re: Corso's saying UT and Oklahoma leaving Big 12 in next 5 years most likely 4 SEC

quote:

---

At trial, the appellant abandoned his argument that he was conducting state business by attending the ceremony as an official invitee of L.S.U. He instead claimed that he went to conduct official state business by meeting with Dr. Davis to discuss the possibility of Texas A & M's leaving the Southwest Conference (S.W.C.) and joining the Southeastern Conference (S.E.C.), and the financial status of the S.E.C. The appellant testified that he had six telephone conversations with Dr. Davis about these matters after he was invited to the ceremony and before he arrived.

Dr. Davis, however, recalled none of these conversations. The appellant argued that his discussion with Dr. Davis was of the utmost importance to the state, and his witnesses attested to the importance of the issues surrounding the breakup of the S.W.C. and to the need for discretion about Texas A & M's possible move from the S.W.C. to the S.E.C. None of these witnesses, however, testified that the appellant needed to fly with his wife to have a face-to-face meeting with Dr. Davis about the subject, or that they thought that the appellant had flown with the intent to conduct state business rather than to see his son graduate. The State argued to the jury that the appellant did not go to L.S.U. to have these discussions but went to watch his son graduate.

Under this theory, the discussions with Dr. Davis were merely afterthoughts to the trip's actual purpose or were a pretext meant to disguise his true intent. To support its theory, the State showed that in his explanatory memo to Dr. Mobley, the appellant claimed that he had met with Dr. Davis in his office for an hour and a half.

Dr. Davis testified that they did meet and informally discussed these matters, but the meeting was only for thirty to forty-five minutes, although they did have lunch afterward.

Dr. Davis said that he had not scheduled an appointment to meet with the appellant, and that he did not and could not have had official discussions with the appellant, for doing so would have breached protocol.

He stated that he wanted to take advantage of the appellant's trip to see his son graduate to have a friendly, informal conversation with him about the level of interest from Texas A & M in joining the S.E.C., and that the meeting would not have taken place had the appellant's son not been graduating that day.

The jury could have found that this informal conversation was not the motivating reason for the appellant's trip. In addition to the discrepancies surrounding the circumstances of the meeting, the jury heard evidence that the appellant exaggerated the importance of its substance.

The State showed that the invitation to join the S.E.C. had been formally extended to Texas A & M a few years before the appellant's trip.

And the State showed that the appellant was not the person at Texas A & M who would have negotiated the conference alignment; ?it would have been the job of the school president and the athletic director.

The appellant did not seek out any other face-to-face meetings with any presidents of the other schools that made up the S.E.C. When the S.W.C. did break up, and Texas A & M joined the Big Eight Conference rather than the S.E.C., the appellant did not meet with any president or chancellor of any of the Big Eight's schools.

The State contended that the highly unusual nature of the appellant's discussion with Dr. Davis showed that he was not conducting official state business during the meeting. There was also evidence that the appellant's claim that he needed to get financial information about the S.E.C. was exaggerated to excuse his personal trip.

The State showed that the Texas A & M Athletic Director already had this information and could have updated it anytime, if needed, with a phone call. The appellant showed that, as Chairman of the Board's Athletic Committee and “point-man” on the S.W.C. breakup, he was vested with special oversight of the Texas A & M Athletic Department, and that he discussed the S.W.C. breakup with Dr. Mobley after he returned.

---