Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 31

Sunday, August 18, 1985 Austin American-Statesman C1 Prosecutor on defensive McLennan district attorney caught in whirlwind of accusations V' vestigation in place is retaliatory is just absolute rubbish. "What we do in an investigation is a matter of record (that) is available for review when the time comes." Some in Waco and elsewhere say the investigation of Feazell began long before the district attorney took an interest in Lucas, and say they believe Feazell started the Lucas inquiry as a smoke screen and a convenient way to claim retaliation by DPS. Feazell is not averse to comparing himself to Jesus Christ He took the opportunity again when saying he may be down, but is not defeated. After Jesus raised Lazarus from sm Feazell, C8 Tom Moore, who was district attorney in Waco for eight years in the 1950s and later served in the Legislature, said, "I can't help but feel that this is two departments sticking their tongues out at each other." Angered by the claims that he initiated the investigation to get even with Feazell, Adams said last week, "Any allegation that any in By Jim Phillips American-Statesman Staff WACO Vic Feazell, district attorney of McLennan County, says he still sees himself as he once was, a shy little boy who did not like to go outside and play with the other children. Feazell has; been playing with the big boys lately, and now they are threatening to take away all of his toys.

Photo by Rod Aydelotte, Waco Tribune-Herald I haven't let John Wayne down Prosecutor Vic Feazell: 'I hope i 3 1 CARAT, 14 DIAMOND 141 MARQUIS! ItlDAlSTf WAS 1 CARAT, 14 DIAMOND 14K GOLD WEDDING RING Vi CARAT, MARQUISE CUT UNMOUNTED DIAMOND STARTING FROM CARAT, II DIAMOND 141 GOLD IRIDAl SET WAS $1, If 5 Vi CARAT, PEAR SHAPED UNMOUNTED DIAMOND STARTING FROM 2 CARAT, IS DIAMOND 14K GOLD FANCY RING Vi CARAT, MARQUISE CUT 14K GOLD SOLITAIRE RING WAS $701 $598 ELEGANT, IS DIAMOND UK GOLD HEART PENDANT WAS (249 M29 $799 1,495 499 $995 1,595 $299 S-? -v. IFTS FOR THE BRIDE! (t ff (f fib DIRECT DIAMOND fri PALtTa iPL m-Tr- 1S1 I 11 a ll(ll fll 1 nilU DIAMOND, 1 4K GOLD PENDANT karat, 17 diamond 1 CARAT, DIAMOND 1 CARATI 9 DIAMOND 1 V4 CARAT, MULTI-DIAMOND 1 CARAT ,1 2 DIAMOND 14K GOLD WEDDING BAND 14K GOLD WATERFALL RING 14R GOLD FANCT RING 14K GOLD FANCY RING re01JPctr mnt IMnnvt Sj9t WAS $1,500 WAS $1,195 WAS $1,795 WAS $1,095 jgf "OttOr 0f U0 "JUXS, JgggJ 995 695 1,339 799 ''CfSj' 4MMm Ji aW Jit' A federal grand Jury in Austin has been investigating Feazell, and although prosecutors will not talk about the focus of the inquiry, sources say many of the witnesses have been former criminal defen- dants in McLennan County. For the 34-year-old Feazell and his supporters, the issues are simple: He' endangered himself by criticizing the Department of Public Safety investigation of Henry Lee Lucas, and everything that has happened since is part of a retaliatory plot. For everyone else, the issues are contradictory, obscured, or convoluted. Feazell's popularity appeared unassailable only a few months ago.

He came across to much of the public as a tough, no-nonsense prosecutor who did not mind stepping on anyone's toes to obtain justice. He had taken on the school district in a child abuse investigation, and his office had successfully brought charges and obtained convictions in the slayings of three teen-agers at Lake Waco in 1982. When Feazell, who was lead prosecutor in the murder trials, returned from the latest triple-murder trial in Cleburne last April, he was on top of the world. "It was like I was everybody's hero. I was known as a hard-hitting, successful prosecutor," he said.

