Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 104, No. 8, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 26, 1986 Page: 1 of 44
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Fontenot interview
points to friendship
CROWDED HALLWAY - Each day, spec-
tators crowd the second floor hallway of the
Polk County Courthouse to wait for the cour-
troom doors to open in the murder trial of
Hurley Fontenot. Inside the courtroom, it’s
standing-room-only. Testimony in the trial
will resume Tuesday morning.
Trial attracts crowd
By GRFG DENSMORE
Area feature editor
LIVINGSTON — On the second
floor of the Polk County Courthouse,
the real-life soap opera known as the
Hurley Fontenot murder trial con-
tinues.
For the past week, the spotlight
has been turned on the trial’s main
cast and supporting characters -
the defendant and his attorneys, the
district attorney and his assistants,
the judge, the jury, and an endless
parade of witnesses.
Away from the glare of the
spotlight, in the background, there’s
another show going on, featuring
almost 200 spectators who pack
themselves like sardines into State
District Judge John Martin’s cour-
troom each day.
Most of them are elderly and those
not from the Livingston area come
from places like Nacogdoches, Hunt-
sville, Beaumont or Lufkin. Many of
them live in Hull-Daisetta, the same
town where the victim and defen-
dant lived.
One thing you learn from talking
to them is that you have to be on
your toes to get a good seat in the
courtroom.
They start arriving at the cour-
thouse at 7 a.m., a good two hours
before testimony begins, then slip in
through the west door about 30
minutes later and file up the stairs to
the second floor to form two lines in
front of the courtroom doors
After the courtrooms doors are
open, the spectators make a rush for
the choice seats. It doesn’t take long
to fill the 150-seat courtroom.
It kind of reminds you of a crowd
at one of those half-price sales at
your favorite department store. Pity
anyone who might happen to get in
their way.
A newspaper reporter from Beau-
mont said she put a stopwatch on the
crowd one day. “It took them 45
seconds to fill the courtroom," she
said, shaking her head and smiling.
A front row seat is a prize posses-
sion You could probably scalp them
if that kind of behavior was permit-
ted.
“If you don’t get here early, you
have to sit in the hack," said one old
gentleman. “And with my hearing
as bad as it is, that just won't do."
Not only are all the seats taken by
the time testimony begins, hut
groups ranging from a dozen to
three dozen line the outside
perimeters each day We’re talking
about standing-room-only
Their reasons for attending the
trial are varied
Some know the defendant. Some
knew the victim. Others have follow-
ed the case and are interested in the
outcome. Still others are bored and
the trial is a welcome diversion
“You know, I’m missing all my
soaps,” said one woman “But I
don’t really care because this is bet-
ter. This is real.”
Bailiff Caroll Jackson, former
chief of police in Livingston, calls
the spectators “fans.”
He marveled at their tenacity.
“The fans are tough," he laughed.
“They’re really hanging in there."
At times, district clerk Nell Lowe
said she felt more like a traffic
director than anything else.
“We’ve got to shoo them out of
here (courtroom) at lunch,” she
Dominy joins race
LIVINGSTON - Tom Dominy has
filed for candidacy in the May
Democratic primary election, seek-
ing the position of commissioner of
Precinct 4.
Born and reared in Goodrich,
Dominy is a graduate of Goodrich
High School. He spent 15 years with
said. “But they just go and wail out-
side the doors until we open them
again Nohody wants to lose their
seat
Before the daily testimony begins,
the courtroom is buzzing with excite-
ment. the topic of conversation
usually centering on whether or not
the defendant is guilty
Most of the fans' admit they
already have reached a conclusion
as to guilt or innocence. Sonic,
however, haven’t come to a decision
“So far, the district attorney
hasn’t come up with anything solid,”
said one man. “So lar. Fontenot has
come out on top.”
When the jury enters the cour-
troom, the gallery ceases all conver-
sation and gives its full attention to
centerstage. The 'fans' seem to hang
on every word being spoken.
Some 20 members of the news
media, their notebooks and pens
furiously jotting down pertinent in-
formation, are packed into the three
rows cordoned off especially for
them
Outside the courtroom, television
cameramen wait patiently for the
starring characters to stride by.
