Texas Governor Rick Perry, who was indicted in August for abuse of power, is set to appear before court for the first time on Halloween as the defense attorneys attempt to quash the felony charges against him.

Perry was in Europe for a state economic mission, so he was allowed to skip Monday's pretrial in Austin. District Judge Bert Richardson scheduled the next court date in the same location, USA Today detailed.

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After the said hearing, special prosecutor Michael McCrum said Perry needs to appear before the court because the pretrial "affects the case." Perry, on the other hand, will still be in London on Tuesday to deliver a speech to the Royal United Services Institute.

On Monday, Judge Richardson also gave McCrum until November 7 to submit his written responses to Perry's two motions to quash based on technical and constitutional grounds.

A grand jury in Austin indicted the governor in August for threatening and implementing a veto of state funding for the prosecutors under the public corruption investigative unit. Perry warned of the veto after Democratic district attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, the head of said unit, refused to step down after being convicted for drunk driving.

The defense argues that the felony charges against Perry are unconstitutional because the governor has the right to issue the veto. Perry's team also says McCrum was not properly sworn in, but the latter denies the claim, saying both he and Lehmberg submitted the necessary paperwork for that.

Judge Richardson, a Republican, was the one who appointed McCrum to his post. The charges against Gov. Perry stemmed from a complaint filed by a left-leaning watchdog organization in Austin.

Perry's team wants the judge to review the transcripts of the grand jury, explaining that they are needed to make the decision on the two motions to quash the indictments. McCrum has mentioned that he is too busy to ask the court reporter to request the transcripts, the defense attorneys added.

Meanwhile, McCrum said it was unusual to order the grand jury transcripts, but implied that they were not hiding anything.

TagsRick Perry, Law Crime, Conservatism of the United States, Government of Texas