Democrat
June 16, 1987
Attorney: Feazell tried to influence testimony
AUSTIN, Texas (UPI) – A Waco attorney testified that during a 1986 federal investigation of McLennan County District Attorney Vic Feazell, he taped a conversation in which Feazell “was telling me what to tell the grand jury,”
Attorney Don Hall secretly taped the conversation at the government’s request. I was played Monday before a federal court jury. In the tape, Feazell warned Hall about the ongoing grand jury probe.
“They don’t have anything unless they can get us to start turning on each other,” Feazell told Hall.
Feazell is on trial from federal bribery, racketeering and mail fraud charges. Hall is testifying as a government witness with immunity from prosecution.
“My interpretation was he was telling me what to tell the grand jury,” Hall said of the conversation, which was taped in September. 1986.
Hall testified that he and his law partner, Dick Kettler, agreed to share one-third of their fees with Feazell in return for his dismissal of criminal charges against their clients.
In a 1984 meeting, Hall said Feazell “made a statement that he wanted to participate in our fees. He said that he had done us a lot of favors and he wanted to participate in those favors… he meant a mathematical percentage of our fees.”
Hall, a former Waco district attorney, said he was “astounded at Feazell’s request, for bribes since “I’ve never taken a fee from anyone.”
Hall said he told Feazell that he would have to discuss the proposal with Kettler, who “was astonished too…you could have knocked him over with a feather” after being informed of Feazell’s plan.
When he and Kettler decided to pay the bribes, Hall said, “We never said let’s do it or don’t do it … we just cut him out a third and gave it to him. It was plain and simple greed on our part.”
They were also afraid because Feazell “had a hit list or black list of attorneys. We were afraid of getting on his black list if we refused (to pay),” Hall said.
Hall said he personally delivered the payments in cash to Feazell because “he didn’t feel comfortable with Mr. Kettler. He said he felt like (Kettler) was a weak person.”
In earlier testimony, Kettler said the district attorney ousted him after he successfully represented a defendant in a murder case which Feazell was prosecuting.
Hall said he and Kettler shared fees with Feazell until 1985, when they learned that federal government was investigating Feazell.
“We got feedback from our clients that they were being interviewed by the FBI,” Hall said. “We realized that the jug was up and I was scared.”
Hall said he told Feazell he had to halt the payments because “things were getting too hot…I welcomed the opportunity to stop it. My conscience had bothered me since this thing had started.”
When he failed to comply with document requests by a federal grand jury and spent several days in jail, Hall said he and Kettler decided to cooperate with the government.
Hall said Feazell expressed his concern last September that Kettler might be cooperating with the government.
“(Feazell) said if Kettler turned government witness, he could be prosecuted by the state and he would see to it that his good friend (Attorney General) Jim Mattox did that,” Hall said. “I took that as a threat to both of us.”
Back