Throughout the day. spectators
slip in and slip out of the courtroom
See TRIAL pg. 7A
Hv GREG PEAK
Area news editor
LIVINGSTON In a tap*- record
ed interview played for jurors Fri
day. former school principal Hurley
Fontenot not only denied involve
ment in the murder of coach Billy
Mac Fleming, he told investigators
he was pleased that his former
girlfriend Laura Nugent planned to
marry the coach
In the April 23. 1983 interview
recorded the day alter the coach's
decomposed body was discovered in
Polk County the Hull-Daisetta
junior high school principal said he
held no ill feelings toward the coach
and had no idea who might have kill
ed him
“He w as an ag teacher 1 ike- me IB-
had a major in ag," Fontenot said
“We had that bond We were very-
good Iriends “ The former principal
described Fleming in flattering
terms and said he often left the
coach in charge of the junior high
school campus when he was away
for any length of time
"In my 25 years of teaching it
will be 25 this year - he was, in my
opinion ime of the most dedicated
teachers that I’ve had an opportuni-
ty to work with," Fontenot said of
Fleming At no time did he ever
refuse to do anvthing I asked fnm to
do."
The playing of the tapes to the
10-woman, two-man jury Friday
afternoon concluded the first week
of testimony in the “love-triangle
murder trial of the 48-year old
former principal
Slate District Judge John Martin
gave jurors a three day weekend
and recessed the trial until 9 a m
Tuesday He explained that another
judge will need the Polk County
courtroom Monday to select a jury
for a civil case
Both prosecuting and defease at
tornevs indicated that the trial will
last at least two and possibly three
more weeks before jurors will be
asked to rentier a verdict Thus lar
only 12 of more than 40 states
witnesses have been called to the
testify When the trial resumes
Tuesday, Polk County Sheriff Ted
Everitt will be cross-examined by
Fontenot’s lawyer, Dick DeGuerin
of Houston
During the taped interview,
Fontenot spoke in A steady voice
which sometimes showed surprise
when confronted with statements
Mo ye announces
fOM DOMINY
, campaigns for commissioner
Exxon, working in Houston and
spending eight . years in Saudi
Arabia. Dominy returned to Polk
County in 1982 He was employed
with Thomas Supply and is currently
working as an oil consultant. "Polk
County has always been home,” he
said.
“People deserve more for their
money than (hey are getting,”
Dominy said of the commissioner's
post. “They need a full-time com-
missioner, and that’s what I’ll be.”
While with Exxon, Dominy was in-
volved with administration and
planning. "There is a lot more to be-
ing a commissioner than building
roads and bridges,” he said! The
candidate feels his experience in ad-
minstration and planning will be an
asset to the commissioner’s job
“Those are my strong points.”
Dominy said there are govern-
ment programs and funding
available which the present commis-
sioners court is not pursuing, "part-
ly because there arc not many full-
time commissioners.’’
Dominy is married to the former
Ruth Gcrlach of Livingston. They
have one daughter, Lynne, who is a
senior at Livingston High School.
He said his strongest qualities in-
clude being honest, fair, and hard-
working “That's basically me.”
LIVINGSTON - Tom Moyc has
announced his candidacy for
Precinct 4 commissioner in the May
Democratic primary
"I don’t have any other interests,
so I will bo able to pul 40 hours a
week into the job," Moye said “I
think that's the way it should be "
Born and raised in Polk County,
Moye is retired from construction
work He has worked on refineries,
powerhouses, pipelines and other
facilities, and has supervised as
many as 100 men at a time, Moye
said.
He also worked two years for the
United States Postal Service in
Beaumont
Moye said he would like to see bet-
ter roads in Polk County.
I will be available for the people
to talk to at all limes They won’t
have to talk to an answering service
machine,” he said.
Moye, 64, lives in the Big Sandy
area and has raised a daughter and
two sons, who all attended Big Sandy
School. Moye and his wife, Goldie,
have been married for 40 years
implying he was involved in the
murder He told Texas Ranger Tom
my Walker of livings ton and Everitt
that he had no idea who killed the
coach but that he suspected his
death might be connected to drugs
Fontenot said he had heard radio
reports that a substance suspected
of tieing cocaine had been found in
the coach’s apartment following his
disappearance on April 12 He also
noted that he was aware that the
coach had been having problems
with a former business partner in
volving a pickup
Earlier in Fontenot's murder
trial, it was revealed that in
vestigators never tested the “white
powdery substance" tound in Flem
ing’s apartment DeGuerin also ar-
oused Liberty County sheriff's in
vestigator Jimmy Belt of refusing to
follow up leads indicating that Flem
mg s former partner in a Houston
tloor coving business - a man
DeGuerin deeribed as “big time
drug dealer might have t>een in-
volved in the murder
T do have to say this, at no time
while Bill Fleming was employed at
the Hull-Daisetta junior high school
was there any evidence that he was
using drugs, Fontenot said in the
taped interview
Regarding Fleming's relationship
with Nugent, Fontenot admitted that
he had dated the school secretary for
a time but said he was pleased that
Nugent and Fleming planned to get
married
Although Fleming was married at
the time he began dating Nugent,
Fontenot told investigators the
coach was getting a divorce so he
could marry the 36-year-old school
secretary The former Liberty Coun-
ty school principal said Fleming s
divorce would have become final
three or four days after his disap-
pearance on April 12
“He told me he had never been as
happy as he was in his life,”
Fontenot said “Laura had been
married twice before and in both
cases, she divorced these men," he
said “The two men she was married
to were not half the man that Bill
was."
