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Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case #161568
06/05/2018 07:44 AM
06/05/2018 07:44 AM
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Agent Astarita is accused of lying about the shooting.

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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- The FBI agent accused of lying about firing two shots at Robert "Lavoy" Finicum during the takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge was in court Tuesday for the second day of a evidentiary hearing.

Investigators said FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita failed to disclose that he fired errant shots at Finicum.

Authorities moved in on Ammon Bundy and other leaders as they were driving in two vehicles from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to a meeting on Jan. 26, 2016.

Astarita pleaded not guilty to five charges including two counts of obstruction of justice and three counts of making a false statement.

Tuesday morning's testimony came from two forensics experts who worked to determine where the gunshots came from. Prosecutors said Astarita is the only person who could have fired those two specific shots at Lavoy Finicum. While neither shot hit Finicum, Astarita is accused of lying to investigators five different times about firing his weapon.

The testimony went over the methods by an Oregon State Police forensic analyst to deduce the angles the bullets were fired from based off of their entry points into the roof and hood of Finicum's truck.

One of Astarita's defense attorneys questioned that analyst on her use of different techniques in determining the bullet path as well as her margin for error of plus or minus five degrees.

Michael Haag -- a forensic science consultant -- was also called to the stand Tuesday.

He was hired by the government to further examine those entry points and testified that his margin for error was the same as the work of the OSP analyst -- despite the use of different methods.

Haag's testimony was the final portion of evidentiary hearings.

The oral arguments were scheduled to start sometime Tuesday and continue through the next few days.
Onward and upward,
airforce

Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case #161569
06/05/2018 07:56 AM
06/05/2018 07:56 AM
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I hope they hang his sorry ass. Although I'm not going to hold my breath.


"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861
Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case #161570
06/05/2018 05:06 PM
06/05/2018 05:06 PM
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Somewhere in these blue ridged...
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Somewhere in these blue ridged...
More interesting than the lie is the "why".

Need more light shed on why the fed would lie about errant shots fired if it isn't the case that he hit lavoy.


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Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case [Re: airforce] #167572
07/23/2018 07:07 PM
07/23/2018 07:07 PM
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Mark Herr, CenterForSelfGovernance.com, joins David Knight to look at the trial beginning today of an FBI sniper accused of shooting into the truck driven by Lavoy Finicum and lying about it.

https://youtu.be/KZQ47gcBslo


"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861
Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case [Re: ConSigCor] #167574
07/23/2018 11:20 PM
07/23/2018 11:20 PM
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Originally Posted by ConSigCor
I hope they hang his sorry ass. Although I'm not going to hold my breath.


Time to stop waiting for They/Them..


"To achieve One World Government it is necessary to remove from the minds of men their individualism, their loyalty to family traditions and national identification."
~ Brock Chisholm, when director of UN World Health Organization
Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case [Re: airforce] #167594
07/25/2018 05:58 PM
07/25/2018 05:58 PM
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Opening statements.

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W. Joseph Astarita, a member of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), is on trial in Portland charged with lying and obstruction of justice in connection to the events culminating in the shooting of Robert “LaVoy” Finicum on January 26, 2016.

The jury of 9 men and 3 women were seated on Tuesday with opening statements this morning, Wednesday, July 25th.

The prosecution put forth strong arguments against Astarita, with the defense following up by grasping at straws in their strategy to show some reasonable doubt for their client.

To begin with, according to the prosecutor, there were eight (8) shots fired with only two (2) shell casings being recovered. The prosecution suggests that Astarita collected the missing six (6) casings.

Included in the defense opening statements were that their client could not have fired at the vehicle because he is one of the finest shooters in the world and, therefore, would not have missed his target. They contend that this should prove his innocence. They did not address the fact that he may very well have hit his mark exactly, if he were attempting to provoke the Oregon State Patrol (OSP) into shooting at the truck.


The defense has also attempted to cast doubts on the trajectory analysis for varying reasons, including that the snow may have melted enough to change the position of the truck, thereby invalidating all of the analysis.

Additionally, the defense team talked about the Federal agents picking up the shell casings. Claiming that these men are trained to pick up all of their equipment, they said that the agents could actually have been picking up LIVE ROUNDS from the ground, as they were concerned about militia members possibly coming to the scene. This is apparently a new protocol, as I have never heard of the regulations being to clean up the crime scene before the investigation has concluded, or even begun.

Another bombshell statement was made that an agent from the first stop called ahead to the agents at the second stop after Finicum sped away in the truck. The first agent made remarks that Finicum refused to stop and therefore they would have to “shoot him”. These statements go to their justification defense. The law is clear that they are only justified in firing their weapons for self defense or defense of others, so this explanation is another desperate attempt by the defense.

We are waiting to see how the trial attorneys deal with the issue of the FBI ordering the OSP not to turn body cameras on.

Finicum’s vehicle will be brought to the courthouse for the jury to examine, as well. It is unclear if the public will be able to view the truck.

After the opening statements this morning, the prosecution began calling witnesses. Former Special Agent In Charge Greg Bretzing took the stand and his testimony will resume after lunch.

The court has said this trial may last 3-4 weeks.


Onward and upward,
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Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case [Re: airforce] #167602
07/26/2018 11:25 PM
07/26/2018 11:25 PM
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Agent Ferrari says he was not involved in coverup.

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Prosecutors on Thursday asked a veteran FBI agent who had been at the scene of the 2016 shooting of Robert "LaVoy" Finicum to identify where he and other agents were standing during the encounter using a color-coded guide produced by a government expert.

