Felony costs associated to conservative activist Steven Hotze’s alleged involvement within the assault of an air con repairman in 2020 have been dropped, the Harris County District Legal professional’s Workplace introduced Tuesday.
Hotze had been charged with 4 felonies: aggravated assault with a lethal weapon, illegal restraint, aggravated theft and fascinating in organized crime. The costs associated to Hotze’s hiring of greater than a dozen personal investigators to search for alleged voter fraud in Harris County in 2020.
A kind of employed investigators, former Houston police captain Mark Aguirre, additionally has had three of the 5 felony costs towards him dropped, in response to the DA’s workplace.
Aguirre was arrested on Dec. 15, 2020, and charged with aggravated assault with a lethal weapon (firearm). In 2022, he was charged with two extra felonies: aggravated assault with a lethal weapon (motorized vehicle) and illegal restraint inflicting critical bodily damage. In 2024, he was additionally charged with aggravated theft and fascinating in organized crime.
The DA’s workplace mentioned it would now solely prosecute Aguirre for aggravated assault with a lethal weapon (firearm) and illegal restraint. The DA’s workplace mentioned it can’t show “any of the remaining charged offenses past an affordable doubt and that these costs shouldn’t have been filed.”
In an announcement, Harris County District Legal professional Sean Teare mentioned all the costs towards Hotze and three of the costs towards Aguirre have been dropped because of an absence of proof.
“We look ahead to vigorously prosecuting the remaining costs on this case that stand as much as authorized scrutiny,” Teare mentioned. “Nonetheless, in contrast to the earlier administration, we imagine moral prosecutors have a duty to take action primarily based on details — not political theater, media spectacle, or the reckless pursuit of headlines.”
The costs towards Hotze and Aguirre stem from an alleged assault on an air con repairman on Oct. 19, 2020. Based on prosecutors on the time, Aguirre allegedly ran the air con repairman off the street and detained him at gunpoint whereas an affiliate searched the air con truck.
A Houston police officer noticed the scene unfolding and stopped to query what was happening. Aguirre allegedly instructed police the air con truck contained 1000’s of pretend ballots for Democrats, nonetheless, the truck solely had air con components and tools.
Teare, a Democrat, mentioned the case was an instance of how “poisonous conspiracy theories can gasoline real-world violence,” but additionally accused the earlier DA, fellow Democrat Kim Ogg, of abusing her energy. Ogg was in workplace when the costs towards Hotze and Aguirre have been introduced.
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“As we evaluation extra circumstances filed underneath the earlier administration, a sample has grow to be fairly clear: The previous district legal professional abused the authority of this workplace to overcharge and examine these she disagreed with and outsourced high-profile legal investigations to buddies who shared her political beliefs,” Teare mentioned. “That is not justice and as long as I am DA, that is not how we’ll do enterprise in Harris County.”
Ogg didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Tuesday. Neither did attorneys for Aguirre and Hotze.
The DA’s workplace additionally mentioned it might be withdrawing a discover of intent to hunt hate crime enhancements within the circumstances towards Hotze and Aguirre. The discover had been filed earlier this yr by an out of doors contract prosecutor employed underneath Ogg.
