filed by nonprofit organizations seeking to help Texans who pursue abortions outside of the state, The Texas Tribune reported.
Per the report, Herrera said a woman purported to be State Sen. Angela Paxton (R-McKinney), the AG’s spouse, told him that Paxton couldn’t tend to him because he was on the phone.
Herrera told the woman that he would wait, but 20 minutes later, the AG left the house, oblivious to the process server’s attempts to grab his attention.
“I walked up the driveway approaching Mr. Paxton and called him by his name,” Herrera said in a court affidavit, according to The Texas Tribune. “As soon as he saw me and heard me call his name out, he turned around and RAN back inside the house through the same door in the garage.”
Paxton, who is seeking to fend off Democrat Rochelle Garza at the ballot box in November, tweeted about the encounter.
“It’s clear that the media wants to drum up another controversy involving my work as attorney general, so they’re attacking me for having the audacity to avoid a stranger lingering outside my home and showing concern about the safety and well-being of my family,” he said in a post that included The Texas Tribune’s handle.
CNBC reported that Angela Paxton was with her husband in the vehicle when he drove away from the process server.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman ordered the subpoena quashed on Tuesday, with Paxton insisting the requisites “for making, let alone enforcing,” the demand for his testimony haven’t been met.
Texas is one of the states in the Union with at least one anti-abortion law on the books.