Defense lawyers repeatedly rose to their feet to object. They argued that the judge had ruled before trial that the color-coded figures could be used only to refresh the memory of witnesses.

One of the lawyers called the images "precision given to blobs, which was ruled inadmissible.''

After much back-and-forth between the prosecutors and defense lawyers and multiple ambiguous rulings from the bench outside the jury's presence, U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones by day's end set the final ground rules in favor of the defense.

Prosecutors must ask agents or officers who testify to locate their positions on the fuzzy, unaltered video images of the scene taken from overhead FBI planes. They can use the color-coded guide only to refresh their memories if they can't identify where they were.

The positions of officers at the Jan. 26, 2016, roadblock where Finicum died are a key point in the case against FBI agent W. Joseph Astrarita, a member of the agency's Hostage Rescue Team.

Astarita is accused of lying to conceal that he allegedly fired two shots at Finicum's truck after it swerved into a snowbank at the roadblock. FBI agents and Oregon State Police were arresting leaders of the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on U.S. 395.

One shot struck the roof of the truck's cab as Finicum got out, his hands in the air. It blew out a rear passenger window. The other missed. Moments later, two state police officers fatally shot Finicum after he reached into his jacket where investigators said he had a loaded handgun.

Prosecutors contend Astarita was the only one who could have taken the two disputed shots, but defense lawyers suggest two others could have taken them as well.

FBI agent Michael Ferrari, a veteran member of the Hostage Rescue Team, was on the stand most of the second day of Astarita's trial. He was able to identify only the general vicinity where he was standing when the two disputed shots occurred and the location of another hostage team agent, John Neidert, who Finicum almost hit as he crashed into the snowbank.

Ferrari, who spent nearly 18 years on the hostage team and now is at the FBI's Pittsburgh field office, helped develop the plan to stop the occupation leaders at a natural chokepoint on the highway as they headed to meeting in John Day.

Ferrari worked with a state police SWAT officer identified in court only as "Officer 1,'' he said. They hoped a Jeep, driven by a federal informant and carrying occupation leader Ammon Bundy and Bundy's bodyguard Brian Cavalier, would be first in the two-car caravan, but that didn't materialize.

Marked state police vehicles, backed up by FBI agents, planned to "stop and call out'' the occupation leaders traveling in the Jeep and Finicum's truck, Ferrari said.

About a mile north of the stop site, two Ford trucks rented by the FBI were set up in a "V'' formation at the roadblock, with spike strips laid in front. Ferrari was one of four hostage team agents and two state police SWAT officers at the roadblock.

"We had hoped the vehicles would see the marked units and stop and do the right thing,'' Ferrari testified. "The north roadblock was merely a contingency.''

At no time did the original plan consider a "vehicle assault option,'' he said.

When Finicum sped away from the initial stop, "we kind of made that plan on the fly,'' Ferrari testified. He watched Finicum's truck heading toward the roadblock on a live video feed from an FBI plane using a handheld computer monitor.

As Finicum's truck approached, "We heard the gas pedal being pressed,'' Ferrari said. He told the agents and the state police to rush to the east side of the road to avoid the truck. All did except Neitard, who ran to the west side.

Ferrari said he had heard gunshots as Finicum's truck was barreling toward the roadblock but didn't know who fired. Once the pickup slammed into the snowbank, Ferrari said he was focused on the truck and Neitard.

Ferrari had tripped on the other side of the road and didn't see Finicum emerge from the driver's seat, he said, but presumed he had because he heard repeated commands shouted at Finicum.

"At that point in time, you did not precisely know where the other operators were, did you?" defense attorney Robert Cary asked on cross-examination.

"No sir,'' Ferrari responded.

Ferrari said he moved to the back of Officer 1's truck, which was facing south between the Ford trucks set up in a V. He then moved up to the left front side of Officer 1's truck with Neitard, he testified.

Ferrari said he saw Finicum reach once toward his coat pocket, suspecting he was going for a gun. But Ferrari testified he didn't shoot because he was worried he'd hit a state trooper, Joey Pollard, who was in the tree line behind Finicum.

After Officer 1 and another state police officer fatally shot Finicum, other state police fired gas cartridges and rubber-tipped bullets at Finicum's truck to try to break out the windows, Ferrari said. They did that because the agents couldn't see who was inside but suspected they were armed, he said.

He didn't know any women were inside until they stepped out, Ferrari said.

He acknowledged, under the prosecution's questioning, that sometimes hostage team members do miss their targets. The defense, in the trial's opening statements the day before, had said that if Astarita had fired his rifle, he wouldn't have missed.

Ferrari said agents and officers were "amped up'' at the scene after the shooting and he did tell several, specifically Astarita, to calm down. He testified that he didn't see any shell casings on the ground after Finicum was shot, but that trucks were moved to allow additional officers to drive north on the highway to keep people from entering the shooting scene.

It's standard, he said, for Hostage Rescue Team agents to do a security check of an area after a shooting, looking for pins or other remnants from flash-bang grenades, live ammunition or other equipment that might have been dropped.

He didn't recall seeing any officers looking on the ground for items after dark. Sometime later, Astarita told him that he had picked up a magazine that belonged to Ferrari.

Asked if he ever got it back, Ferrari said, "Not to my knowledge, I don't recall.''

In a subsequent conversation, Astarita told him "some rounds had popped out of it and he placed them back in,'' Ferrari said.

"Sir, you did not partake in any sort of cover-up at that shooting scene at all?'' Cary asked Ferrari.

"No,'' he responded.


