The family of the victim in a child sex abuse case prosecuted by the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office is speaking out against the use of the case by politicians, saying they are “tired of being used.”
Paxton’s Democratic opponent, state Rep. James Talarico, in the U.S. Senate race has zeroed in on the case as a major line of attack against the attorney general. Talarico has held at least two press conferences in recent weeks raising questions about Paxton’s handling of the case in which his office offered an initial plea deal of one day in jail to a Waco man charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy.
“We have not given any statement to Talarico. We have not spoke to him. We are tired of being used in this election. We are tired of lies being told by both Paxton & Talarico, tired of the divide and just tired,” the family said in a statement posted on social media by family spokesperson Melissa Dieterich.
Talarico’s campaign in a statement Friday said he is joining the voices of many others who are calling for “justice.”
“This family has gone through hell. They have experienced something unimaginable and deserve our care and respect,” said spokesperson JT Ennis. “Our team has facilitated outreach to offer our support and ensure the family has a way to get in touch at any time, for any reason.”
“Elected officials on both sides of the aisle have called out this plea deal,” he added. “The judge presiding over the case has called out this plea deal. Residents of Waco have protested this plea deal. Texans have demanded justice to ensure this never happens to another family.”
The case involved a 49-year-old lawyer, Adam Dean Hoffman, who was accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy for years. As The Texas Tribune, The Texas Newsroom and KWBU reported in May, court records showed that the case ended in a mistrial, and the victim refused to testify for a second time, severely curtailing prosecutors’ options.
Hoffman, as part of the plea deal, admitted to molesting the victim and surrendered his law license. The details of the deal sparked a public outcry, prompting protests outside the local courthouse, and gaining national attention.
The deal has attracted criticism from local officials in Waco, including the McLennan County district attorney, Republican state representatives and even the judge presiding over the matter. That visiting judge, Roy Sparkman, who previously served on the bench as a Republican, had rejected an earlier version of the deal that would have allowed Hoffman to serve just one day in jail.
Paxton’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. A campaign spokesperson has previously said Talarico is “intentionally re-traumatizing the child victim for personal gain.”
“OAG prosecutors have already released information on this, but Talarico cares more about turning a child victim into a political pawn than the truth,” Madison Cercy said. The bottom line is that we stand with the child victim.”
The prosecutors for the attorney general’s office in May issued a letter to a state lawmaker who was publicly raising questions about the deal, saying they were prepared to move forward with a second trial, but the victim was not.
“The child emphasized that he preferred to move on with his life and prioritize his mental and emotional health,” wrote the prosecutors, Brenda Cantu and Dorian Cotlar.
Talarico was not the first to make political hay out of the case. Republican John Cornyn, the four-term incumbent who lost the May 26 runoff to Paxton, had also capitalized on the controversy and published several campaign advertisements criticizing Paxton as a weak top lawyer, citing the Hoffman case and others.
The family, for their part, has also spoken publicly about the case, through spokespeople, and joined state Rep. Jeff Leach and Pat Curry in a May news conference, also outside the McLennan County Courthouse.
Leach read a statement from the mother of the victim who called the agreement with Hoffman a “sweetheart deal” and said “Ken Paxton must be held accountable.” She did not explicitly call on voters to support Cornyn. Dieterich that day said Paxton “does not deserve a promotion to the U.S. Senate.”
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