Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will stand trial on securities fraud charges in April, a judge ruled Monday, more than eight years after the Republican was indicted and a month after his acquittal in an impeachment trial over separate corruption accusations.
Paxton was in the courtroom when state District Judge Andrea Beall of Houston set the April 15 trial date in the long-delayed criminal case, which began in 2015 when a Texas grand jury indicted him on charges of duping investors in a tech startup.
At the time, the felony charges appeared to threaten his political career. But Paxton, who has pleaded not guilty, has instead become an even more dominant figure in the Texas GOP and won reelection twice since his indictment.






