News
June 10, 1987
Attorney says Feazell wanted part of action
AUSTIN (AP) – A Waco attorney testified that District Attorney Vic Feazell wanted “a piece of the action” when lawyers received money for getting court cases dismissed.
“The understanding was that Vic would get one-third and all three of us would share alike,” Dick Kettler said Tuesday as a witness for the government.
The McLennan County prosecutor is charged with accepting bribes or illegal campaign contributions in exchange for his influence over criminal cases. The trial is in its third week in U.S. District Court.
Kettler said he had talked with Feazell several times in 1984 about getting drunken-driving charges dismissed without offering any money.
“I began having trouble talking to Vic, and my partner (Don Hall) went over to see Feazell,” Kettler said. “Hall came back and said Vic wants a piece of the action. That’s the way he put it. Hall said that’s what it’s going to take to do business over there.”
Kettler said the arrangement ended in April 1985, when he heard there was an investigation into Feazell’s operations.
“I told Hall it was over,” Kettler said.
Earlier Tuesday, a member of Feazell’s staff testified that attorneys often tried to influence Feazell because they considered him “soft-hearted.”
“One of my biggest problems was the attorneys would come and talk with me or one of the assistant district attorneys, and when they didn’t like the negotiations they would go to Vic,” said Deanna Fitzgerald, who is chief of the misdemeanors section in Feazell’s office.
“They would cry and moan and try to make Vic believe their clients were not guilty. Some people said he was too soft-hearted,” she said.
Ms. Fitzgerald said attorneys who sought personal attention from Feazell included Kettler, Hall and Ken Crow, all of whom have testified for the government against Feazell.
Attorney Ron Moody testified Monday he and partner Crow gave Feazell a check for $500 and $4,500 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.
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.
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