Breaking: KP George Alleges Prosecutorial Misconduct by DA’s Office

Attorneys for embattled Fort Bend County Judge KP George filed motions Friday morning to dismiss the felony and misdemeanor cases against him, or at least remove District Attorney Brian Middleton from trying the cases, alleging prosecutorial misconduct. 

George, 61, is charged with money laundering between $30,000 and $150,000, a third-degree felony, which carries a potential sentence of two to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. 

The judge is also accused of a misdemeanor charge of identity misrepresentation, with prosecutors alleging he worked with a staff member to fake racist attacks against his own campaign on social media in an effort to gain favor with the public. 

George’s attorney Jared Woodfill filed four motions on Friday, seeking to disqualify Middleton as the prosecutor in both cases and to dismiss both cases due to what they allege is prosecutorial misconduct.

The filings allege that Middleton and his colleagues used the encrypted messaging app Signal to discuss George and the charges against him. And George’s attorneys included screenshots of those discussions in their legal filings. 

One exchange, identified in court documents as a Signal message between Middleton and former George staffer Taral Patel, provides — according to Woodfill — “insight to Middleton’s hatred and ill will toward Defendant KP George.”

The Signal message states: “Super confidential: got a complaint against FLATHOUSE. If true, pretty bad. Reading the complaint, FLATHOUSE hates KP. He spread the rumor about alleged affair…I am fuming mad…I told KP he was a rat. This shit is bad.”

Woodfill said Friday the Signal messages, which disappear immediately if not captured by screenshot, were obtained from Patel’s phone through discovery.

Woodfill goes on to say in the court documents that George has become aware that Middleton and his office “have used, and continue to use, messaging platforms such as Signal, and perhaps WhatsApp, to communicate about matters pertinent to this criminal prosecution.”

“By conscious spoliation and deliberate destruction of material evidence, the Fort Bend County District Attorney and his office did not, and now cannot, comply with its constitutional, statutory, ethical and moral duties to promptly and fully disclose information about this matter to Defendant KP George and/or his undersigned attorney. Additionally, KP George has obtained evidence proving that this prosecution was brought in retaliation for KP George being critical of Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton.”

A spokesperson for the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office said, “This is news to me,” when asked if Middleton wanted to respond. 

“We don’t have our service copy yet so I guess [Woodfill] sent it to the media before we got our legal notice,” the spokesperson said. 

George switched political parties and became a Republican in June, giving the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court a 3-2 GOP majority. Middleton is a Democrat. The judge is slated to go to trial in January on the misdemeanor identity misrepresentation charges and in February on the felony money laundering case. 

Woodfill maintains that George gave himself a campaign loan, a common practice when running for office, and paid it back but the paperwork was not filed properly. The indictment alleges that George laundered money between January and April 2019, with “intent to defraud or harm.” George is specifically accused of using campaign funds to pay his property taxes and put a down payment on a house. 

Woodfill has said that the charges filed by Middleton are a political vendetta to unseat the once-popular county judge. 

“This is all about dirty politics,” Woodfill said earlier this year.”I think the DA’s office is being weaponized to take out a political opponent.”

In the case of the misdemeanor social media hoax, George’s former staffer Patel pleaded guilty April 15 to two counts of misrepresentation of identity by a candidate and was sentenced to probation. 

Woodfill claims in the October 31 court documents that after Middleton indicted Patel, the DA’s office conducted a three-hour interview with Patel that was tape recorded. 

“Throughout the interview, prosecutors attempted — completely and utterly in vain — to incriminate KP George as a co-conspirator in Patel’s activities,” the motion states. “During that interview, Patel implicates other elected officials in his scheme. Approximately three minutes of the three-hour interview has been destroyed, and this is the portion of the proffer where Patel implicates other elected officials in Fort Bend County.”

“Middleton was the subject of Patel’s fake post which Patel indicates [was] used to benefit the Democratic ticket.”

Middleton has only spoken to the Press once about the KP George case, saying in an email in April, “For many good reasons, Texas legal ethics rules limit the kinds of public statements a prosecutor and defense attorney can make about a pending criminal case.”

“To that end, the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office has been very careful to do its talking in the courtroom and not on the courthouse steps,” Middleton said at the time. “Along these lines, in prosecuting a criminal case, it is not my practice to question the integrity of opposing counsel as a trial tactic. I believe a case should stand or fall on its merits.”

George is seeking re-election to a third term in 2026. Middleton is also up for re-election next year.

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