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Judge in Adrian Peterson child abuse case will remain

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Rusty Hardin, defense attorney for Adrian Peterson in his child abuse case, speaks to reporters in Conroe on Wednesday after a court denied a prosecution motion to remove a Montgomery County judge from the case for alleged bias against the district attorney’s office.
Rusty Hardin, defense attorney for Adrian Peterson in his child abuse case, speaks to reporters in Conroe on Wednesday after a court denied a prosecution motion to remove a Montgomery County judge from the case for alleged bias against the district attorney’s office.Mihir Zaveri | Houston Chronicle

A judge has denied a motion by prosecutors to remove a Montgomery County judge from the child abuse case of NFL star Adrian Peterson.

Retired Fort Worth Judge Jeff Walker handed down the ruling on Wednesday afternoon, following a hearing on the state's motion to have 9th State District Judge Kelly Case recused from the case for alleged bias against prosecutors.

Peterson's defense attorney, Rusty Hardin, raised multiple objections to prosecutors' efforts to introduce testimony about past actions by Case.

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"Sometimes you can't look at this in a vacuum," First Assistant District Attorney Phil Grant said. "You have to look at a history of the judge's actions."

But Walker sided with Hardin several times, and effectively barred Grant from calling several witnesses ready to testify about what prosecutors described as a feud between the judge and their office.

Hardin argued that prosecutors hadn't been able to meet the high bar for recusal.

"This is nothing more than a motion attempting to reverse the results of an election," Hardin said, referring to Case's election two years ago.

Prosecutors were able to question witnesses about Case's reference earlier this month to attorneys in the Peterson case as "media whores," playing a video of the exchange in court. Grant also questioned Brian Wice, a member of Peterson's legal team, about appearing on a television show with Case during which the second-year judge explained his decision to jail a teacher for not showing up for jury duty.

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Wice denied representing the judge on TV.

Grant said ultimately that the public perception of bias was what mattered.

"Unfortunately this case is incredibly public," Grant said.

In seeking Case's recusal, prosecutors asserted that the judge and Peterson's defense team have a "close relationship."

The ruling clears the way for the rest of Peterson's case, including a motion to re-arrest Peterson because of an alleged admission by the Minnesota Vikings running back that he smoked marijuana while out on bail, to go forward.

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District Attorney Brett Ligon sough Case's recusal after the judge was said to have referred to attorneys in the case as "media whores," the latest in several high-profile clashes between Case and prosecutors. An appeals court has reversed several of Case's decisions.

Hardin filed a motion last week refuting the prosecution's effort to remove Case, arguing that bias can't be based "solely on judicial rulings or remarks."

"The State's motion to recuse is a tale of sound and fury, one that is, by turns, long on vitriol and ad hominem attacks, but tellingly short on legal analysis, and utterly silent on legal authority," Hardin wrote in a response to the prosecution's motion this month.

Peterson did not attend Wednesday's hearing in Conroe.

Peterson is charged with negligent injury to a child stemming from an incident in May in which he used a "switch," or thin tree branch, to discipline his 4-year-old son at his home in The Woodlands. Peterson said in a written statement last month that he did not intend to injure his son and was only disciplining him as he had been punished growing up.

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A spokeswoman for Hardin said the attorney has told Case and prosecutors that Peterson has pleaded not guilty, though he has not entered a formal plea.

If convicted, Peterson faces up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The case has spawned a national debate about corporal punishment and sidelined the NFL's 2012 most valuable player.

|Updated

Mihir Zaveri was a reporter for the Houston Chronicle covering Harris County. He previously covered Brazoria and Montgomery counties.