Friday, July 24, 1998

Dallas lawyer found guilty of tampering in Michael Irvin trial

By Michael Saul

The Dallas Morning News

(KRT)

DALLAS - A lawyer charged with coercing a former topless dancer to avoid testifying in Dallas Cowboys' star Michael Irvin's 1996 drug trial was convicted Thursday of felony witness tampering.

A Dallas County jury found Thomas B. Arnold, 48, guilty of coercing Amber Gatcomb, 23, to evade a state subpoena in the player's cocaine possession trial.

A punishment hearing is scheduled before state District Judge Gerry Meier on Aug. 4.

Arnold declined to comment as he left the courtroom, but his attorneys said they were shocked by the jurors' decision. He plans to appeal the verdict, his attorneys said.

"The evidence is insufficient. There was no proof that a crime was committed. There is no evidence that he aided her to elude a legal process," said Lawrence B. Mitchell, one of Arnold's attorneys.

Assistant District Attorney Clark Birdsall, the lead prosecutor, said he believes the jury reached the right decision. He declined to comment further.

Based on the law at the time the offense was committed, Arnold automatically will receive probation, the attorneys said. Judge Meier, however, can send him to jail for up to 180 days as a condition of the probation and fine him up to $10,000, Birdsall said.

Richard J. Corbitt, Arnold's other attorney, said he is hopeful that Judge Meier will not incarcerate his client as part of the probation terms. It would be unjust to send Arnold to jail, Corbitt said, because the primary players in the Irvin drug case each received probation.

"The real players in this entire scenario, none of them, none of them, I repeat, got any jail time," Corbitt said.

In July 1996, Irvin pleaded no contest to felony cocaine possession in exchange for four years' probation.

The jurors in Arnold's case deliberated about seven and a half hours over two days before reaching their verdict. Judge Meier, who left for vacation before the jurors finished deliberating, sequestered the panel at a hotel Wednesday night.

"We reached it (the verdict) after a lot of deliberation. It was very difficult, and we think it was the right decision," said Malley Gaulding, the presiding juror.

Gaulding declined to elaborate on what the jurors discussed. She also would not say whether she believed Arnold deserved to be punished with a jail sentence.

Arnold has no prior felony convictions. However, next week, a Dallas County grand jury is scheduled to consider whether to indict him on a charge of misappropriating funds. The third-degree felony, formally titled misapplication of fiduciary property, carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a $10,000 fine.

According to court records, in July 1995, Arnold settled a case on behalf of a client in the amount of $250,000. Arnold refused to pay the client about $90,000, the records show. Corbitt said Thursday that his client also denies any wrongdoing in that matter.

During his trial this week, prosecutors portrayed Arnold as a hot-shot, rich attorney who liked to surround himself with high-profile people. The state's key witness, Gatcomb, said Arnold spent considerable time at topless clubs and had a serious cocaine problem during the period she knew him.

Gatcomb testified that Arnold persuaded her to flee the Dallas area when it became apparent that Dallas County prosecutors were interested in her testimony in the Irvin trial. Gatcomb, who began working for Arnold's law firm in May 1996, testified that Irvin introduced her to cocaine and financed her addiction.

She said Arnold told her that she had to leave Dallas because her testimony would expose their relationship, hurt his law firm and potentially jeopardize his marriage. Gatcomb told the jury that she and Arnold did not have a sexual relationship, but he wanted one.

Gatcomb also testified that Arnold told Irvin might try to kill her and make it seem like a crazed Cowboys fan committed the crime. He also threatened to discontinue financial support if she didn't flee, she said.

Arnold gave Gatcomb four blank checks, she said, for her to use on her trip. Corbitt said that's untrue.

"Who in the world would believe that the checks were actually given to her if they were not made out to her and if she didn't have any of her handwriting on them," Corbitt said Thursday.

Gatcomb testified that Arnold personally handed her the checks and that a friend of hers filled them out to shield her name from the paper trail.

Corbitt said his client probably will lose his law license as a result of the conviction.

"The ramifications of all this is just really, really, really bad," he said.

(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.

Visit The Dallas Morning News on the World Wide Web at http://www.dallasnews.com/

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.