OKLAHOMA CITY ATTORNEY MARK ANTHONY CLAYBORNE COULD LOSE LICENSE IN PERJURY
CASE

An attorney was accused Tuesday of coercing a scared defense witness
into lying at a meth dealer's trial in a failed attempt to win an
acquittal.

The Oklahoma City attorney also is accused of putting a faked
videotape into evidence.

The methamphetamine dealer was convicted anyway. The attorney, Mark
Anthony Clayborne, faces a felony charge that could cost him his law
license.

A former assistant said the attorney was well aware the witness did
not want to testify, but "Clayborne continued to encourage her to do
so, irregardless," police reported.

Clayborne, 46, is charged in Oklahoma County District Court with
perjury by subornation and with allowing the production of a false
exhibit as evidence.

"He will be vigorously defended," said his attorney, Edward
Goldman.

Clayborne represented Jose Cruz Herrera at trial in February 2008.
Herrera was convicted of drug trafficking, a drug conspiracy and
cocaine possession. He is in prison.

Police said the attorney pressured Claudia Aguilar-Ramirez, 26, into
lying to give Herrera an alibi for Feb. 12, 2007, the day of an
Oklahoma County drug deal. The witness testified she saw Herrera in
Rio Grande, Mexico, that day and videotaped him there. The tape was
put into evidence. Police said it was taken in 2005, but the date was
altered.

Others face charges

Also charged are the witness and former assistant. Aguilar-Ramirez is
charged with perjury. Former assistant Anna Cecilia Talavera De
Madrid, 28, is charged with perjury by subornation and hydrocodone
possession.

The former assistant's attorney, Irven Box, said, "She was
duped."

If convicted, Clayborne could be stripped of his law license.