Tribune-Herald
Tuesday, March 12,191
Feazell’s libel case draws near a call for 1st witnesses
Former DA seeking $52 million
By Tommy Witherspoon
Testimony could begin today in the multimillion dollar libel suit filed by former McLennan county District Attorney Vic Feazell against a Dallas television station and a former reporter.
Jury selection began Monday in Waco’s 19th State District Court and is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. today. Attorneys will give opening statements after jury selection, and testimony could begin this afternoon.
Feazell, who is seeking $52 million in the suit, alleges that former Channel 8 television reporter Charles Duncan libeled him in a 10-part series aired on WFAA-TV from June to August 1985. Feazell filed the suit in 1986 against Duncan, Belo Broadcasting Corp., and its parent company, the A.H. Belo Corp.
The parent company, however, was dismissed from the suit Monday morning in an agreement between sides after attorneys for Channel 8 proved tat Duncan never actually worked for the parent company.
Feazell, who resigned as district attorney in September 1988, also claims that an editorial commentary by Channel 8 anchorman Tracey Rowlett libeled him. Rowlett is not a defendant but is scheduled to testify in the trial, which could last three to five weeks.
Belo attorneys Tom Leatherbury and John McElhaney were unsuccessful in two attempts to get visiting Judge James Meyers of Austin to dismiss the suit. They contend that Duncan’s series was not malicious, filled with inaccuracies or defamatory, as Feazell claims, but fair comment on the performance of a public official.
Feazell and his attorney, Gary Richardson, contend that Duncan’s series paved the way for a state and federal investigation into allegations that Feazell accepted bribes to dismiss cases.
Belo attorneys have said Duncan started his series after the inception of the federal investigation, which led to a bribery, racketeering and mail fraud indictment for Feazell.
A federal jury cleared Feazell of all charges in June 1987, and at least two of the jurors said after the trial that they thought Feazell was “framed”.
As he during jury selection in Feazell’s criminal trial in Austin, James W. Burgund, a jury-selection consultant from East Sandwich, Mass., is assisting Richardson and Feazell.
The 80 prospective jurors who reported Monday morning filled out a questionnaire about themselves that Burgund and attorneys use to learn more about potential jurors.
Louis S. Muldrow, a professor at the Baylor University School of Law and a former trial attorney with Naman, Howell, Smith, and Lee. Waco’s largest law firm, is helping Leatherbury and McElhaney select a jury.
Of those 80 potential jurors, about 16 were dismissed Monday afternoon because they expressed bias about the controversial Feazell – about half were anti-Feazell and half were pro-Feazell.
Panel members also were asked if they know potential witnesses, including former Attorney General Jim Mattox, County Court-at-Law judges Mike Gassaway and David Hodges, former Waco Police Chief Larry Scott and former Feazell employees John Ben Sutter, Ned Butler, Sandy Gately, Pat Murphy, Dennis Garvey, Scott Peterson, David Scott and Darla Sadler.
Visiting Judge James Meyers of Austin is presiding over the trial because 19th State District Judge Bill Logue recused himself after Feazell filed the suit in 1986.
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