Onward and upward,
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Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case [Re: airforce] #167603
07/27/2018 01:32 AM
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New details of Finicum shooting aftermath revealed at FBI agent trial

Updated Jul 26, 10:45 AM; Posted Jul 25

By Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

The Oregonian/OregonLive

Two Oregon State Police troopers who fired the fatal shots at refuge occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum in 2016 weren't interviewed by investigators until five days later.

Travis Hampton, then a state police major in charge of agency operations, exchanged multiple text messages with one of the two troopers before his interview, including one as Hampton met with investigators. The same trooper also left his rifle in a truck overnight at the scene.

FBI agents at the shooting site didn't write any reports about their roles at the roadblock that day.

Details of a chaotic confrontation and its aftermath came out in the first day of testimony in the trial of indicted FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita, accused of lying when he denied he fired two shots at Finicum's truck. One shot hit the roof of the truck and the other missed. Moments later, the troopers shot and killed Finicum.

Prosecutors called Greg Bretzing, the FBI special agent in charge at the time and since retired; Hampton, who is now state police superintendent; and Scott Ward, a supervisory FBI special agent who was the highest-ranking FBI agent on U.S. 395 when the shooting occurred Jan. 26, 2016.

Bretzing said he approved the "Malheur Wildlife Refuge Militia Operation Vehicle Interdiction Plan,'' to intercept the occupation leaders as they drove off the refuge that day. They were part of an armed group who took over the refuge headquarters three weeks earlier.

He watched the arrests unfold on a live feed from the FBI's aerial video in the command post on the second floor of the middle school in downtown Burns. Bretzing wanted the feed recorded and replied "absolutely," he said, when someone asked: "Are you sure you want to do that?"

The group from the refuge was divided into two carloads - some in Finicum's white pickup and the others in a copper-colored Jeep. Bretzing watched Finicum pull away from the police stop on the highway, speed off toward a roadblock further north and then swerve into a snowbank.

He and Hampton each testified that they thought Finicum's truck had struck an FBI agent.

"I thought we had an officer killed,'' Hampton said.

The first information Bretzing got from the scene was that both state police and the FBI had fired shots. Within five minutes or so, he said, that was corrected. "Strike that, OSP shooters only,'' he said he learned.

Bretzing said Deschutes County Sheriff Shane Nelson, in the days after Finicum's shooting death, asked him to make sure everybody reported their shots. Nelson led a team of Oregon investigators who investigated the fatal shooting of Finicum.

The next month, Bretzing said he got a call from Oregon's U.S. attorney, saying the Deschutes County sheriff's investigators wanted to show him something that concerned them.

Within a day, Bretzing went to the Sheriff's Office in Bend and watched the FBI's infrared aerial video show FBI Hostage Rescue Team agents walking around the scene.

"It appears they were looking for something,'' Bretzing testified, noting he saw the lights from their rifles shining on the ground. They were moving around, kicking in the snow.

As a past leader of the FBI's Shooting Incident Review Team, Bretzing said what he was watching didn't follow FBI protocol, which is "leave a scene as intact as possible'' and take photos of an officer-involved shooting scene before touching any potential evidence.

Ward, the supervisory FBI agent, had watched the initial stop of the refuge leaders from a vehicle behind the state police and FBI agents who approached the Jeep and Finicum's truck. He was supposed to handle any media or militia inquiries at the scene and was getting updates from the roadblock further north on a radio.

But he was frustrated by the poor radio communication, so he asked another FBI agent to go check who fired shots and who was hit.

He said he went to the shooting scene two times, noticed a lot of foot traffic and no crime scene tape or crime scene log that kept track of who was coming or going. He testified that Hostage Rescue Team agents typically do checks to account for anything they might have dropped after a shooting, such as a radio, flashlight, spare magazine or pieces of a flash-bang grenade.

Asked if he had picked up anything, "I removed nothing,'' Ward testified.

Hampton was grilled by defense lawyer David Angeli on the text messages he exchanged with a state police SWAT officer identified only as "Officer 1,'' who had fired fatal shots at Finicum.

In one exchange the night of the shooting, Hampton wrote to "Officer 1'' that he would approach the investigation as if he were personally in the officer's shoes.

"You told him that?'' Angeli asked.

"Yes,'' Hampton said.

On redirect, prosecutor Gary Sussman asked Hampton what he meant by the text message.

Hampton said "Officer 1" had "grave concerns'' that he, his wife and children would face harm because of his role in the shooting - he fired two of the three fatal shots at Finicum. Hampton said he told the officer that he'd be equally concerned if the roles had been reversed and would approach it the same way.

Sussman asked Hampton if he was suggesting that he'd intercede in the investigation. "Absolutely not,'' Hampton said.

Angeli continued to question Hampton about other text messages.

At 10:15 a.m. the day after the shooting, Hampton texted "Officer 1": "I have some info if free for a call,'' according to Angeli, who was reading the message. Ninety minutes later, Hampton sent another text to the officer: "Have update when free.''

On Jan. 28, 2016 at 11:02 a.m., Hampton sent a text message to "Officer 1," saying he was meeting with Deschutes County sheriff's office investigators at that moment and lining up the FBI aerial video so the officer could view it before his interview, Angeli noted.

"I had given him consistent updates,'' Hampton said, adding later that he wasn't providing updates on the shooting inquiry but on the status of the refuge occupation and arrests.

"I don't recall setting up any FBI video not for public consumption,'' he said.

The video had already been shared with the media two days after the shooting . It was all over the Internet, the prosecutor noted.

