DALLAS LAWYER FOUND GUILTY OF TAMPERING IN IRVIN TRIAL

Attorneys plan to appeal verdict he coerced witness

A Dallas 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.

Mr. 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 Mr. 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 that the offense was committed, Mr. Arnold
will automatically 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, Mr. Birdsall said.

Richard J. Corbitt, Mr. 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 Mr. Arnold to jail, Mr. 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," Mr. Corbitt said.

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

The jurors in Mr. Arnold's case deliberated about 7 1/2 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.

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

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

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

Ms. Gatcomb testified that Mr. 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. Ms. Gatcomb, who began working for Mr.
Arnold's law firm in May 1996, testified that Mr. Irvin introduced her to
cocaine and financed her addiction.

She said Mr. 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. Ms. Gatcomb told the jury that she and
Mr. Arnold did not have a sexual relationship but that he wanted one.

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

Mr. Arnold gave Ms. Gatcomb four blank checks, she said, for her to use on
her trip. Mr. 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," Mr. Corbitt said Thursday.

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

Mr. 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.

Checked-by: (Joel W. Johnson)