Mecham Calls Alleged Threat ‘Manufactured’

Taunting the prosecutor during cross-examination, impeached Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham declared Thursday that an alleged death threat by one of his aides against another was “totally manufactured.”

Mecham flashed a huge shamrock sticker inside his light blue suit jacket as he took the stand for a second day and grinned even during snappish exchanges with prosecutor William French.

At one point, the 63-year-old Republican hotly denounced the historic proceeding as “the biggest miscarriage of justice I’ve ever seen in my life.”

As French sought to discredit several of Mecham’s appointees as either inept or criminal, the governor lashed out:

“It’s really too bad for you to try to sully people’s character . . . to try and get at me. C’mon, just get at me direct (sic).”

With testimony complete on the first of three charges against Mecham, there was a slim chance the 30-member Senate sitting as judge and jury could decide to vote today on the obstruction of justice charge.

A guilty verdict would oust Mecham from office and render moot the remaining charges that he concealed a $350,000 campaign loan and misappropriated $80,000 from his protocol fund.

Denies Evidence Exists

Rambling and often combative on the stand, the former Pontiac dealer insisted that “there isn’t a piece of evidence that I had any intention at all to obstruct any kind of justice.”

Prosecutors contend that Mecham thwarted an attorney general’s investigation of a reported death threat by aide and ex-convict, Lee Watkins, against a former aide, Donna Carlson. Carlson at the time was appearing before a grand jury investigating Mecham.

Watkins allegedly relayed the threat during a parking lot conversation with Peggy Griffiths, another Mecham aide and friend of Carlson.

Mecham admitted Thursday that he expressed anger over plans by Department of Public Safety director Col. Ralph Milstead to discuss the alleged threat with the attorney general.

“If you want my permission, you don’t have it,” Mecham said he told Milstead.

Denies Allegation

But he denied trying to hamper the investigation or ordering Milstead not to report it.

Mecham described Atty. Gen. Bob Corbin as a political foe determined “to nail my hide to the wall.”

He told the court he had just learned Thursday morning of “a new” attorney general’s investigation of him.

Month-Old Probe

“One more on top of it,” Mecham said, referring to what Corbin’s office later described as a month-old probe.

That investigation involves another loan Mecham purportedly used to repay the $350,000 loan under question.

Corbin did not return two telephone calls from The Times, and a spokeswoman said the issue was “too touchy” to discuss.

Mecham blamed his staff Thursday for failing to tell him that the Watkins “altercation” involved a death threat and constituted a possible felony.

He described it this way: “Two somewhat excitable people (Watkins and Griffiths) had an altercation and along the line, there were those who determined that they would make something out of it and manufacture an incident out of something that wasn’t there.

“It’s a totally manufactured thing. . . .”

Testimony Undisputed

Mecham did not dispute testimony by earlier witnesses that showed at least four staff members discussed the Watkins incident with the governor over a 72-hour period.

The governor, stripped of his power but not his title when the Arizona House impeached him Feb. 5, laughed derisively when French challenged his integrity as a businessman before he was elected in November, 1986.

Attempting to disprove Mecham’s assertions that he was never accused of anything more serious than a traffic ticket until now, French brought up three lawsuits against Mecham dating back to 1981 and 1983.

The civil suits accused Mecham of fraud in connection with two car deals and a separate business venture.

Jury Awards Damages

Mecham admitted that a jury awarded punitive damages in one suit but denied any wrongdoing.

“I’ve sold well over 100,000 automobiles and nobody has ever found me guilty of lying or of fraud,” Mecham fumed. “Are you trying to impugn my honesty?”

In other testimony, Mecham admitted that he ordered his security detail not to let a female officer serve as his driver even though “she drove quite well.”

“She’s a female; I’m a male,” Mecham explained. “I just thought it was inappropriate for me to be by myself with a young lady in the car, just from appearances’ standpoint, nothing else.”

During his year in power, Mecham often came under fire for appointments or remarks that were considered offensive or insensitive to women, minorities, homosexuals and other groups.

In response to a senator’s question Thursday, Mecham said he “abhored discrimination” and cited his appointment of a black and an American Indian to key posts in his administration as proof.

Mecham faces a criminal trial April 21 and could spend up to 22 years in prison if convicted. A recall election is scheduled May 17.