Pubdate: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Page: 31A Copyright: 1999 Houston Chronicle Contact: http://www.chron.com/ Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html Author: Ed Asher BRIBERY TRIAL WITNESS LIED TO A JUDGE, JURY, DEFENSE THEORIZES Cross-Examination Of Informant Continues The defense in the City Hall bribery trial suggested Wednesday that the government's star witness lied to a judge and to a jury. A defense attorney characterized FBI informant Julio Molineiro as an income tax evader, ex-convict, admitted thief and con man, drug user and a liar who once endangered the life of an undercover drug enforcement agent. In his first day of cross-examination, Molineiro conceded that he was a fugitive from Chile when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration brought him to Houston in September 1990. Molineiro tape-recorded meetings with Houston City Councilmen John Castillo and Michael Yarbrough and former Councilman John Peavy Jr., who are being retried on federal bribery and conspiracy charges. Peavy's attorney, Dan Cogdell, suggested that Molineiro has lied to a jury about how many times he was imprisoned in his native Chile. In the first trial last spring, Molineiro said it was three times. Last week, he testified it was two times. "Do you consider yourself an honest person?" Cogdell asked. "Today, yes," Molineiro answered. "Have you ever told a lie to a jury?" "No ... I don't believe I lie to a jury." Cogdell also suggested that Molineiro lied to a judge in Paraguay in 1984 when he pleaded guilty to a crime he says he did not commit. Molineiro has testified he pleaded guilty to "bodily injury" and theft so that his fianc‚e, charged with the same crimes, could get out of jail. Molineiro has already testified that he has 26 arrest warrants in Chile for 26 bad checks, but that their statute of limitations has expired. He has also said he engaged in fraud and fencing of stolen property. Tuesday, Molineiro conceded that in December 1990, nearly three months after arriving in the United States, he stole $20,000 from a drug dealer. But he did not agree with Cogdell that the money was to have been turned over to the DEA. Cogdell also suggested that Molineiro has given two or three versions of what he did with the money. Molineiro conceded that he did not pay federal income taxes for 1990, 1991 or 1992, during which period the DEA paid him about $127,000 in cash for services and expenses. He said he did not know he was supposed to pay taxes. His cross-examination continues today in U.S. District Judge David Hittner's court. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D