A simple DUI conviction has sparked one of the biggest political scandals of a year, according to the Washington Post. It all began when Travis County, Texas District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg was caught driving drunk in April 2013 with an open container of vodka. She had three times the legal limit of alcohol in her bloodstream. She was eventually convicted on the DUI charge and was sentenced to 45 days in jail. The facts of that case are not in dispute, especially since a video of Lehmberg's abusive behavior during her booking has gone viral.
The twist in the story happened when Lehmberg refused to resign her office, something that most public officials would likely do when they become convicted criminals. Texas Gov. Rick Perry threatened to veto funding for her office if she did not resign. She still refused and so Perry has carried out his veto threat.
The result of that move is that a Travis County grand jury has indicted Perry on abuse of office and coercion, both of them felonies which could put the governor in jail for over a century were he to be convicted. Thus a simple drunk driving case, which ordinarily would go unnoticed outside of Austin, Texas, which is located in Travis County, has become national news. It may be the breaking – or making – of Perry, a presumed presidential candidate for the 2016 campaign cycle. All of that depends on how the politics of the case, which many legal analysts consider sketchy at best, shake out.