“You liked Bill a great deal then,"
Walker asked
“You doggone right 1 cried four
times today," Fontenot replied
Concerning allegations that
Fontenot was the man responsible
for sending annonymous letters
which tabled the coach's relation-
ship with Nugent as “immoral".
Fontenot flatly denied sending them
The letters included a copy of a
motel receipt indicating Fleming
and Nugent had stayed together at
the Travel Lodge in Crosby and were
sent to school board members and to
the coach's estrangied wife, Lynda
Fleming
In the April 23 interview, Fontenot
told the ranger he believed that
whoever sent the letters to school
board members had to be familiar
with the operation of the Hull-
Daisetta school district He explain-
ed they were timed to arrive the day
the board was scheduled to consider
renewal of teachers contracts
The principal said that one board
memtier Anne Richardson, became
so upset by the letters that he had to
come to Fleming s defense in order
to get his contract renewed
Fontenot said Richardson wanted
to postpone the renewal of Fleming's
contract until March 30 but backed
down when the principal threatened
to ask that his contract be rescinded
“I did something that I don't think
any administrator in the country
would have done Fontenot said
II they were going to make him
wait and humiliate him Fleming),
then I requested that my contract -
that was approv«>d a month before
unanimously be rescinded and not
be considered until the 30th day of
March
When told that he had been iden-
tified by two motel clerks as the man
who obtained the copy of the motel
receipt Fontenot sounded surprised
and told Walker “That is incorrect 1
have never been to that motel in my
life
These ladies seem real sure
you're the one, and of course
whoever did it probably was the one
who mailed the letters to discredit
the coach You don’t know anything
about that1' Walker asked
“Emphatically, no," Fontenot
said
Identification
Although two clerks at the Crosby
Travel Lodge had earlier identified
Fontenot from a yearbook
photograph as the man w ho obtained
the copy of the motel record, the
identification was cast in doubt last
week when one of the clerks failed to
identify the former principal in the
courtroom.
During a hearing outside the
presence of the jury Thursday, the
two motel clerks were questioned
about an incident in which a "well
dressed man" tricked them out of a
copy of a motel receipt showing that
Fleming stayed at the Crosby motel
on March 9, 1985
While one clerk, Wilma Stuerke of
Houston, pointed out Fontenot
without hesitation. Beverly Elliott of
Crosby suprised prosecutors when
said she did not see the man in the
courtroom Last April, shortly after
Fleming disappeared, both women
identified Fontenot from a
photograph in a Hull-Daisetta school
yearbook.
Because Elliott was unable to
recognize Fontenot in the cour-
troom, her testimony was not
presented to the jury Prosecution
and defense attorneys did however
tell the jury Friday that the former
motel clerk had failed to identify the
former principal
Stuerke. on the other hand, was
allowed to testify before the jury and
despite the best efforts by DeGuerin,
refused to waiver from her convic-
tion that Fontenot was the man who
obtained the motel receipt.
When asked by Assistant District
Attorney David Walker if she saw
See BLOOD pg. IS
TOM MOYE
joins commissioner race
was nearly cut in half when it’s driver turned
left in front of an oncoming car on Hwy. 146
early Thursday evening. A complete acci-
dent report was unavailable at press time,
but the investigating officer, Trooper Jesse
Neuman, said the station wagon, driven by a
Mrs. Tolly, also contained three children.
baby, have all reportedly been released from
the hospital. A 12-yeaiM>ld girl in Tolly’s car
was taken to Hertn >nn Hospital by Life
Flight helicopter No on as injuteu m the
second vehicle, a 1878 Cadillac driven by
Gary Vcss of Living- ton
A
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 104, No. 8, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 26, 1986, newspaper, January 26, 1986; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth810865/m1/1/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.