Dawnna Dukes‘ trial for felony corruption charges is now officially delayed. On Tuesday, District Judge Brad Urrutia granted prosecutors’ motion for postponement, taking Dukes’ Oct. 16 hearing off the books, but also told prosecutors that they had until Oct. 30 to either get their case together or drop it altogether. (Certain portions of their argument took a hit last week when a state’s witness offered conflicting statements about the legality of Dukes’ reimbursements for travel.) A trial for Dukes’ felony charges is now set to begin on Dec. 11. If prosecutors do decide to drop those charges before Oct. 30, Urrutia will instead hold hearings that week on Dukes’ two misdemeanor charges. Statesman reporter Ryan Autullo has been covering this mess from the courtroom. “Fish or cut bait,” he reported Urrutia as telling prosecutors.
This article appears in September 29 • 2017.