Under questioning from Sussman, Hampton said it's fairly typical to work through a union representative or legal counsel to make sure an officer is available for an interview.

"Officer 1" and "Officer 2," the other trooper who shot Finicum, sat down with sheriff's investigators on Jan. 31, 2016.


"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861
Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case [Re: airforce] #167605
07/27/2018 04:07 PM
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Top FBI agent testifies why he didn't send agents to "assault the refuge."

Quote
FBI agents kept away from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for weeks based on what they knew about occupation leader Ammon Bundy and his armed supporters and Bundy's pledge to take a "hard stand" and turn the property into a base for patriots for years, according to testimony Tuesday from the man who led the police response.

"For us to go in there, we believe would provoke a confrontation," said Greg Bretzing, who just retired as Oregon's FBI special agent in charge.

His top three goals, he said, were to end the takeover peacefully, return the refuge to the control of the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service and hold those involved in the armed occupation accountable.

"To quote-unquote 'assault the refuge' would have compromised the primary goal,'' Bretzing said.


The government called Bretzing as its first witness as the second trial of Oregon standoff defendants began.

Prosecutors were trying to get out in front of questions that dogged them during the first trial last fall when jurors acquitted Bundy and six others: Why did the FBI allow the occupiers to travel freely to and from the refuge? Why didn't police and FBI agents move in right away when the occupiers seized the refuge on Jan. 2, 2016? How did the FBI use confidential informants in its investigation?

Yet on cross-examination, defense lawyers forcefully questioned Bretzing about whether the FBI properly followed its guidelines in using the informants and if Bretzing was aware that at least one informant may have "aided and abetted" occupiers and engaged in unlawful conduct by providing training on guns and hand-to-hand combat.

Andrew Kohlmetz, defendant Jason Patrick's standby lawyer, pointed out that Bretzing didn't want to expose his agents to potential harm but had no problem sending confidential informants - civilians -- into the refuge during the occupation.

Kohlmetz asked Bretzing if he personally approved any of the informants engaging in criminal activity on the refuge?

"I don't recall specifically approving," Bretzing replied.

Kohlmetz asked if any other FBI special agents in charge from other divisions around the country gave their approval.

"I'm not aware of that, no,'' Bretzing said.

Kohlmetz asked Bretzing if he was aware that an informant named Fabio Minoggio provided firearms training to occupiers.

"Specifically, I'm not aware of that,'' Bretzing said.

Or hand-to-hand combat training? "No, I'm not aware of that,'' Bretzing replied.


Bretzing said he learned of the refuge seizure by a text message or email on the day it happened and then arrived in Burns two days later. He was aware of the roles Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy and Ryan Payne played in the 2014 armed standoff with federal land management officers outside the ranch of the Bundys' father, Cliven Bundy, near Bunkerville, Nevada.

The FBI presence grew from two agents in Burns on Jan. 2, 2016, the date of a rally and march in support of Harney County ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and Steven Hammond, to 25 to 50 law enforcement officers working out of a command center set up in a former junior high school in Burns within days.

It was decided that Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward would serve as the intermediary with Ammon Bundy because of the animus Bundy and supporters had toward the federal government, Bretzing said.

"We hoped for greater success by engaging them through the sheriff and local law enforcement," Bretzing testified.

He and Ward held joint morning briefings for officers during the course of the occupation and Bretzing said he attended several community meetings in Burns to help gauge the community's reaction to the takeover.

Bretzing confirmed that the FBI used drones, fixed cameras and overhead planes to do surveillance over the 41-day occupation. During cross-examination, he said there might have been FBI surveillance cameras and license readers placed in Burns. The U.S. military was never involved, he said, and informants were indeed sent into the refuge.

"We had several people willing to go out to the refuge and tell us what was happening," he testified. "I sent in people who could inconspicuously observe what was going on.''


Asked why he didn't arrest Ammon Bundy or other leaders sooner when they traveled into Burns or home to their families, Bretzing said that would have left a group of other leaders back at the refuge to rally in their support and continue the occupation.

Instead, the FBI learned a day or two before a scheduled Jan. 26 community meeting in John Day that Ammon Bundy and a group of the occupation leaders planned to go. The agents learned who would be traveling there, in what vehicles and their route, Bretzing said. He confirmed that the man who drove Ammon Bundy to John Day that day, Mark McConnell, was an FBI informant.

The decision was made to arrest "the core group of leaders" in a remote spot as they traveled along U.S. 395 to John Day. Bretzing called the arrests a "valid law enforcement action to bring this to a close."

He acknowledged that occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum was fatally shot by state troopers during the Jan. 26, 2016 police stop, but didn't say a word about a continuing federal investigation into alleged misconduct by FBI hostage rescue team agents at the scene.

Defense lawyer Michele Kohler, who represents Duane Ehmer, suggested that some area sheriffs expressed dissatisfaction with the FBI's wait-and-see approach.

"There is no doubt that during the several weeks there was very robust discussion on how best to bring this to a close," Bretzing responded.

Kohler also asked if some FBI agents called to Burns or the refuge were told to remove their badges to conceal their identities as federal law officers. Bretzing said there were times when agents manning the gates to the command center would wear vests that said "police" because of anger against the federal government.

During cross-examination, Bretzing acknowledged that he authorized FBI agents to contact local militia groups, such as the Pacific Patriot Network.


Bretzing, saying repeatedly that he didn't know specifics about certain informants such as Minoggio, noted that he delegated certain responsibilities to other supervisory agents.

But he added, "Anything that happened at the end of the day will always come back to the special agent in charge."

