Process server says Texas AG Ken Paxton fled home to avoid subpoena

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fled his home with his wife when a person tried to serve him a subpoena related to a lawsuit over abortion rules in the state, according to court papers.

Ernesto Martin Herrera, a process server, went to Mr. Paxton’s home on Monday to try to serve him a subpoena from nonprofits who are suing because they want to be able to help Texans pay for abortions out of state in the wake of new restrictions on the procedure.

Mr. Herrera wrote that he spoke to Mr. Paxton’s wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, at the door but she said Mr. Paxton was on the phone. Mr. Herrera offered to wait, but she said the attorney general was in a hurry.

Eventually, Mr. Paxton exited the house toward a Chevrolet Tahoe that had backed into the driveway.

“I walked up the driveway approaching Mr. Paxton and called him by his name. As soon as he saw me and heard me call his name out, he turned around and RAN back inside the house through the same door in the garage,” Mr. Herrera wrote in the affidavit.

He said Angela Paxton left the house and started a separate Chevy truck and opened one of its doors before Mr. Paxton came out again.

“A few minutes later I saw Mr. Paxton RAN from the door inside the garage towards the rear door behind the driver side,” Mr. Herrera wrote. “I approached the truck, and loudly called him by his name and stated that I had court documents for him. Mr. Paxton ignored me and kept heading for the truck.”

After concluding that Mr. Paxton wouldn’t take the papers, Mr. Herrera told the attorney general he was leaving the papers on the ground “where he could get them.”

“I then placed the documents on the ground beside the truck,” he said.

The Tahoe and Chevy truck with the Paxtons left the grounds, court papers said.

Mr. Paxton responded by calling a Texas Tribune story about the incident “a ridiculous waste of time” and argued that conservatives are facing threats to their safety.

“It’s clear that the media wants to drum up another controversy involving my work as Attorney General, so they’re attacking me for having the audacity to avoid a stranger lingering outside my home and showing concern about the safety and well-being of my family,” he tweeted.