PD-1537-14 COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS AUSTIN, TEXAS February 10, 2015 Transmitted 2/9/2015 8:27:29 PM Accepted 2/10/2015 8:51:21 AM ABEL ACOSTA Nos. PD-1537-14 & PD-1636-14 CLERK
In the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals BENNIE FUELBERG, Petitioner, WALTER DEMOND, Petitioner, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS Respondent. ON PETITIONS AND CROSS-PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW FROM THE THIRD COURT OF APPEALS AT AUSTIN, TEXAS BRIEF BY AMICUS CURIAE ELECTRIC CO-OP MEMBERS IN OPPOSITION TO PETITIONS FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW AND IN SUPPORT OF STATE’S CROSS-PETITION ERNEST J. ALTGELT State Bar No. 0112000 [email protected] 615 Flamingo Blvd. Lakeway, Texas 78734 (512) 261-3681 - Telephone Attorney and Amicus Curiae AMICUS CURIAE IS NOT ENTITLED TO ORAL ARGUMENT IDENTITY OF PARTIES AND COUNSEL Neither Petitioners nor the Attorney General, fully identify a large number of parties, legal counsel, and law firms, which are possibly interested in the above- styled criminal cases. In ANNEX A, infra, we identify approximately 60 legal counsel, law firms, and parties − who are possibly interested in the above-styled cases for purposes of potential grounds for recusal. Pages A-1 to A-9 of ANNEX A, accordingly, are incorporated by reference. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Identity of Parties and Counsel ...................................................................................i Index of Authorities ..................................................................................................iv Tex. R. App. P. Rule 11 Requirements .....................................................................vi Interest of Amicus Curiae .........................................................................................vi Statement Regarding Oral Argument .......................................................................vi Statement of the Case................................................................................................ix Statement of Procedural History ................................................................................ x Questions Presented for Review ............................................................................ xiii Summary of Argument .............................................................................................. 1 Argument.................................................................................................................... 1 I. Petitioners fail to address activities by co-conspirators Curtis and Demond. ......................................................................................... 2 II. Petitioners are criminally accountable for the long-running, bill padding, payments scheme and conspiratorial activities ................ 2 III. The factual findings and conclusions at issue are reached in companion jury trials held in separate cities ......................................... 3 IV. Whether the Court of Appeals erred when it concluded that Petitioner Demond’s theft-by-deception conviction rested on legally insufficient evidence, misstated the State’s burden, and ignored the law of parties? ............................................................. 3 Prayer for Relief ......................................................................................................... 4 ii Certificate of Compliance .......................................................................................... 5 Certificate of Service ................................................................................................. 6 ANNEX A − Identity of Parties and Counsel ......................................................... A-1 ANNEX B − Relevant Legal Proceedings and Court Records ................................ B-1 iii INDEX OF AUTHORITIES Cases Page(s) Demond v. State, ---S.W.3d---, 2014 WL 6612510 (Tex. App.—Austin, Nov. 21, 2014) ................................................................................................................x Fuelberg v. State, 447 S.W.3d 304 (Tex. App.—Austin, 2014)...................................................x Hall v. Pedernales Elec. Coop. Inc., 278 S.W.3d 536 (Tex. App.—Austin 2009, no pet.) ..................................... vi Jackson v. Virginia, 443U.S.307 (1979)........................................................................................ vii Matchett v. State, 941 S.W.2d 922 (1996)................................................................................ viii Olde v. Wal-Mart Stores, 747 F.3d 315 (5th Cir. 2014) ........................................................................ vii Statutes Page(s) TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC., Art. 1.03 ........................................................................... ix TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC., Art. 1.12 ........................................................................... ix TEX. PENAL CODE § 7.01(a) .......................................................................................3 TEX. PENAL CODE § 7.02(a)(2)...................................................................................3 TEX. PENAL CODE § 31.03 .................................................................................. vi, vii TEX. PENAL CODE § 32.45 .................................................................................. vi, vii TEX. PENAL CODE § 34.02 .................................................................................. vi, vii Rules Page(s) TEX. DISCIPLINARY R. PROF’L CONDUCT 1.12(a) .......................................................1 iv TEX. R. APP. P. 66(a)(c) .......................................................................................... vii TEX. R. EVID. 201 ................................................................................................... viii Other Authorities Page(s) A Review of the Investigative Report on the Pedernales Elec. Coop., Inc., TEX. STATE AUDITOR’S OFFICE (Rept. 09-019, Feb. 2009) http://www.sao.state.tx.us/reports/main/09-019.pdf ................................ vii, 3 Pedernales Elec. Coop., Inc. Report of Investigation, Navigant Consulting, LLC (Dec. 15, 2008), available at http://www.pec.coop/docs/default-source/navigant- report/navigant-report-2008.pdf?sfvrsn=4. ......................................... vii, xi, 3 v TEX. R. APP. P. RULE 11 REQUIREMENTS This Brief complies with the Briefing rules for parties. No fee was paid, or will be paid, for the preparing of this Brief. A certificate of service certifying that copies have been served on all parties is set forth at the end of this Amicus Brief. INTEREST OF AMICUS CURIAE Amicus Curiae Ernest Altgelt is a member of the Texas and New York bars, the U.S. Supreme Court, and several Federal Courts. Both he and his wife, Amicus Curiae Ingrid R. Altgelt, are Member-Owners of the Pedernales Electric Cooperative, Inc. (PEC).1 For the reasons and arguments made by the Attorney General in his Replies and Cross-Petition, the Court should deny the Petitions for Discretionary Review, as separately filed by “co-conspirators” Fuelberg and Demond and grant the State’s Cross-Petition filed against Demond. STATEMENT REGARDING ORAL ARGUMENT Petitioner Bennie Fuelberg’s white-collar crime felony convictions are for money laundering, misapplication of fiduciary property and theft-by-deception. See, TEX. PENAL CODE §§ 34.02, 32.45, 31.03. As to Clark, Thomas & Winters attorney and “co-conspirator,” Walter Demond, his white-collar crime convictions Demond and Fuelberg, as made in their Petitions for Discretionary Review. In addition, we further emphasize the following:
[*1]I. Petitioners fail to address activities by co-conspirators Curtis and Demond. Petitioners in their Petitions seem to ignore several facts: 1) the PEC did not need the services of Curtis, co-conspirator Bennie Fuelberg’s brother, as the PEC interests at the Texas Legislature were being protected by Texas Electric
Cooperatives (TEC) and others; 2) the PEC did not need or use Price, the son of a
longtime Director − really $106,000 in retainer fees, for practicing in just one of the PEC’s 24 counties service area; 3) Curtis did not register as a Lobbyist for the PEC in order to hide his relationship with the PEC and to keep his $872,000 in payments sub rosa; and 4) the whole scheme was to secretly authorize unnecessary payments to Curtis and Price, and to fraudulently hide the nature of these payments
from the PEC’s accounting system by including them in Clark, Thomas & Winters, PC’s monthly billings − theft, misapplication of fiduciary property and money laundering.
II. Petitioners are criminally accountable for the long-running, bill padding, payments scheme and conspiratorial activities. Petitioners, in essence, erroneously argue that fiduciary duty is trumped by business judgment. In each Petitioners’ view, Fuelberg could hire and fire anyone he wanted at any time. Such blanket authority under the circumstances renders as meaningless, the concept of fiduciary duty. The concepts of reasonable and necessary are not recognized.
[*2]III. The factual findings and conclusions at issue are reached in companion jury trials held in separate cities. The Jurors in the cities of Fredericksburg and Boerne, properly determined
that attorney Demond and General Manager & CEO Fuelberg, are co-engineers, co-participants and co-conspirators, in orchestrating the long-running
invoicing and bill padding scheme to effectuate secretive monthly payments of PEC moneys to lobbyist Curtis, and to Bill Price, the son of a prominent Director.
See Navigant Investigative Report and State Auditor’s Report, supra, n. 2, at p vii and the discussion and references, supra at p. x.
IV. Whether the Court of Appeals erred when it concluded that Petitioner Demond’s theft-by-deception conviction rested on legally insufficient evidence, misstated the State’s burden, and ignored the law of parties? The Jurors in the cities of Fredericksburg and Boerne, properly determined
that attorney Demond and General Manager & CEO Fuelberg, are co-engineers, co-participants and co-conspirators, in orchestrating the long-running
invoicing and bill padding scheme to effectuate secretive monthly payments. See, TEX. PENAL CODE § 7.01(a), 7.02(a)(2).
[*3]PRAYER FOR RELIEF Wherefore, for the foregoing reasons, and for the reasons set forth in the State’s Replies Opposing Discretionary Review and Cross-Petition, Amicus Curiae respectfully pray for this Court to first fully review the information included in ANNEX A & B.
After its review and consideration of ANNEX A & B, and of any other relevant information, the Court should identify and address, any potential grounds for recusal which may arise from the very large number of parties, business
entities, law firms, insurers, and attorneys, which are possibly interested in any of the various issues and witness testimony as to the above-numbered criminal cases.
In addition, Amicus Curiae further prays for the Court to deny Petitioners’
petitions for discretionary review, grant the State’s cross-petition and reverse the portion of the court of appeals’ judgment reversing Demond’s theft-by-deception conviction, and render judgment affirming the trial court’s judgment in whole.
