Rick Perry turns himself in, vows to ‘fight this injustice’

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Rick Perry was defiant as he was booked Tuesday on abuse-of-power charges, saying he would “fight this injustice with every fiber of my being.”

The Republican, who is mulling a second presidential run in 2016, was indicted after carrying out a threat to veto funding for state public corruption prosecutors. He has long called the case a political ploy, and dozens of supporters chanting his name and holding signs, some saying “Stop Democrat Games,” greeted him when he arrived at the Travis County courthouse in Austin.

“I’m going to fight this injustice with every fiber of my being. And we will prevail,” Perry said before walking inside.

Sheriff’s deputies confirmed that the governor was fingerprinted and had a mug shot taken before leaving a few minutes later.

The longest-serving governor in Texas history was indicted last week for coercion and official oppression for publicly promising to veto $7.5 million for the state public integrity unit, which investigates wrongdoing by elected officials and is run by the Travis County district attorney’s office. Perry threatened the veto if the county’s Democratic district attorney, Rosemary Lehmberg, stayed in office after a drunken driving conviction.

Lehmberg refused to resign and Perry carried out the veto, drawing an ethics complaint from a left-leaning government watchdog group.

Perry was indicted by a grand jury in Austin, a liberal bastion in otherwise fiercely conservative Texas.

But he isn’t letting the case keep him from a packed travel schedule that will take him to the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina over the next two weeks. After his 2012 presidential campaign flamed out, the Republican opted not to seek re-election as governor in November — leaving him more time to focus on rehabilitating his image nationally.

If convicted on both counts, Perry could face a maximum 109 years in prison — though legal experts across the political spectrum have said the case against him may be a tough sell to a jury. No one disputes that Perry has the right to veto any measures passed by the state Legislature, including any parts of the state budget.

But the complaint against Perry alleges that by publicly threatening a veto and trying to force Lehmberg to resign, he coerced her. The Republican judge assigned to the case has assigned a San Antonio-based special prosecutor who insists the case is stronger than it may outwardly appear.

Perry has hired a team of high-powered attorneys, who are being paid with state funds to defend him.

Perry is the first Texas governor to be indicted since 1917.