Bretzing is expected to return to the stand Wednesday morning for further cross-examination.

He retired about three weeks ago and now works as director of local security for The Greenbriar Companies.


Onward and upward,
airforce

Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case [Re: airforce] #167606
07/27/2018 11:36 PM
07/27/2018 11:36 PM
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FBI supervisor says he didn't hear the disputed shots.

Quote
The boss of indicted FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita testified Friday that he never heard the two disputed shots fired at refuge occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum's truck in 2016 and saw no indication that Astarita had fired his rifle.

Identified only as Supervisory Special Agent B.M., the nearly 12-year veteran of the FBI headed the bureau's Hostage Rescue Blue Team at the scene that day and previously worked with Astarita on the agency's SWAT team in New York.

B.M. was standing near Astarita on Jan. 26, 2016, after Finicum slammed his pickup into a snowbank at a roadblock as the FBI and state police tried to arrest the leaders of the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The occupiers were traveling in a two-car caravan to a community meeting in the next county.

B.M. said four times on the witness stand that he never heard the two shots that prosecutors contend Astarita tried to conceal but he heard all the other shots fired that day.

Investigators say one of Astarita's shots went through the roof of Finicum's truck and broke out the rear passenger window and the other missed.

Astarita, 41, has denied firing any shots. He's on trial on two counts of making a false statement to FBI supervisors, including B.M., and one count of obstruction of justice from an interview with state police detectives the night of the shooting.

B.M. said he was standing in front of a state police pickup parked on the center line of U.S. 395 when Finicum immediately stepped out of his truck after hitting the snowbank. Astarita was to his right, he said, standing beside the open passenger door of the police pickup.

"Does it appear agent Astarita is holding his rifle?'' federal prosecutor Gary Sussman asked.

"Yes, sir,'' B.M. replied.

"Is it aimed at Finicum's truck?'' Sussman asked.

"It looks like it's oriented towards the vehicle, sir,'' B.M. said.

Sussman asked B.M. if he heard several shots fired at Finicum's truck as it raced toward the roadblock. B.M. said he did. Investigators later determined that a state police officer, identified as Officer 1, fired three shots as the truck approached the roadblock.

And B.M. heard multiple shots fired after Finicum had walked away from his truck, the shots that killed Finicum? B.M. said he did. Two state police officers fired three times at Finicum after he had reached into his jacket where investigators later said he had a loaded handgun.

But, Sussman asked, B.M. didn't hear the two shots in between, right as Finicum got out of his pickup?

"No sir, I don't remember hearing a shot at that moment,'' B.M. answered. "I don't remember hearing any shots at that point.''

He noted that he was wearing noise-canceling headphones on his tactical helmet during the entire encounter.

B.M. said he could see Astarita in his peripheral vision.

"Did you see any indication Special Agent Astarita had shot?'' Sussman asked.

"No sir, I did not,'' B.M. said.

A trooper near the Oregon standoff spokesman told investigators later: "He's going for a gun and I can tell you right now, uh, I was very uncomfortable." One of the troopers who fired at Finicum said: "I need to take action to stop him from being a threat."

B.M. said he asked members of his team afterward if they were OK or had fired any shots. He asked Astarita and "he said no,'' B.M. told jurors.

Sussman asked about Astarita's general demeanor after the shooting. B.M. described him as energetic, excited, collecting his gear.

"Did he appear a little unnerved?'' Sussman asked.

"I don't know if I would characterize it as unnerved, sir,'' B.M. said.

At that, Sussman directed the witness to a transcript of his May 2017 testimony to an investigator with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General when he described Astarita at that moment as "unnerved." B.M. acknowledged he had used the word then.

FBI agent Michael Ferrari, a veteran member of the Hostage Rescue Team, was on the stand most of the second day of Astarita's trial. He was able to identify only the general vicinity where he was standing when the two disputed shots occurred and the location of another hostage team agent, John Neidert, who Finicum almost hit as he crashed into the snowbank.

Before it turned dark the day Finicum was killed, B.M. said he spotted one shell casing in front of the state police truck where he and Astarita had been standing but didn't alert anyone to mark it or pick it up as evidence.

He said his agents did a check of the area for other items and at some point Astarita suggested they do a second check.

A day or two later, B.M. said he was told investigators had concerns about Astarita's initial response to another FBI agent at the scene when asked whether he had fired his rifle. B.M. said he confronted Astarita about it in his tent at the tactical operations center at the Burns airfield.

B.M. said he asked whether Astarita had actually said, "You can't ask me that, bro." Astarita told him that he actually said, "Don't ask me. I don't know,'' according to B.M.


"Joe didn't seem to have any awareness,'' of what had occurred, and said he didn't remember hearing any shots, B.M. said.

B.M. said he once again asked Astarita directly if he had fired and Astarita responded: "No, I did not fire.''

B.M. said he checked his own rifle for any gunpowder residue, just to confirm that he hadn't fired his weapon, and found nothing peculiar. He said he never checked Astarita's rifle, rounds or watched Astarita check his rifle.

B.M. was asked to step down briefly from the witness stand and was handed the black Rock River Arms Rifle 556 model AR-15 platform that he carried the day of the shooting. At the prosecutor's request, he slung it over his shoulder and showed how he carried it and raised it and pointed it at the back wall of the courtroom. He also demonstrated the white light on the rifle.

Asked if he fired any of the two disputed shots, B.M. said, "No sir I did not. ... I'm certain. It's possible but extremely unlikely.''

On cross-examination, Astarita's lawyer Robert Cary focused on the last part of B.M.'s response.

