Attorney arrested on charges of perjury


He has been in trouble with state bar 3 times before

By BRIAN ROGERS
Houston Chronicle

Dec. 10, 2007, 9:00PM

Criminal defense attorney Carlos Correa went to court Monday intending to begin a trial. Instead, he was handcuffed and taken to jail, accused of asking a friend to act as a witness and lie on the stand during a murder trial last year.

Correa, 63, is charged with aggravated perjury after the result of a yearlong investigation. He remained in jail late Monday in lieu of a $50,000 bail. Staff at Correa's law office refused to answer questions Monday.

According to Harris County Assistant District Attorney Mike Trent, Correa directed a family friend to pose as a Mary Kay make-up employee and go to the Nebraska home of a witness to a cold murder case. He then coached her about what to say on the witness stand to discredit the witness' account, Trent said.

"We have to be able to rely on attorneys, as officers of the court, to present testimony they believe to be true," Trent said. "And you certainly can't be directing people who are parties to the case to commit aggravated perjury."

According toCorrea's indictment, Laura Romero, traveled with Correa to Nebraska. At the murder trial last year, Romero told jurors that she didn't know Correa and then lied about what the witness told her, Trent said.

Trent said investigators built a case against Romero based on plane tickets and her employment history. When questioned, Romero implicated Correa, Trent said. Romero has not been charged.

The defendant in the underlying case, Erasmo Salazar, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

"Had the jury believed her, he could have been acquitted, which would have meant a guilty person going free," Trent said.

Records show that Correa, licensed in 1970, has been in trouble with the state bar at least three times in the past 20 years.

Correa agreed to be publicly reprimanded in 1999 after winning a civil lawsuit, then giving his clients the money for their medical bills instead of paying the medical clinic, a violation of the rules of professional responsibility. He later recovered the money and paid the clinic.

In 1996, he was put on probation for a year for telling a judge that he could not appear at trial in a lawsuit lodged against him because he had been asked to assist another attorney in another case.

The case against him was continued, but Correa had not been asked to assist another attorney, state bar documents show.

Before that, in 1987 Correa was put on probation for a year after denying that he was carrying more than $19,000 in cash and checks on an international flight between his home in Mexico and Los Angeles, a federal crime.

A naturalized citizen, Correa agreed to the probation.

Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association President Pat McCann said the allegation is a serious charge, and he hopes the accusations aren't correct. He said he needed more information before commenting on the case, but he doesn't condone unethical behavior by lawyers.