Lawyer Subject of Inquiry in Witness Tampering Case

Prominent Pasadena defense lawyer Rayford Fountain is under investigation for allegedly tampering with two potential witnesses in a murder trial that ended last week in its third hung jury, the district attorney’s office disclosed Tuesday.

No charges have yet been filed against Fountain, 50, who did not return telephone calls Tuesday.

According to court documents and Deputy Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Lonnie Felker, an independent lawyer conducted a search of Fountain’s law office last week, even as a Pasadena Superior Court jury was deliberating the fate of his client, Harles E. Hamilton, 28. The panel deadlocked 11-1 for conviction, the third time jurors have been unable to reach a unanimous verdict in that case.

Hamilton is accused of murdering well-known Pasadena attorney David Goldman, 77, and his wife, Bertha, 74, on Dec. 8, 1984.

The Goldmans were bludgeoned to death after they reportedly surprised Hamilton and an accomplice ransacking their Altadena home. The accomplice, Calvin Dean, 28, shot and killed himself a week later as Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies attempted to arrest him.

Transcripts of tape recordings and other documents filed with Los Angeles Superior Court in support of the search warrant on Fountain’s office identify the two potential witnesses as Christopher James and O’Dell Douglas. Both were serving prison terms for unrelated crimes when allegedly approached by Fountain to alter their testimony. Douglas had testified against Hamilton in earlier proceedings, but neither witness was used in the latest trial.

At least one of the potential witnesses may have been offered money by Fountain, according to the records.

To preserve the privacy of Fountain’s client records, a volunteer independent lawyer known as a “special master” conducted the actual search of his office and collected documents while sheriff’s and district attorney’s investigators observed.

Searches of lawyers’ offices once were rare and highly controversial but have become more common in recent years as the result of insurance fraud and other crimes involving lawyers, Felker said.

Fountain has represented a number of high-visibility clients. They include Dovie Beams de Villagran, the self-proclaimed former mistress of deposed Philippines President Ferdinand E. Marcos. She was sent to prison last year after being convicted of federal loan fraud charges. Fountain also represented Ruby Carolyn Padgett, a co-defendant convicted of the Dec. 9, 1985, murder of Domino’s Pizza deliveryman John Steven Harrigan in Glendale.

In addition to possibly jeopardizing his license to practice law, Fountain could face felony charges of solicitation of perjury and illegally offering money for false testimony, if officials determine there is enough evidence to prosecute.