Tribune-Herald
Monday, March 18, 1991
Libel case testimony to resume
Feazell suit scheduled to continue Tuesday
By Tommy Witherspoon
Tribune Herald staff writer
The trial of a $52 million libel suit filed by former McLennan County District Attorney Vic Feazell against former Dallas television reporter Charles Duncan and Belo Broadcasting Co. will resume Tuesday.
Visiting Judge James Meyers of Austin recessed the trial about 1:30 p.m. Friday after Feazell’s attorney, Gary Richardson, learned that his father died earlier that day in San Antonio. The funeral is today.
When the trial resumes, Duncan, who is now a private investigator in Dallas, will begin his fourth day on the witness stand. Richardson has put Duncan on the defensive about his research and presentation of a 10-part series about Feazell’s office that aired on Channel 8 beginning in June 1985.
Richardson has called Duncan “a master craftsman in the art of distortion” and told the 19th State District Court jury that Duncan’s slanted investigative techniques, omissions and inaccuracies left viewers with the distinct impression that Feazell accepted bribes from attorneys to dismiss criminal cases.
Richardson and Feazell also have charged that Duncan worked closely with vengeful law enforcement officers who were bent on destroying Feazell’s career after he led an April 1985 grand jury session that began to unravel the hundreds of bogus murder confessions made by Henry Lee Lucas.
Duncan and his attorneys, Tom Leatherbury and James McElhaney, repeatedly have denied that Duncan’s reports about Feazell were linked to the Lucas story. They have denied that the series was libelous and described it as fair reporting on a public official in performance of governmental duties.
Duncan, however, has acknowledged twice during the five-day trial that viewers of his series could have gotten the impression that Feazell dismissed cases after a small circle of attorneys shared their inflated legal fees with him.
Richardson has alleged that local, state, and federal investigators fed off Duncan’s series about Feazell in their bribery probe. Duncan has said he was basing his reports on the federal investigation, which he claims started months before he came to Waco to research his stories.
Richardson has said he will prove that Duncan met Department of Public Safety officer Ron Boyter and former Waco police legal adviser Bill Johnston in a Waco motel room, where they gave the reporter news leads in April 1985. FBI files revealed that their investigation didn’t begin until May 31,1985, Richardson said.
Only two segments of Duncan’s series have been played for the jury thus far. Richardson also has played tape recordings of Duncan’s interviews for the series and video “out-takes,” portions of taped interviews that fit into his “preconceived story line” and place Feazell in the worst light possible shows malice and proves he libeled the former district attorney, Richardson has charged.
A federal jury in Austin cleared Feazell of bribery and racketeering charges after a six-week trial in 1987.
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