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Retired Texas Ranger Disarms Lawyer
in Epic Impeachment Trial Match of Wits
Capitol Inside
September 8, 2023
Attorney General Ken Paxton impeachment turned on Friday into a Branch Davidians siege reunion for law enforcement and lawyers on Friday when a superstar defense attorney tangled with a whistleblower who's a legendary former Texas Rangers in an exchange for the ages.
Paxton lawyer Dan Cogdell represented Clive Doyle as a Branch Davidian who survived the deadly events in Waco and replaced David Koresh as the cult leader. Dick DeGuerin - a another Texas legal legend who served as Koresh's attorney during the standoff - emerged today with his first speaking part in four days when he questioned retired Ranger David Maxwell as a prosecution witness who worked as the director of law enforcement at the AG's office before turning on Paxton with other top assistants. Maxwell served as a negotiator during the standoff at the Mount Carmel compound - and he played a major role in the investigation into event and its aftermath.
After the defense lawyer spent much of the trial's first three days trying to discredit, confuse and bait the first three whistleblowers who took the stand, Cogdell attempted to handle Maxwell with kid gloves while questioning the way he handled suspicions that he harbored about Paxton friend and donor Nate Paul as the state agency's top cop.
But Cogdell found Maxwell to be an epic adversary in an episode that played out like a chessmatch as the most entertaining episode by far during the trial's first week. But the lawyer was no match for the witness he referred to constantly as Ranger during a dialogue that was tense and testy at times and hilarious at others.
Cogdell set the stage for the cross-examination's most classic moment when he tried to make a point with a clever analogy that backfired. Cogdell asked Maxwell if he found it ironic that the whistleblowers were concerned that the Department of Public Safety and the Rangers were "too close" to the state agency to take the lead in an investigation into Paxton's dealings with Paul.
"And that and yet they refer it to a Ranger that's in the Hall of Fame that had a 40 plus or minus year career with the DPS?" Cogdell asked. Maxwell said that did not strike him as ironic.
"Doesn't sound like Mickey Mantle investigating the Yankees?" Cogdell said. But the witness suggested he didn't get the question - prompting the lawyer to repeat it almost word for word two more times without an answer from a witness that still appeared confused on the inquiry. Cogdell appeared humbled at that point - and he finally admitted that he'd been trying to be "cute" for the sake of making a point with a splash.
Cogdell's frustration was evident when he asked Maxwell if he learned through his vast experience as a witness at trial to pretend to have trouble hearing the questions that he does not want to answer. Maxwell countered with a long pause and a disarming grin.
"Maybe."
The first three whistleblowers who testified at the impeachment trial were all young idealists who entered public to serve the same conservative cause. Maxwell provided a dramatic contrast as a grizzled lawman with a gruff and no-nonsense persona, a voice that's deep and gravely and a fearless aura that's magnified by an immense physical presence.
more to come ... |
