James Talarico made a child sex abuse case a centerpiece of his Democratic campaign for U.S. Senate on Thursday, reviving attacks against Attorney General Ken Paxton, his Republican rival, that emerged late in Mr. Paxton’s primary race.
The case involved a local lawyer in Waco, Texas, who was accused of sexually abusing a boy for years. Prosecutors in Mr. Paxton’s office cut a deal this year with the lawyer, Adam Hoffman, which allowed him to serve less than a month behind bars.
The local district attorney, who recused himself from the case, has said the punishment appeared to be more lenient than usual. Local activists have staged protests in Waco after news of the deal went public this spring. The case became part of the Republican primary between Mr. Paxton and Senator John Cornyn, who suggested Mr. Paxton had done Mr. Hoffman a favor.
At a campaign event on Thursday, Mr. Talarico picked up a similar line of attack, accusing Mr. Paxton of orchestrating a favorable deal that subverted justice for the young victim and calling on the attorney general to release internal agency files related to the Hoffman case.
“Ken Paxton had the chance to protect a child. Instead, he protected a predator,” Mr. Talarico said, standing in front of a courthouse in Waco with the words “Release the Hoffman Files” on his lectern. Mr. Talarico then invoked convicted sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein, accusing Mr. Paxton of giving Mr. Hoffman “an Epstein-style sweetheart deal.”
“If there’s anything that all Texans can agree on,” he said, “it’s that no one, not even the attorney general of Texas, should be able to cover up crimes against children.”
Madison Cercy, Mr. Paxton’s campaign spokesperson, said in a statement Thursday that the deal was made because the victim did not want to testify in a second trial after the first ended in a hung jury.
“The bottom line is that we stand with the child victim,” Ms. Cercy said, adding that the boy was being used as “a political pawn” by Mr. Talarico. “Every time James Talarico chooses to bring this case up he is intentionally retraumatizing the child victim for personal gain.”
While Mr. Talarico has looked to capitalize on outrage over the case, attempts to connect Mr. Paxton to its outcome could prove difficult.
Lawyers on both sides of the case have defended their work, and said it was being unfairly politicized. Mr. Hoffman’s defense lawyer, Gerry Morris, said it was “an absolute 100 percent lie” that Mr. Paxton did anything to sway the case’s outcome.
“I can’t stand Ken Paxton,” Mr. Morris, who described himself as a “dyed-in-the-wool Democrat,” told The New York Times on Wednesday. “He had absolutely nothing to do with the plea deal in this case.”
The victim’s mother has said that she believes the prosecutors in the attorney general’s office were too lenient. She was not at Mr. Talarico’s event on Thursday, and she declined to comment on his use of the case for his campaign.
In an interview with The New York Times after the Waco event, Mr. Talarico said he has not spoken with lawyers on the case and had not asked Paxton’s agency to release any records before the campaign event.
“I have now publicly called for them. I think Ken Paxton should do the right thing here and release the files on his own,” Mr. Talarico said.
During his decade as attorney general of Texas, Mr. Paxton has sought more prosecutorial powers and criticized local district attorneys, especially those in blue cities, for not seeking tougher sentences for violent crimes.
During the primary, Republican lawmakers who supported Mr. Cornyn called on Mr. Paxton to answer questions about the deal.
Mr. Paxton’s lawyers took over the case after the local district attorney recused himself because, before he took office, he counseled Mr. Hoffman on the sex abuse allegations.
After the first trial ended in a hung jury, the boy decided not to testify again, prompting the state’s prosecutors to look for a plea deal. As part of the deal, Mr. Hoffman, who was initially charged with a felony, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors, including indecent assault and displaying harmful material to a minor. He did not plead guilty to sexual abuse of a child, a felony that would have required him to register as a sex offender in Texas.
The initial deal would have also required Mr. Hoffman to spend one day in jail, but a judge later increased that to 60 days after local outcry. Mr. Hoffman ultimately spent 30 days total in jail, according to his attorney, and was released early under the county’s good behavior policy.
The prosecutors who worked on the case have said they had few options after the child chose not to participate in a second trial, and defended the short sentence. Despite having “no pathway to prove the elements necessary to secure a felony conviction without the child’s testimony,” the prosecutors wrote in a letter to state lawmakers last month, “we did secure jail time for his abuser and admission to a lesser offense.”
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