Tribune-Herald
June 11,1987
Tax problems discussed on Feazell tape
By Tommy Witherspoon
Tribune-Herald staff writer
AUSTIN – A controversial and long-awaited tape recording of a conversation between McLennan County District Attorney Vic Feazell and Waco attorney Dick Kettler dominated the 12th day of Feazell’s trial.
Kettler, who said Tuesday that he and his partner, Don Hall, split legal fees with Feazell for favorable handling of clients’ cases, spent Wednesday on the witness stand.
Feazell, 35, faces a 10-count indictment on racketeering and mail fraud charges. Feazell contends the Department of Public Safety brought the charges against him because of his investigation of convicted murderer Henry Lee Lucas, who confessed to several murders and then recanted.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Frels had planned to open Wednesday’s proceedings by playing the tape, secretly recorded Sept 12, 1986, by Kettler at his office. But, as it did Tuesday, the audio equipment failed, forcing Frels temporarily to abandon the presentation.
When the problem was corrected and Frels was again ready to play the tape, U.S. District Judge James Nowlin jokingly said, “This is the last chance you are going to get, Mr. Frels.”
Feazell’s attorney, Gary Richardson of Tulsa, Okla., objected to the government’s accompanying transcript that was passed among jurors, because much of the tape was unintelligible. Nowlin allowed jurors to read the government’s transcript as the 40-minute tape played, but did not allow the transcript into evidence.
Nowlin warned jurors that the tape, and their interpretations of what they heard on it, is the evidence in the case, not the government’s transcript.
Courtroom spectators could understand very little on the tape. But most of the conversation between Feazell and Kettler centered on the federal grand jury investigation of Feazell, courthouse rumors, and possible tax problems of several Waco attorneys that stemmed from the investigation.
During a portion of the tape that was easily discernible, Kettler told Feazell, “If I get indicted for taxes or something, I don’t know how I am going to pay for it,” Feazell said, “I am here, and I’ll do everything I can for you.”
Richardson argued that much of the tape was subject to interpretation and offered no proof of wrongdoing on Feazell’s part.
But Kettler told Frels he was sure of what Feazell was talking about, and said Feazell came to his office that day to “keep me on his side – to give me a pep talk.”
The recorded conversation between the two occurred five days before Feazell was arrested and tow months after Kettler had agreed to cooperate with the FBI.
Kettler told Frels that his attorney is negotiating a formal agreement with the government for his testimony. He tentatively has agreed to plead guilty to felony tax evasion, but added the agreement is “open-ended” and subject to revision.
“I don’t know what is going to happen to me,” Kettler told Richardson during cross-examination.
Waco attorneys Ken Crow and Ron Moody have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor tax evasion charges. Attorney Dick Clark was granted total immunity from prosecution on tax violations in deals with the government. Moody and Clark have testified they gave thousands of dollars in cash campaign contributions to Feazell that went unreported.
Crow was not called as a witness. Hall will be the government’s last witness, Frels said Wednesday.
Richardson has said the Waco attorneys had tax problems before the government began investigating Feazell, and “cut deals” to testify against Feazell to bail themselves out of trouble.
In testimony Wednesday, Frels reviewed how 11 of Kettler & Hall clients were handled by the district attorney’s office. Kettler said he and Hall increased their legal fees and split them with Feazell from May 1984 to April 1985 after Feazell told Hall he wanted “ apiece of the action.”
Legal fees for standard driving while intoxicated cases that they tried to get dismissed increased to $3,000-$3,500, up from $1,500-$2,000, Kettler said.
Hall handled payments to Feazell under the terms of their arrangement, Kettler said. Kettler never saw Hall give Feazell any money, but he and Hall always discussed how much they were going to give him, Kettler said. In most cases, he said, Feazell would get a third, but sometimes less.
Kettler testified that a DWI case involving Larry Goins was dismissed, and Goins paid Kettler the remaining $500 of a $2,500 legal fee by check. Kettler and Hall had already split the fee with Feazell for dismissing the case when Goins’ check was returned for insufficient funds.
Kettler collected on the check by filling on Goins with the district attorney’s office hot check department, he said.
On a DWI case involving Jesse Moon, Kettler said Hall told him that he was glad he paid Feazell the full one-third as arranged, because Feazell had somehow found out how much the attorneys had charged Moon.
Kettler testified he and Hall stopped illicit payments to Feazell in April 1985 after news of the federal investigation broke.
Feazell visited Kettler’s office in May 1986, shortly before an Austin grand jury investigating Feazell. “I wouldn’t give them any straight answers,” Kettler said Feazell told him.
“He asked me if I was going to ride this out with him,” Kettler said. “He said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Under cross-examination from Richardson, Kettler acknowledged that others could interpret parts of their conversation differently, but said he knew Feazell was referring to the illegal payments he had been receiving from Waco attorneys.
“Wouldn’t you have to understand the state of mind of the Waco legal community and the stress that you two were under while all the rumors were flying around about this investigation to accurately interpret what the tape means?” Richardson asked.
Richardson noted Feazell could be taking the blame for causing the attorney’s tax problems because he embarrassed law enforcement agencies through his investigation of Lucas.
“Didn’t people tell him that if he had kept his nose out of the Lucas affair, the feds wouldn’t have come to town and started looking into everybody’s taxes?” Richardson asked.
Kettler told Richardson he and Hall had taken cash payments from clients for at least 10 years and were forced to file amended tax returns for 1983, 1984 and 1985.
“All you know about any alleged bribe is what Don Hall told you, isn’t that right?’ Richardson asked.
“And what’s on this tape,” Kettler said.
Richardson will continue cross-examining Kettler today.
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