HOUSTON (AP) — Nine people, including a former mayor and city council member and the chief of staff to a state representative, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to felony charges brought forth in a rural Texas county by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton as part of a widening elections investigation that is being criticized by Latino rights activists as being politically driven.
The nine people appeared either in person or by Zoom during a court hearing in Pearsall, Texas, before state District Judge Sid Harle.
All of the nine people, who were indicted in late June, have been charged with what is known in Texas as vote harvesting, a felony that often involves payment for collecting and dropping off other people’s absentee ballots.
In May, six other people, including Frio County Judge Rochelle Camacho, the top elected official in the county, were indicted as part of Paxton’s investigation.
One of the individuals who pleaded not guilty on Wednesday was Juan Manuel Medina, who is the chief of staff for state Rep. Elizabeth Campos. Medina is also former chairman of the Democratic Party of Bexar County, where San Antonio is located.
Medina’s lawyer, Gerry Goldstein, declined to comment on Wednesday. “I’m going to do my talking in the courtroom,” Goldstein said.
On Wednesday, Goldstein filed a motion to dismiss the indictment against Medina, who is accused of providing compensation as a third party to two people for vote harvesting in February 2024.
In the motion to dismiss, Goldstein said the vote-harvesting statute is overbroad, vague and “restricts Constitutionally protected rights to speech and to participate in the election and voting process in violation of the First Amendment.”
Goldstein said in the motion that the vote-harvesting statute “would appear to punish a broad range of protected speech, including non-coercive voter assistance and core political expression, without requiring any actual voter fraud, coercion, or intimidation.”
“This indictment charges Medina in a capacity that is not a crime and the indictment should be dismissed,” Goldstein said in his 20-page motion.
The vote-harvesting charges are third-degree felonies and carry up to 10 years in prison. The other people who were indicted in June are: Cecilia Castellano, a former candidate for state representative; Frio County Commissioner Raul Carrizales; former Dilley Mayor Mary Ann Obregon; former Dilley City Council member Inelda Rodriguez; Petra Davina Trevino, a former candidate for Pearsall city council; Pearsall school district trustee Mari Benavides; Susanna Carrizales; and Rachel Leal.
Attorneys for Raul Carrizales, Susanna Carrizales, Castellano, Obregon and Rodriguez did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Attorneys for Benavides, Leal and Trevino could not immediately be reached for comment.
Paxton’s office and 81st Judicial District Attorney Audrey Gossett Louis, whose office presented the case to a grand jury with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, did not return a call or email seeking comment.
Last month, Paxton said that any elected official “trying to cheat the system will have to answer for it.”
“Under my watch, attempts to rig elections and silence the will of the voters will be met with the full force of the law. I will continue to fight to ensure Texas has free and fair elections,” Paxton said in a statement.
The indictments were the latest development in an investigation that Paxton started after the 2020 election to root out voter fraud, which is rare and typically occurs in isolated instances. Texas has tightened its voter laws in recent years and increased penalties that Democrats and opponents say are attempts to suppress turnout among Black and Latino voters.
A federal appeals court last year upheld the state’s law that tightened voter restrictions and increased penalties for vote harvesting.
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FILE - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton makes a statement at his office, May 26, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
FILE - Protesters gather outside where Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law legislation that further tightens Texas' strict voting laws, Sept. 7, 2021 in Tyler, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Torrential rains and flooding have killed more than 100 people in South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and authorities warned Friday that more severe weather was expected across several countries in southern Africa.
South Africa has reported at least 19 deaths in two of its northern provinces following heavy rains that began last month and led to severe flooding.
Tourists and staff members were evacuated this week by helicopter from flooded camps to other areas in the renowned Kruger National Park, which is closed to visitors while parts of it are inaccessible because of washed out roads and bridges, South Africa's national parks agency said.
In neighboring Mozambique, the Institute for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction said 103 people had died in an unusually severe rainy season since late last year. Those deaths were from various causes including electrocution from lightning strikes, drowning in floods, infrastructure collapse caused by the severe weather and cholera, the institute said.
The worst flooding in Mozambique has been in the central and southern regions, where more than 200,000 people have been affected, thousands of homes have been damaged, while tens of thousands face evacuation, the World Food Program said.
Zimbabwe’s disaster management agency said that 70 people have died and more than 1,000 homes have been destroyed in heavy rains since the beginning of the year, while infrastructure including schools, roads and bridges collapsed.
Flooding has also hit the island nation of Madagascar off the coast of Africa as well as Malawi and Zambia. Authorities in Madagascar said 11 people died in floods since late November.
The United States' Famine Early Warning System said flooding was reported or expected in at least seven southern African nations, possibly due to the presence of the La Nina weather phenomenon that can bring heavy rains to parts of southeastern Africa.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visited flood-stricken areas in the northern Limpopo province on Thursday and said that region had received around 400 millimeters (more than 15 inches) of rain in less than a week. He said that in one district he visited “there are 36 houses that have just been wiped away from the face of the Earth. Everything is gone ... the roofs, the walls, the fences, everything.”
The flooding occurred in the Limpopo and Mpumalanaga provinces in the north, and the South African Weather Service issued a red-level 10 alert for parts of the country for Friday, warning of more heavy rain and flooding that poses a threat to lives and could cause widespread infrastructure damage.
The huge Kruger wildlife park, which covers some 22,000 square kilometers (7,722 square miles) across the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, has been impacted by severe flooding and around 600 tourists and staff members have been evacuated from camps to high-lying areas in the park, Kruger National Park spokesperson Reynold Thakhuli said.
He couldn't immediately say how many people there were in the park, which has been closed to visitors after several rivers burst their banks and flooded camps, restaurants and other areas. The parks agency said precautions were being taken and no deaths or injuries had been reported at Kruger.
The South African army sent helicopters to rescue other people trapped on the roofs of their houses or in trees in northern parts of the country, it said. An army helicopter also rescued border post officers and police officers stranded at a flooded checkpoint on the South Africa-Zimbabwe border.
Southern Africa has experienced a series of extreme weather events in recent years, including devastating cyclones and a scorching drought that caused a food crisis in parts of a region that often suffers food shortages.
The World Food Program said more than 70,000 hectares (about 173,000 acres) of crops in Mozambique, including staples such as rice and corn, have been waterlogged in the current flooding, worsening food insecurity for thousands of small-scale farmers who rely on their harvests for food.
Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa. AP writers Charles Mangwiro in Maputo, Mozambique, and Farai Mutsaka in Harare, Zimbabwe, contributed to this report.
AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
This image made from video shows the scene after flooding in Tete Province, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo)
This image made from video shows the scene after flooding in Tete Province, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo)
This image made from video shows the scene after flooding in Tete Province, Mozambique, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo)
