Dig Deeper Texas

South Texas judge faces perjury charges

A Travis County grand jury indicted District Judge Amado J. Abascal III of South Texas on two counts of aggravated perjury Friday, alleging that he lied about the source of campaign contributions.The first count stems from testimony Abascal gave before the grand jury in October 2005, when he claimed under oath that he did not spend $15,000 in campaign contributions until after he obtained a list of the contributors. The indictment says Abascal spent the money before the list was obtained.

The second count comes from Abascal claiming under oath that he had been told that the $15,000 was from 15 individuals donating $1,000 each. The indictment states that the sources of the contributions were the Kickapoo Tribe, the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino and Isidro Garza, the tribe’s former gaming representative, and that Abascal was aware of them. Garza was indicted in 2004 and charged with embezzling from the tribe.

Aggravated perjury, a third-degree felony, carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

Abascal has also been indicted on charges of tampering with government records, a state jail felony.

Why lie? The worse thing that would have happened had he told the truth was possibly a minor slap on the hand in the press. My gosh, he is a judge, he should know better.

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