Declaring he would "fight this injustice with every fiber of my being," embattled Texas Gov. Rick Perry stood on the Travis County Courthouse steps Tuesday and spoke before going inside to have his mug shot taken.

Perry was indicted by a local grand jury two weeks ago at the same courthouse of two felony counts of abuse of power and coercion of a public servant. He turned himself into authorities at 3:05 p.m. CT.

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Before entering the courthouse for processing, Perry also said, "We will prevail because we are standing for the rule of law."

Courthouse processing consists of official booking on the charges followed by fingerprinting and a mug shot. Then, the indicted individual is given an official order of commitment. A judge already has granted Perry release based on his own recognizance, so he was free to leave the courthouse after processing.

Surrounded by news media and some supporters who cheered his words, Perry said he would have vetoed $7.5 million of funding for the state public integrity unit again. That's the root of the abuse of power charges.

The unit that was investigating Perry's dealings was run by Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lemberg, a Democrat. She was arrested in April for drunk driving. Perry called on her to resign, saying he would veto funding for that unit should she stay. He carried out the veto threat in June.

While Texas governors have wide discretionary veto powers, Perry's tying the resignation threat to funding was believed by the grand jury to constitute abuse of power. The two felony counts together carry a maximum penalty of 109 years in prison.

Perry waged a losing campaign for the Republican Party presidential nomination in 2012 was considered a candidate for the 2016 nomination. He has been Texas governor longer than anybody else. The only other state governor indicted was in 1917.

Perry has hired a team of well-known attorneys to help fight the case. They're being paid with state money. Following booking, a defiant Perry said he plans to embark on a two-week speaking tour though early-voting primary states Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

TagsRick Perry, politics, Texas, political corruption, Republicans, Democrats, rick perry mugshot, travis county, austin