AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Saturday, April 20, 1991
Ex-Waco official wins libel suit
Dallas station ordered to pay $58 million
Associated Press
WACO – In the largest liable judgment in U.S. history, a jury Friday awarded $58 million to former McLennan County District Attorney Vic Feazell, saying WFAA-TV defamed him in a 1985 series that accused him of taking payoffs in exchange for the dismissal of drunken driving cases.
“I want to thank God. God led us, God preserved us, God gave us the victory,” Feazell, 39, said at a victory party shortly after the verdict.
Feazell said the 11-part series in 1985 by the Dallas television station and reporter Charles Duncan ruined his reputation and led to an FBI investigation.
He was indicted in 1986 on federal racketeering charges, but was acquitted in June 1987. He resigned in September 1988 to go into private law practice in Waco.
“This whole thing was an orchestrated retaliation against me for exposing the Henry Lee Lucas confession hoax,” Feazell said Friday.
He has contended for years that state and federal officials harassed him after he launched a grand jury investigation into Lucas’ confessions – later recanted – to hundreds of murders.
Mike McCarthy, senior vice president and general counsel of A.H. Belo Corp., which owns WFAA (Channel 8), said the verdict will be challenged.
“The company believes there is absolutely no factual basis to support this jury verdict, which involves a public official. We will obviously pursue all available post-trial motions and, if necessary appeal,” McCarthy said,
Neither Duncan, who has since……………
Back
