Daily News
June 9, 1987
Attorney testifies he gave Feazell $9,000
AUSTIN (AP) – A Waco lawyer has testified that McLennan County District Attorney Vic Feazell failed to report $9,000 in campaign contributions as required by state law.
Attorney Ron Moody testified Monday he and partner Ken Crow gave Feazell a check for $500 and $4,500 cash after a 1983 meeting in which Feazell mentioned he had a “substantial” campaign debt and asked if they could help.
The lawyer said he and Crow also gave Feazell a $400 check and $4,600 in cash when Feazell was having a fund-raiser in September 1984.
A replica of Feazell’s campaign contribution report displayed by a prosecutor indicated he listed the $400 and $500 checks from Moody and Crow but not the alleged cash donations.
The Central Texas prosecutor has been accused of taking $19,000 in bribes from a circle of Waco attorneys in exchange for dismissing charges against their clients or reducing their punishments. A 10-count federal racketeering indictment also charges him with mail fraud.
Moody and Crow pleaded guilty two weeks ago to misdemeanor tax evasion in exchange for testimony against Feazell.
Moody said he gave the money to Feazell to “be on the right side of the fence.”
The testimony from Moody sparked a 15-minute discussion between Feazell’s attorney Gary Richardson, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Frels and U.S. District Judge James Nowlin.
The defense lawyer claimed that because none of Moody’s or Crow’s clients were among the 19 defendants named in Feazell’s indictment, their testimony had no bearing in the case.
The judge told Frels that if all he was going to establish through Moody’s testimony was that the attorneys contributed to Feazell’s campaign, then “we are wasting our time here.”
Frels contended Feazell’s failure to report large cash contributions is further evidence of a continuing pattern of racketeering.
Moody said during cross examination he was given immunity by the government from penalties related to tax violations during 1982-1985 for testimony. Crow has a similar arrangement.
Feazell says the charges were initiated by the Department of Public Safety, which he says is seeking revenge because of his investigation into Henry Lee Lucas. Lucas confessed to several murders, including two in Waco, and later recanted.
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