Cary asked if there was anything from B.M.'s lengthy service for the FBI or Army Reserves that led him to say it was "possible'' he had fired his rifle that day?

"Yes, in my experience, under conditions like this, it's possible. It's possible I was not entirely situationally aware'' considering the stressful, dynamic nature of the scene, he said. "I think it is possible that can happen under conditions like this with all the environmental stressors.''

On redirect, the prosecutor then asked B.M. if there are tell-tale signs that an officer would recognize upon firing his weapon. Usually an officer would feel a recoil of their rifle or see the muzzle rise, B.M. said.

"It's highly unlikely that I would have fired,'' he added.

B.M. was not identified by his full name, according to Sussman, because of his ongoing Army Reserve service.

***

In other testimony Friday, another FBI Hostage Rescue Team agent who was at the roadblock echoed much of what B.M. had said.

Agent John Neidert, with the FBI a little over 19 years, was assigned to the Hostage Rescue Team for 6 1/2 years and was assisting B.M.'s Blue Team.

When Finicum's truck barrelled toward the roadblock, Neidert said he heard a supervisor direct agents to "bail out'' toward their left, to the east side of the road. But Neidert was further toward the west and went the opposite way.

"I expected the truck to hit me when it came through the snow,'' Neidert said.

Once Finicum stopped, Neidert said he popped out of the snow, a little dazed and shaken, behind the right rear tire of the truck.

His immediate focus then was on the passenger side of Finicum's truck, concerned refuge occupier Ryan Payne was in the front passenger seat and could be a threat.

Kneeling in the snow, he tried to keep his rifle trained on the passenger side of Finicum's truck. At some point, Neidert said he got out of the snow and ran past B.M. and Astarita to take cover behind the state police truck.

Neidert testified he didn't hear any gunshots when Finicum stepped out of his truck. He said he later noticed one shell casing on the street, near the front of the state police truck that was part of the roadblock.

He didn't remember its color but recalled discussing with someone, "Is it one of ours?'' referring to the .223-caliber bullets the FBI fires, or the .308-caliber ones most of the state SWAT officers had.

Neidert said he didn't pick up any shell casings but did get on the ground and look for other items near the trucks later as part of a standard FBI security check, finding a remnant from a flash-bang grenade.

Sometime that night, while sitting in a truck at the scene with Astarita and another FBI agent, Neidert said Astarita told the other agent that "he had saved me'' and "had to pull me out of the snowbank.''

"Did he pull you out?'' the prosecutor asked Neidert.

"No,'' Neidert said. "I just took it as jesting.''


Onward and upward,
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Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case [Re: airforce] #167610
07/28/2018 11:34 AM
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New details of Finicum shooting aftermath revealed at FBI agent trial

By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian

Published: July 26, 2018, 9:17 AM


Two Oregon State Police troopers who fired the fatal shots at refuge occupation spokesman Robert “LaVoy” Finicum in 2016 weren’t interviewed by investigators until five days later.

Travis Hampton, then a state police major in charge of agency operations, exchanged multiple text messages with one of the two troopers before his interview, including one as Hampton met with investigators. The same trooper also left his rifle in a truck overnight at the scene.

FBI agents at the shooting site didn’t write any reports about their roles at the roadblock that day.

Details of a chaotic confrontation and its aftermath came out in the first day of testimony in the trial of indicted FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita, accused of lying when he denied he fired two shots at Finicum’s truck. One shot hit the roof of the truck and the other missed. Moments later, the troopers shot and killed Finicum.

Prosecutors called Greg Bretzing, the FBI special agent in charge at the time and since retired; Hampton, who is now state police superintendent; and Scott Ward, a supervisory FBI special agent who was the highest-ranking FBI agent on U.S. 395 when the shooting occurred Jan. 26, 2016.

Bretzing said he approved the “Malheur Wildlife Refuge Militia Operation Vehicle Interdiction Plan,” to intercept the occupation leaders as they drove off the refuge that day. They were part of an armed group who took over the refuge headquarters three weeks earlier.

He watched the arrests unfold on a live feed from the FBI’s aerial video in the command post on the second floor of the middle school in downtown Burns. Bretzing wanted the feed recorded and replied “absolutely,” he said, when someone asked: “Are you sure you want to do that?”

The group from the refuge was divided into two carloads – some in Finicum’s white pickup and the others in a copper-colored Jeep. Bretzing watched Finicum pull away from the police stop on the highway, speed off toward a roadblock further north and then swerve into a snowbank.

He and Hampton each testified that they thought Finicum’s truck had struck an FBI agent.

“I thought we had an officer killed,” Hampton said.

The first information Bretzing got from the scene was that both state police and the FBI had fired shots. Within five minutes or so, he said, that was corrected. “Strike that, OSP shooters only,” he said he learned.

Bretzing said Deschutes County Sheriff Shane Nelson, in the days after Finicum’s shooting death, asked him to make sure everybody reported their shots. Nelson led a team of Oregon investigators who investigated the fatal shooting of Finicum.

The next month, Bretzing said he got a call from Oregon’s U.S. attorney, saying the Deschutes County sheriff’s investigators wanted to show him something that concerned them.

Within a day, Bretzing went to the Sheriff’s Office in Bend and watched the FBI’s infrared aerial video show FBI Hostage Rescue Team agents walking around the scene.

“It appears they were looking for something,” Bretzing testified, noting he saw the lights from their rifles shining on the ground. They were moving around, kicking in the snow.