The Court should also award such other and further relief, as will expedite the timely, cost efficient and fair administration of criminal justice. Any further relief granted, should be fully consistent not only with the findings and conclusions
of the jurors, but also the sentences and judgments, following the conclusions of Petitioners’ separate criminal trials.
[*4]Respectfully submitted, /s/ Ernest J. Altgelt Ernest J. Altgelt State Bar No. 0112000 615 Flamingo Blvd. Lakeway, Texas 78734 (512)261-3681 (Telephone) [email protected]
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE This document complies with the typeface requirements of Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.4(e) because it has been prepared in a conventional typeface no smaller than 14-point for text and 12-point for footnotes. This document also complies with the word-count limitations of Rule 9.4(i), if applicable, because it contains 815 words, excluding any parts exempted by Rule 9.4(i)(1).
/s/ Ernest J. Altgelt Ernest J. Altgelt CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE On February 9, 2015, in compliance with Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure
[*5]9.5, I served this document by e-service, e-mail, facsimile, or mail to:
David L. Botsford James C. Ho BOTSFORD & ROARK Kyle Hawkins 1307 West Ave. Prerak Shah Austin, Texas 78701 GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER LLP Fax: (512) 479-8040 2100 McKinney Avenue, Suite 1100 Email: [email protected] Dallas, TX 75201-6912 Counsel for Petitioner Fuelberg Fax: (214) 571-2917 Email: [email protected] Counsel for Petitioner Demond
Bill Davis Lisa McMinn Dustin M. Howell Office of State Prosecuting Attorney Assistant Solicitors General P.O. Box 13046 OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Austin, Texas 78711-3046 P.O. Box 12548 (MC 059) Email: [email protected] Austin, Texas 78711-2548 Fax: (512) 370-9191 [email protected] ANNEX A Case Nos. PD-1337-14 & PD-1636-14 Amicus Brief on Discretionary Review
[*6]IDENTITY OF PARTIES AND COUNSEL
To assist the Court to identify potential grounds for recusal, Amicus Curiae submit the following are interested parties or counsel:
1. Attorneys for “co-conspirator”* James C. Ho Walter Demond at this Court of Daniel L. Geyser Criminal Appeals and the Third Prerak Shah Court of Appeals (including for prior Kyle Hawkins Mandamus) GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER, L.L.P.
2. Attorneys for “co-conspirator” David L. Botsford Bennie Fuelberg at this Court of BOTSFORD & ROARK Criminal Appeals and Third Court of Appeals (and prior Mandamus) Christopher (Chris) Gunter Gene Anthes GUNTER & BENNETT, P.C.
Charles O. Grigson Austin, Texas
3. Attorneys for “co-conspirator” E.G. (Gerry) Morris Walter Demond (at his criminal trial) Roy Q. Minton Warren L.“Rip” Collins MINTON, BURTON, FOSTER & COLLINS 4. Attorneys for “co-conspirator” Christopher (Chris) Gunter Bennie Fuelberg at his criminal trial Charles O. Grigson David L. Botsford
* The term “co-conspirator” is in italics to emphasize, “co-conspirators” are all agents of each other, and where the acts of one are the acts of all. A-1
5. Attorneys for State of Texas Greg Abbott, Atty. Gen., Ken Paxton, at Trial and or at the Third Court of Atty. Gen., Harry White, Asst. Atty. Appeals, and Court of Criminal Gen., Tom Cloudt, Asst. Atty. Gen. Appeals (for prior Mandamus) Eric J. R. Nichols, Deputy Atty. Gen., Don Clemmer, Deputy Atty. Gen., Jessica Hartsell, Asst. Atty Gen. Bill Davis, Asst. Solicitor Gen., Dustin Howell, Asst. Solicitor Gen., Jonathan Mitchell, Solicitor Gen., Scott Keller, Solicitor Gen., Lisa McMinn, State Pros. Atty
6. Special Counsel for Intervenor Paul E. Coggins Amicus, PEC Co-op (for matters as Kiprian (Kip) Mendrygal to the recusal or disqualification of LOCKE, LORD, BISSELL & LIDDELL Chris Gunter, “co-conspirator” Bennie Fuelberg’s attorney)
7. Attorneys for Defendant PEC Co- David C. Duggins op in the related class action lawsuit Joanne Summerhays in the Travis County District Courts Don C. Lewis and or the Third Court of Appeals L. Parker (Larry) McNeill CLARK, THOMAS & WINTERS, P.C.
Douglas W. Alexander ALEXANDER, DUBOSE & TOWNSEND