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The embattled district attorney of Waller County, who was criticized last year for questioning whether Prairie View A&M students can vote in local elections, confirmed Saturday he plans to step down next month.Oliver Kitzman told The Associated Press he sent Gov. Rick Perry a letter Friday indicating he will resign effective Sept. 16.Kitzman said his decision was not related to the voting controversy.Kitzman sent a letter to the Waller County election administrator last November saying students at Prairie View, a historically black university, were not automatically eligible to vote locally.The district attorney, who is white, was accused of having racial and political motives in challenging the large voting bloc that the mostly black 5,000-student Prairie View campus represents.His comments led to protest marches, complaints to state and federal officials and a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. The college's chapter of the NAACP filed a federal lawsuit against Kitzman in February.To settle the lawsuit, Kitzman apologized for his "threatening" behavior toward Prairie View students. Earlier this month, six black Waller County leaders filed a federal lawsuit against Kitzman, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and other white county leaders alleging "an extensive illegal reign of terror against African-American" officials.The lawsuit accuses Kitzman of a campaign of "repression and intimidation" toward blacks with a goal "to intimidate, harass, oppress, malign, beleaguer and torment plaintiffs in order that they might become discouraged from participating in any aspect of the political process in Waller County." [more

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Prairie View Students to March for Voting Rights [more ]