Judge give's DA's office deadline in State Rep. Dawnna Dukes case

AUSTIN,Texas - State Rep. Dawnna Dukes arrived early for her 1:30 hearing in Judge Brad Urrutia's courtroom on Tuesday.
               
A far cry from arriving several hours late earlier this summer and getting reprimanded by the judge.
               
Dukes was indicted in January.  13 felonies for tampering with public records.
               
There's also 2 misdemeanors for abuse of official capacity.
               
Recently prosecutors filed paperwork accusing Dukes of hiding a cell phone from investigators, being impaired on the job and spending more than $50,000 on an online psychic.
               
During Tuesday's hearing the DA's office asked for more time to investigate the felony charges.  They say the investigation is active and ongoing.
               
Judge Urruitia gave them a deadline.

"The judge ordered them to either dismiss the felony counts on October 30th or by October 30th or we're going to trial on the felonies in December," said Matthew Shrum, one of Dukes' attorneys.

The judge set the trial for December 11th.

So if the DA's office moves forward with the felonies, the December 11th trial date could focus on those and then Dukes' attorneys are thinking the misdemeanors would be tried separately.
               
Hypothetically, if convicted of all of it she could face up to 28 years in jail.