Tribune-Herald
Lawyer lied in deposition, Feazell attorney says
By Tommy Witherspoon
Tribune-Herald staff writer
An attorney for former McLennan County District Attorney Vic Feazell on Tuesday accused Waco lawyer Russ Hunt of lying in a deposition taken in Feazell’s libel suit against a Dallas television station and asked a judge to consider disciplinary action.
In a 30-minute hearing outside the presence of a jury hearing Feazell’s $52 million libel suit, Feazell’s attorney, Gary Richardson, told visiting Judge James Meyers that Hunt’s reported lies are “appalling” and a “disgrace” to their profession.
Richardson and Feazell were seeking permission from the judge to delve more into a rough draft of a script prepared by former WFAA-TV reporter Charles Duncan that suggested that Feazell prosecuted innocent men in the Lake Waco triple-murder case.
The proposed segment on the Lake Waco case never aired, but Duncan gathered information for it while researching material for his 10-part series on Feazell. The series, which Feazell claims was libelous and filled with malicious disinformations, was broadcast from June to August 1985.
In a deposition that Hunt gave last year, he said he did not remember meeting Duncan in person and can’t recall the specifics of their telephone conversations.
However, Richardson said that Duncan shot about two hours of videotaped interviews on the Lake Waco cases, with Hunt appearing on camera in his office for about 45 minutes with Duncan.
Richardson also showed notes written by Duncan that the former reporter surrendered during trial preparation, or the “discovery” process. The note was marked “File: Lake murders, From: Russ Hunt, lunch, 7-26-85, Waco.”
“I’m fairly disturbed about this lawyer’s testimony under oath,” Richardson told the judge. “In my 20 years as an attorney, I don’t think I have ever seen a lawyer so blatantly lie under oath, and I think this is a disgrace to our profession.”
Hunt and Feazell first locked horns when Hunt was appointed to represent David Wayne Spence, who is on death row for his role in the July 1982 murders of Jill Montgomery, Raylene Rice, and Kenneth Franks. Feazell prosecuted the case, and there has been bad blood between the two men ever since.
Hunt steadfastly maintains Spence’s innocence to this day.
When told Tuesday of Richardson’s comments, Hunt said, “I apologize to Mr. Richardson, but I can only remember what I can remember.”
“I still cannot tell you if I met with Charles Duncan. If he says I had a 45-minute, on-camera interview with him, maybe I did. I have had a number of people with cameras interview me, but I can’t remember all of them.”
When asked about Duncan’s notes that indicate he had lunch with Duncan, Hunt said, “I kind of doubt that, but I don’t really remember. Who paid for it?”
Hunt said he is not worried about Richardson’s informal motion for contempt or his promise to pursue it further after the trial, which is in its fifth week.
“I am sorry Mr. Richardson feels like that, but I am not real worried about it. I think Gary Richardson is a effective lawyer,” Hunt said.
Richardson and Feazell claim that Duncan’s apparent attempt to discredit Feazell by trying to prove that Feazell framed Spence is more evidence of his mind-set and proof that Duncan was on a “mission” to destroy Feazell’s reputation with a one-sided, preconceived story line.
A Duncan memo to his supervisors in October 1985 about his “Waco Lake Murders Close-Up” said that the script was “not for air until mid-November, pending indictments.”
Feazell was indicted in September 1986 on federal racketeering and bribery charges. A federal jury in Austin acquitted him after a six-week trial in 1987.
Duncan, who was on the witness stand for 10 days, and Belo executives have said that Duncan’s series was objective, balanced and accurate.
In other action, Feazell began his testimony late Tuesday afternoon and represents the last witness in the plaintiff’s main case.
He told the jury about his background growing up in Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas as the son of a Baptist preacher, how he worked his way through college and law school at a variety of jobs and about his divorce from his first wife. He also testified about the first few months of his administration after his election as district attorney in 1982.
He will continue his testimony this morning.
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