(WSJ) AUSTIN, Texas—Gov. Rick Perry was booked in a courthouse here Tuesday after being indicted last week on felony charges that he abused his authority when trying to force a Democratic district attorney from office.
Mr. Perry, a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, spoke to reporters outside the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center before and after he went inside for booking, a process that typically includes fingerprinting and a mug shot.
"I'm here today because I believe in the rule of law," a smiling Mr. Perry said before going inside the courthouse. "I did the right thing. I'm going to enter this courthouse with my head held high."
A grand jury indicted Mr. Perry on Friday on two felony counts for allegedly improperly threatening to veto $7.5 million in funding for the Travis County Public Integrity Unit, which handles political-corruption investigations in Texas, if Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg didn't resign following an arrest for drunken driving.
Ms. Lehmberg declined to quit, and Mr. Perry carried out the veto in June of last year.
The longest-serving governor in Texas history, Mr. Perry faces felony counts of abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant. The first charge carries a maximum punishment of five to 99 years in prison, while the second could lead to two to 10 years behind bars.
Following the booking Tuesday, Mr. Perry called the prosecution a "chilling restraint on the right to free speech," and he vowed to prevail in the case. "This indictment is fundamentally a political act that seeks to achieve at the courthouse what could not be achieved at the ballot box." Read more Here
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