"Then came Henry Lee Lucas. Between April and July, you can see how everything has changed." 4 The changes include the federal investigation, a series of television news stories that portrayed him as a weak prosecutor -r especially on alcohol-related charges and a decision by the county Republican Party to target the district attorney's race next year as an election they can win. agents and DPS investigators have been questioning a number of people, including several with connections to criminal cases used as examples in the series of stories that began in June on a Dallas television station. The stories raised questions about the dismiss- als of drunken driving and drug cases against defendants who knew Feazell or someone in his office. Several cases were dismissed after the defendants paid attorney fees described by the television reporter as unusually high.

Feazell denies the implications of the television reports, and points to his high conviction rate as proof that his office is not soft on crime. The stories, and the first public knowledge of the federal investigation, came two months after Feazell began a grand jury investigation into Lucas' confessions to three McLennan County homicides. That investigation, aided by Attorney General Jim Mattox and expanded to cover many of Lucas' other claimed crimes, touched off a firestorm when Feazell and Mattox said they believed Lucas had been fed information by investigators in many cases. Lucas had confessed to hundreds of killings across the country and in Canada. Publicly he retracted those admissions after he was brought to Waco under a bench warrant.

Lucas was brought to Waco April 12, two days before lengthy stories in the Dallas Times-Herald used work records and other data to cast doubt on Lucas' ability to be within hundreds Of miles of the sites of many of the "cleared" killings. Col. Jim Adams, director of DPS, used to be second-in-command of the FBI. He grew up in Mexia, and went to school with David Smith, now Waco city manager. According to the retaliation theory, Adams started a DPS investigation of Feazell and persuaded friends in the FBI to do the same, while Smith started a city investigation of Feazell and encouraged the Waco police chief to criticize the prosecutor.

Chief Larry Scott has said weak prosecution has hurt police morale, and said his department will be taking more cases to federal prosecutors rather than Feazell. I That theory has many supporters. i Roy Minton, the Austin attorney who represents Feazell, said, "Don't you think it's a little naive to ignore the fact that nobody is looking at any of this until (Feazell) gets crossways with some of the heavies in law enforcement?" 1 CARAT, 7 DIAMOND OUR ENTIRE STOCK OF MARQUISE WEDDING RING 1 4K GOLD FASHION CHAINS 1 CARAT, RRIlllANT CUT DIAMOND TRI-COLOR OJI XV UNMOUNTED DIAMOND GOLD WEDDING TRIO SET LMBf WAS $1,914 AND FASHION BRACELETS STARTING FROM WAS $591 14K I X. 55 OFF 1,159 499 JLJ i GIFTS FOR THE GROOMI 30 Vi CARAT, I DIAMOND 14R GOLD IRIDAl $ET WAS $810 OUR ENTIRE STOCK OF CARAT, IIIIUANT CUT 14K GOLD PLAIN I ENGRAVED UNMOUNTED DIAMOND WEDDING BANDS STARTING FROM 2 CARAT, 1 2 DIAMOND I4K GOLD IRIDAL SET WAS $2,295 CARAT, HEART SHAPED 14K GOLD SOLITAIRE RING WAS $170 $695 30 OFF '699 1,495 $695 OUR ENTIRE STOCK OF MAN'S DIAMOND CLUSTERS AND SOLITAIRE RINGS OVER MULTI-DIAMOND CARAT, 1 DIAMOND N1 tVN? ElK 14K GOLD ENGAGEMENT RING 14K ANNIVERSARY RING AVvN- WAS $1,223 JffSil 1 $895 $440 (kS OUR ENTIRE STOCK OF IWA'yi BRILLIANT CUT AND p-Tll IW FANCY SHAPED MTSi OVER 1 14 DIAMOND 14K GOLD RING GUARD WAS $1,163 Vi CARAT, OVAL CUT UNMOUNTED DIAMOND STARTING FROM CARAT, DIAMOND 14K GOLD WEDDING IAN0 WAS $521 OUR ENTIRE STOCK OF CULTURED PEARL AND DIAMOND AND PEARL JEWELRY $969 199 399 30 OFF 1,399 DIRECT DIAMOND Tn ni IMPORTERS 9070 RESEARCH BOULEVARD, CORNER OF HIGHWAY 1 83 AND BURNET ROAD. AUSTIN, TEXAS (512) 458-51 17 MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED USE OUR INTEREST FREE LAY AWAY PLAN "NOW YOU HAVE A FRIEND IN THE DIAMOND BUSINESS WE ARE OPEN MONDAY THRU SATURDAY 10:00 q.m.

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