Muskogee Daily Phoenix
Friday, August 12, 1983
Defense attorneys counter
Assistant prosecutor comes under fire in Draper trial
By Jim East
Phoenix Staff Writer
The attorneys for two state lawmakers tried Thursday to link an assistant federal prosecutor to fraudulently notarized absentee ballots.
The accused him of coaching a grand jury witness that implicated House Majority Floor Leader Joe Fitzgibbon.
Although he was in another courtroom, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rex Earl Starr’s name was bantered about in the courtroom where Fitzgibbon and House Speaker Dan Draper are standing trial for vote fraud.
There was no evidence presented of any illegal acts by Starr, who had a private law practice in Stilwell and was an assistant state prosecutor in Adair County before joining U.S. Attorney Gary Richardson’s staff earlier this year.
He became a legal issue when defense attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Frank Seay to allow into evidence voting irregularities involving a 1982 general election in Adair County. There has been previous testimony about the primary and runoff elections.
State Sen. Gene Stipe, counsel for Fitzgibbon, said Starr “pops up in this pretty prominently.”
He said two of Starr’s former secretaries fraudulently notarized absentee ballots, and Starr helped Cave Springs Superintendent Don Patrick identify Fitzgibbon before Patrick appeared before the grand jury that indicted the lawmakers.
One of the secretaries-Kay Hendren of Sallisaw-has been placed on pre-trial diversion by Richardson’s office, Richardson confirmed. Pre-trial diversion is similar to probation. Hendren was Starr’s secretary when Starr worked for former District Attorney John Russell.
The other secretary was identified as Ginger Brown, who worked in Starr’s private law office.
At one point Stipe said the absentee ballot operation was “sponsored out of the courthouse.”
Stipe made the comments while the jury was out of the courtroom….
Back