As a past leader of the FBI’s Shooting Incident Review Team, Bretzing said what he was watching didn’t follow FBI protocol, which is “leave a scene as intact as possible” and take photos of an officer-involved shooting scene before touching any potential evidence.

Ward, the supervisory FBI agent, had watched the initial stop of the refuge leaders from a vehicle behind the state police and FBI agents who approached the Jeep and Finicum’s truck. He was supposed to handle any media or militia inquiries at the scene and was getting updates from the roadblock further north on a radio.

But he was frustrated by the poor radio communication, so he asked another FBI agent to go check who fired shots and who was hit.

He said he went to the shooting scene two times, noticed a lot of foot traffic and no crime scene tape or crime scene log that kept track of who was coming or going. He testified that Hostage Rescue Team agents typically do checks to account for anything they might have dropped after a shooting, such as a radio, flashlight, spare magazine or pieces of a flash-bang grenade.

Asked if he had picked up anything, “I removed nothing,” Ward testified.

Hampton was grilled by defense lawyer David Angeli on the text messages he exchanged with a state police SWAT officer identified only as “Officer 1,” who had fired fatal shots at Finicum.

In one exchange the night of the shooting, Hampton wrote to “Officer 1” that he would approach the investigation as if he were personally in the officer’s shoes.

“You told him that?” Angeli asked.

“Yes,” Hampton said.

On redirect, prosecutor Gary Sussman asked Hampton what he meant by the text message.

Hampton said “Officer 1” had “grave concerns” that he, his wife and children would face harm because of his role in the shooting – he fired two of the three fatal shots at Finicum. Hampton said he told the officer that he’d be equally concerned if the roles had been reversed and would approach it the same way.

Sussman asked Hampton if he was suggesting that he’d intercede in the investigation. “Absolutely not,” Hampton said.

Angeli continued to question Hampton about other text messages.

At 10:15 a.m. the day after the shooting, Hampton texted “Officer 1”: “I have some info if free for a call,” according to Angeli, who was reading the message. Ninety minutes later, Hampton sent another text to the officer: “Have update when free.”

On Jan. 28, 2016 at 11:02 a.m., Hampton sent a text message to “Officer 1,” saying he was meeting with Deschutes County sheriff’s office investigators at that moment and lining up the FBI aerial video so the officer could view it before his interview, Angeli noted.

“I had given him consistent updates,” Hampton said, adding later that he wasn’t providing updates on the shooting inquiry but on the status of the refuge occupation and arrests.

“I don’t recall setting up any FBI video not for public consumption,” he said.

The video had already been shared with the media two days after the shooting . It was all over the Internet, the prosecutor noted.

Under questioning from Sussman, Hampton said it’s fairly typical to work through a union representative or legal counsel to make sure an officer is available for an interview.

“Officer 1” and “Officer 2,” the other trooper who shot Finicum, sat down with sheriff’s investigators on Jan. 31, 2016.


"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861
Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case [Re: airforce] #167612
07/28/2018 11:51 AM
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This is what makes me shake my head when people say "The Cops/Law Enforcement will be on Our Side when SHTF". BULLSHIT! They are liars only out for their own skin. Never trust a cop (and very highly suspect of the Sheriff as most are now ex-cops). And I would never have one knowingly on a team that I was a part of.


"To achieve One World Government it is necessary to remove from the minds of men their individualism, their loyalty to family traditions and national identification."
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Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case [Re: airforce] #167636
07/31/2018 06:39 PM
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Two state police SWAT officers testified about the shooting of LaVoy Finicum.

Quote
The state police SWAT officer who investigators say fired five times at refuge occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum said Monday he second-guessed himself when he learned of an unaccounted-for bullet hole in the roof of Finicum's truck.

In the days after the Jan. 26, 2016, shooting in Harney County, the officer wracked his brain trying to figure out how it could have occurred, considering that none of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team agents at the scene said they had fired any shots.

"I never thought I did it, but there were times I was thinking, 'I don't know. This doesn't make any sense,''' he said. "If that was going to be attributed to me and I had no recollection of it ... could I continue in this profession?''

When he learned investigators had tracked all his shots and the magazine of his AR-15 rifle was missing five bullets, he said he told them: "The FBI has a big effing problem, and this is serious.''

The testimony from "Officer 1" - the only identification of the SWAT officer used in court because of government concerns over militia threats - is crucial to the prosecution's case in the trial of an FBI agent at the scene that day.

Agent W. Joseph Astarita is accused of lying about having fired two disputed shots at Finicum's truck as state police and the FBI moved to arrest leaders of armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. One struck the roof and one missed entirely.

Astarita's lawyers have argued that other people at the scene, and most likely Officer 1, could have fired the shots.

Officer 1 said he knew he hadn't fired the shots in question because investigators found only 24 rounds remaining in the magazine of his AR-15 rifle, which he said he loaded with 29 rounds....


Read the whole thing at the link.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case [Re: airforce] #167654
08/02/2018 04:58 PM
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Astarita's flippant remark recounted at trial.

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An FBI supervisor approached members of the agency's Hostage Rescue Team after refuge occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum lay dead in the snow at a highway roadblock in 2016.

Agent Ian McConnell asked the sharpshooters if they were OK and if anybody had fired their guns.

All nodded their heads that they were fine, except one, McConnell said.

Team member W. Joseph Astarita said something like, "Hey bro, I'm good" or "You don't got to ask me that,'' McConnell testified Tuesday in the second week of Astarita's federal trial in Portland.

