A visiting judge, who is also a Democrat, will preside over the first in-person hearing on Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against the city of Killeen over Proposition A, the marijuana decriminalization ordinance which voters had approved in 2022.
Judge F.B. “Bob” McGregor J.R. will hear the case at Bell County’s 169th Judicial District Court in Belton on Friday.
McGregor is a senior district judge in the 66th Judicial District Court in Hillsboro, a town of about 8,500 people 90 miles northeast of Killeen.
McGregor was assigned after Judge Cari L. Starritt-Burnett — who normally presides over the 169th Judicial District Court — voluntarily recused herself on Feb. 16, according to Bell County court records.
McGregor gave an interview with the Baylor University Institute for an oral history presentation in 2010 for the Texas Courthouse Preservation Program. He said he started in law in private practice with his father.
He was appointed to the 66th District Court on March 2, 1992, according to the interview.
McGregor has an undergraduate degree from Baylor University and received his Juris Doctor from South Texas College of Law.
According to the Texas Department of Insurance, McGregor worked as a rancher from 1980-1995 and is listed as being a rancher from 2000 to present day.
He previously worked in West and Columbus as a teacher in the 1970s and was an attorney from 1980 to 1993.
He graduated from Waco High School in 1971.
The city of Killeen currently is defending itself against two separate marijuana-related lawsuits, one filed by the Bell County District and County Attorney’s Offices on April 11, 2023, and the second filed earlier this year by the State of Texas, which is represented by the Attorney General’s Office.
The county’s lawsuit is pending in a Texas appellate court. After a five-hour hearing in May of 2023, a visiting judge ruled that Bell County has the jurisdiction to file suit against the City of Killeen. The same day, the city and Ground Game filed an appeal with the Third Court of Appeals in Austin.
The AG’s Office on Jan. 31, filed suit against the City of Killeen and the four other Texas cities — Austin, Denton, San Marcos and Elgin — that adopted voter-approved marijuana decriminalization ordinances in 2022.
In Austin, the suit from the AG’s office was thrown out with prejudice by the judge assigned to the case earlier this month.
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