Ex-State Official Pleads Not Guilty in Fraud Case
Former state Atty. Gen. Dan Morales pleaded not guilty in Austin to federal mail fraud and conspiracy charges.
Morales and a friend, Marc Murr, are accused of trying to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars for Murr in legal fees resulting from the state’s $17.3-billion settlement with the tobacco industry in 1998. Murr also pleaded not guilty.
Morales, 46, was elected attorney general in 1990 and re-elected in 1994. He chose not to run for reelection in 1998. He ran last year for the Democratic nod for Texas governor, but lost the primary to Tony Sanchez.
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