The Denton County district attorney’s office has reached a plea agreement with a Bartonville couple, dropping a felony indictment on a charge of illegal voting in exchange for a misdemeanor charge of failing to update their driver’s licenses.

Ralph and Teresa Rather each agreed to plead no contest to the Class C offense, according to court documents. The penalty for each, under the agreement, is 30 days deferred probation and a $250 fine.

According to First Assistant District Attorney Jamie Beck, the new charge was sent to Judge Joe Holland, justice of the peace for Precinct 1, on Monday, after the prosecution advised 16th District Court Judge Carmen Rivera-Worley of the plea deal.

The couple’s defense attorney, Rick Hagen, said that the 16th District Court did not have jurisdiction over that level of misdemeanor, which created the need to move the matter to the lower court.

According to court records, Holland accepted the no contest plea Monday and Rivera-Worley formally dismissed the felony charges on Tuesday.

Ralph and Teresa Rather were indicted on Aug. 21, 2008, about a month after Denton County election administration officials turned over photographs, voting records and other documents substantiating a complaint that the couple voted in Argyle’s May 2008 election using a commercial address, 409 U.S. Highway 377 South, as their residence.

The arrest warrants at that time showed that the couple resided in a home in the 700 block of Dove Creek Road in Bartonville.

Hagen filed a motion to dismiss the case in February, accompanied by a brief on residency. He argued that the couple, who are real estate professionals with multiple properties, had a constitutional right to vote in the place they called home. He cited provisions that allow many people, such as college students, military personnel and retirees, to return home after a temporary absence and vote. 

“There never was a hearing on that. The case was dismissed before it got heard,” Hagen said.

A Denton Record-Chronicle story on other voting irregularities in Argyle’s May 2008 election became a key part of the couple’s defense, Hagen said.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com.