Texas' Perry in court for heated pretrial hearing

AUSTIN, Texas - Indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry is making his first court appearance on felony abuse of power charges, sitting largely stoically through heated arguments from lawyers.

Perry's attorneys cited the Constitution repeatedly Thursday in arguing that the case should be quashed on technicalities. Those include whether its special prosecutor was properly sworn in.

The Republican governor's attorney, Tony Buzbee, sometimes glared at Michael McCrum, the special prosecutor. Perry watched with little emotion, occasionally looking down at the table in front of him.

Buzbee argued McCrum should be disqualified: "Game over."

McCrum countered, "Mr. Perry, through his attorneys, can't create or invent Texas law that's not there."

An Austin grand jury indicted Perry in August. The charges stem from his carrying out a threat to veto state funding for public corruption prosecutors.