Miami News-Record
Sunday, October 27, 1996
Witness motives questioned in Walker trial
By Ron Holmes
Miami News- Record
TULSA – As prospective jurors streamed upstairs on the first day of the Walker trial last week, two U.S. marshals were getting on an elevator in a federal building in downtown Tulsa. One of them turned to the other and asked, “Did you see that guy just walk in?”
He was referring to a person who had apparently walked between the metal detectors through which those entering the building must pass. No weapons, recording devices or cameras are allowed, and neither, incidentally, are laptop computers or cellular telephones. Pockets are emptied, brief cases scanned, security personnel stand by with metal-detection wands. The security seems impressive, almost intimidating, but it is what one would expect.
“What did he look like?” the second marshal asked.
“An old guy with glasses,” the first replied.
The second shrugged as they rode up the elevator.
It was a small lapse in the formidable security which reflects the power and grandeur of our federal government – a tiny chink in the nation’s armor.
But it was not the only governmental lapse exposed this week.
As the trial of Ottawa County Sheriff Ed Walker on charges of illegal gambling, obstruction of justice and extortion entered its fifth day Friday, federal prosecutors presented more witnesses to buttress their allegations, and the defense continued to call into question both the motives and veracity of the witnesses and the methods of the feds.
The charges against Walker stem from the raid last fall of area businesses by federal agents. In the raid, 78 video gambling machines were seized and there have been numerous indictments.
Before the jury was brought in the court dealt with a matter involving the mislabeling or misidentification of an investigative tape recording. One voice on the tape had been identified as that of Hubert East, a Commerce vending machine operator, when in fact it was that of Donald Hogan, the owner of Hattie’s Bar who had testified earlier in the trial.
“If I had known this I would have dealt with it on the stand,” Walker attorney Gary Richardson told the court, and he asked that Hogan be returned as a witness.”
As U.S. Attorney Steve Lewis began to respond Federal Judge H. Dale Cook said to him, “The only question is, “Will he come in voluntarily or do I need to subpoena him?”
Richardson said there may be proof that Hogan, who testified as part of a plea agreement, has perjured himself.
As their first witness of the day, the prosecution called Chester Brewington, owner of the Thunderbird Motel and Bar in Miami.
“We’re kind of the hot spot in town for the pickup type…the dating singles kind of crowd,” he said, describing his bare.
He told the court that when video machine vendor Gary Roberts initially proposed putting gambling machines in his establishment, Roberts told him, “There’s no problem; we have protection.”
But Brewington, who has not been charged in the matter, admitted he never saw any payoffs to Walker and never discussed payoffs with the sheriff.
Brewington also told of his interview with the FBI. “The first thing out of their moths was, “We’re not looking at you, we’re looking at the sheriff and higher-up officials,” he said. Brewington said that he placed a tape recorder on the table to tape the interview and the federal agents refused to continue. He also told the court that he agreed to secretly record a conversation with Walker, but that it was never done.
By far the most damaging evidence presented by the prosecution Friday was that of Brewington’s wife Susan. She told of receiving a warning phone call the day of the raid from Miami bar owner Myrna DuBois, and of moving the gambling machines into the motel’s laundry. “I just didn’t want any trouble,” she explained to the jury.
She also told of a conversation with Walker later that night when he and his wife came to the motel restaurant for dinner. She said that Walker had seen a story about the raid on television and told her, “I swear I didn’t know this was coming down; I didn’t know this was happening.” She told the court that Walker was concerned that federal investigators were looking into his involvement in the matter.
But under cross-examination, Susan Brewington admitted she had made corrections to her original statement with Miami FBI agent Les Farris in a witness room Thursday, and that some of her testimony was not in that statement.
Finally, the prosecution, tracking a money-order trail, called a representative of Traveler’s Express, a money order company. He told the court that in March of 1994 two sequential money orders, one for $300 and another for $110 were purchased at a Dillon’s Store in Pittsburg, Kan. A vice-president from Security Bank and Trust testified that one money order was cashed by Walker and another deposited into his account. But by the end of court Friday, no testimony had been given which linked the money orders to a machine vendor or bar owner.
The trial continues Monday and participants are now projecting two more weeks. One source said the prosecution expects to call about 25 witnesses. In addition to several county deputies, the defense has also subpoenaed City Attorney Jim Thompson, Mayor Louis “Red” Mathia, District Attorney Ben Loring and Judge Robert Reavis.
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