Attorney quits deadly dice game appeal
A Houston man’s appeal of a 2000 murder conviction hit a road bump Tuesday when his attorney withdrew from his case, citing allegations that his client improperly tried to influence two witnesses who are central to his defense.
State attorneys who are fighting the appeal uncovered several phone calls Lamar Burks made from the Harris County Jail, where they say he instructed third parties to tell the witnesses how they might approach their testimony at an upcoming hearing, according to a motion filed July 31. In one of the conversations, he suggested that key witness Randy Lewis skip the hearing by claiming he was ill with COVID-19, prosecutors said.
After receiving a sealed motion from Burks’ defense attorney, Michael Wynne, State District Judge Greg Glass said during a video hearing on Tuesday that he would remove him as counsel.
Prosecutor Joshua Reiss said the developments cast major doubt on Burks’ case, which gained support from high-profile civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump after Burks alleged a federal agent coerced false testimony from a witness. Burks, now 47, was sentenced to 70 years in prison for the 1997 murder of Earl Perry, who was found dead in a Cavalcade parking lot after a dice game.
“If I were a third party who had stuck my neck out for Lamar Burks and now confronted with evidence that he attempted to influence witnesses, it would give me pause as to what I had committed myself to,” said Reiss, who is chief of the post-conviction writs division at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
“It’s uncommon that someone would be so blatant and obvious in influencing the witness,” he said.
Several days after receiving the July 31 filing, Wynne said the motion raised some serious issues. He had already tried twice to recuse himself from Burks’ case, including once where he said he could no longer ethically represent his client because he believed Burks opened himself up to perjury claims.
“What they say is obviously of concern to me,” Wynne said in early August.
But after hearing the phone call recordings, Wynne on Aug. 7 filed a third time to remove himself from the case, he said in the video hearing Tuesday.
He he did not know Burks was making those calls, he said, and declined further comment.
Burks’ appeal — his third — first gained traction when his at
torney accused disgraced Drug Enforcement Agency Agent Chad Scott of bullying a witness to offer false testimony resulting in Burks’ conviction. His case finally saw heightened interest, including from Crump, who is most recently representing the family of George Floyd.
Burks had appealed his case after Scott was indicted in New Orleans on a slew of federal charges, including perjury and falsifying evidence in an unrelated case. He did the same sort of thing in Burks’ case, Wynne had said, offering Lewis — the key witness — a plum deal in exchange for telling the story he wanted him to tell. Lewis has since recanted.
State prosecutors later heard the recordings, where Burks allegedly discussed an upcoming evidentiary hearing on June 23. Lewis and Scott, the DEA agent, were on Burks’ witness list and could have possibly testified.
In one of the phone calls, Burks offered to prevent a press conference that would embarrass Scott prior to his upcoming federal trial if Scott would agree to withhold testimony during the June 23 proceeding in Burks’ case, prosecutors claim.
“My attorney Ben Crump and members of Black Lives Matter have been planning a news conference and protest (sic) Mr. Scott arrives in Houston,” Burks said in the call, according to court documents. “This will no doubt place Mr. Scott in a negative light. To avoid a media circus I propose an agreement. Please consult with Mr. Scott about invoking his Fifth Amendment right via remote video hearing to be kept under seal.”
If Scott agreed to keep quiet, it would “kill the whole case,” Burks said.
In another call, Burks told a third party that he would pay for an attorney to represent Lewis in a hearing if Lewis falsely told the court he contracted COVID-19, according to the state’s motion.
“Tell that (racial epithet) to tell my lawyer that he got coronavirus and can’t do nothing no more,” Burks said in the recording. “He will testify when he recovers.”
Burks then called a public relations consultant and told them that Lewis has COVID-19, the motion states.
Reiss has asked the appeals court to pause proceedings until the state files evidence of witness tampering in trial court.