Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is facing intense backlash after a plea deal his office offered allowed a Waco man to serve just 60 days in jail for sexually abusing a young boy over three years.
Per KWTX, Adam Dean Hoffman, a former attorney, was released early from his sentence on June 10 for good behavior, despite originally facing first-degree felony charges that could have landed him in prison for life.
The Texas Tribune reported that after a hung jury in the first trial, per the plea bargain, Hoffman pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors, indecent assault and displaying harmful materials to a minor. The agreement initially proposed just one day in jail. Additionally, Hoffman was able to avoid registering as a sex offender.
Paxton had already come under fire about this horrendous deal. Now, after he received Donald Trump‘s endorsement for the Republican Primaries against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, this case has come crashing back into the mix. To them, this case and the pattern it highlights are a telling sign of who Ken Paxton is.
“Incomprehensible”
Cornyn posted on X that predators “tend to repeat them over and over again, until stopped. Paxton could have stopped this one, but instead cut him loose to reoffend over and over again, putting more children at risk.”
State Rep. Jeff Leach called the deal “incomprehensible” in a letter demanding answers from Paxton’s office. The only response came as a letter from prosecutors Brenda Cantu and Dorian Cotlar, who argued the victim’s reluctance to testify again and his desire to “move on with his life” justified the plea.
The victim’s mother had initially agreed to the deal but later reversed her stance in court, telling the judge, “It’s just not enough. He’s dangerous. This isn’t justice, and I can’t do it.” Per KWTX, her son testified that Hoffman sexually abused him repeatedly between the ages of 7 and 10, during sleepovers with Hoffman’s son.
The boy said he never reported the sexual abuse because Hoffman told him he would “shoot him” if he told anyone. Hoffman became involved in his life when his son and the victim became best friends at Taekwondo class.
His mother testified that he had “lost everything” when they moved after her divorce. His mental health suffered so much that he was even hospitalized for depression and suicidal ideation. So the Hoffmans were a welcome addition to their life.
That is, until she caught her son mimicking the abuse with his younger cousin at a family gathering. It took a lot of questioning, but he eventually told her he learned the behavior from Hoffman.
Prosecutors from Paxton’s office initially painted a damning picture of Hoffman during the trial. KWTX reported that Cotlar told jurors Hoffman exploited the boy’s vulnerability. He highlighted the “sheer volume” of inappropriate text messages Hoffman sent to the boy, which included 13 explicit images.
Hoffman’s defense attorney, Gerry Morris, argued the boy’s accusations were a deflection after he was caught acting inappropriately with his cousin. Morris suggested the boy’s troubled home life and history of lying undermined his credibility. He also pointed to the boy’s inconsistent testimony, including his admission that he fabricated the number of abuse incidents.
The plea deal drew sharp criticism from legal experts and local officials. Judge Roy Sparkman, who presided over the case, initially rejected the one-day jail sentence proposed by Paxton’s office, calling it absurd. “One day. Seriously? Somebody has to sell me on the wisdom of it,” he said during an April hearing.
Sparkman later increased the sentence to 60 days, though he expressed frustration with what he called a “pattern” in Paxton’s office of reducing serious felony charges to misdemeanors after mistrials. “If they get a mistrial, all of a sudden it’s just a little misdemeanor with a slap on the hand,” Sparkman said in court.
The controversy extends beyond the Hoffman case. Paxton’s office has faced scrutiny for similar plea deals in two other high-profile cases. In one, a man charged with murder-for-hire received a four-day jail sentence after a mistrial. In another, a defendant accused of human trafficking was placed on probation despite facing life in prison. In fact, Paxton’s actions in office have even led to calls for impeachment.
Meanwhile, Paxton’s critics see the plea deals as evidence of a disconnect between his tough-on-crime rhetoric and his actions. Williamson County District Attorney Shawn Dick, a Republican, noted, “It is ironic that Paxton is now facing criticism for this outcome when he frequently criticizes the work of local prosecutors who are faced with these difficult decisions daily.”
Published: May 26, 2026 05:48 am