Another Hostage Rescue Team agent, Christopher Scott, said he was present during McConnell's exchange with Astarita and recounted it a bit differently. Scott said he heard McConnell ask Astarita if any of "our guys had shot.''

"He said, 'No bro, you can't ask me that right now,''' Scott recalled.

McConnell asked Astarita once again, saying he just had to know if any of their agents had shot, Scott said.

"You know you can't ask me that right now,'' Astarita responded, according to Scott.

That's when Scott interjected. "Yes he can ask that question,'' he said he told Astarita. "There's admin things that have to happen'' to document shootings.

Astarita then said, according to Scott, "No, we're good.'' ...


Read the whole thing at the link.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case [Re: airforce] #167674
08/05/2018 04:47 PM
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Testimony turns to path of bullet that hit the roof of Finicum's car.

Quote
Testimony in the trial of FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita turned Friday to how forensic investigators worked to identify the path and source of a bullet that struck the roof of Robert "LaVoy" Finicum's truck.

Astarita is accused of lying to conceal that he fired two shots at the truck at the moment Finicum stepped out of the driver's seat with his hands in the air.

Finicum, the spokesman for the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016, had just crashed into a snowbank on the west side of U.S. 395 to avoid a police roadblock on Jan. 26, 12016.

One of Astarita's shots hit the roof and the other missed, investigators said. Finicum moments later was fatally shot by two state police SWAT officers after he was seen reaching into an interior pocket of his jacket for a loaded 9mm Ruger, investigators said.

The trial is in its second week. The government plans to wrap up its case with two more experts and have Finicum's truck towed to the courthouse garage for jurors to examine Monday. Astarita's lawyers then will present their defense....


Read the whole thing at the link.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case [Re: airforce] #167701
08/08/2018 05:04 PM
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Astarita denies taking shots, picking up shell casings.

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After three weeks of listening to his boss, his fellow Hostage Rescue Team agents and Oregon State Police officers describe his demeanor and actions on Jan. 26, 2016, FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita gave his own account Wednesday.

In a steady voice, he flatly denied several times that he fired his Colt AR-15 rifle that day and said he never picked up any shell casings from the scene.

Astarita, accused of lying to conceal that he fired two shots at the truck of refuge occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, is fighting to hold on to the only job he's ever wanted since he was in eighth grade.

He took the witness stand for a second day in his trial in U.S. District Court in Portland, charged with making false statements and obstruction of justice in the aftermath of the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

No one has acknowledged firing the two disputed shots at Finicum when he stepped out of his truck at a roadblock on U.S. 395 in Harney County as the FBI and state police moved to arrest the occupation's leaders. One hit the roof of Finicum's truck and the other missed. Prosecutors and Oregon investigators say Astarita took the shots.

Two state police SWAT officers fatally shot Finicum moments later after he reached into his jacket where he had a loaded handgun.

Of the oath he took to become an FBI agent, Astarita told jurors, "It means everything to me. That's my world. I've dedicated my life to it. That's my character. My honor.''

Astarita was on the stand for three hours in the morning, including the defense playing two FBI aerial videos of the shooting scene.

Astarita said he didn't fire his rifle when Finicum got out of his truck because he was concerned about potential crossfire. He said he didn't know who had shot and killed Finicum that day and didn't hear any of the gunshots fired.

He repeatedly said he couldn't identify any of the officers who were caught on the FBI videos, walking around the shooting scene, scouring the ground and bending under trucks after Finicum was shot and killed. Prosecutors contend those were FBI Hostage Rescue Team agents.

And Astarita confirmed earlier testimony at trial that he wasn't sure what ammunition he had loaded into his rifle, saying he didn't remember which service rounds he was using from a ballistics research facility that provides them to team agents.

He also tried to address other concerns raised during the trial, such as his remark to a supervisor at the scene after Finicum was killed, descriptions by other officers that he was unusually "amped up'' at the scene and that he knocked off the cowboy hat of Ryan Bundy, a passenger in Finicum's truck when Bundy was arrested.

Astarita, 41, is expected to face stiffer questions during his cross-examination in the afternoon.

Astarita had arrived in Burns in early January 2016. He was posted at the roadblock on U.S. 395, about a mile north of where state police and FBI agents planned to stop the occupation leaders traveling in a Jeep and Finicum's truck on their way to a community meeting in John Day.

Astarita said his initial role was to "man the roadblock,'' standing on a small ladder behind the front hood of an FBI rental truck that formed part of a V in the northbound lane. Agent John Neidert was on a ladder behind the hood of the other FBI rental truck in the southbound lane.

Finicum had sped away from the police stop. Astarita said he saw Finicum's truck traveling rapidly toward the roadblock.

He said he got onto the hood of the truck in front of him, tried to get a sight on the driver's side of Finicum's pickup to see if he "could apply effective fire on that driver.'' But he couldn't see inside the cab. Soon, he heard a supervisor command, "Bail out! Bail out! Bail out!''

Astarita got off the ladder, heard somebody say, "Get down! They're shooting!'' and ran to the east side of the road. He saw Neidert run to the west side as Finicum's truck swerved into a snowbank on the west side.

"I saw the truck come through the snow. I saw John disappear,'' he said. "At that point, I thought John was dead.''

Astarita said he immediately started moving to help Neidert. He remembered seeing Neidert's head pop out of the snowbank and saw him shaking off the snow, which he said gave him tremendous relief.

"I began scanning my sector for threats,'' Astarita said. He identified himself on a video image, standing beside the open passenger door of a state police truck facing south in the middle of the road.

"I saw motion on the driver's side and I saw Mr. Finicum was exiting,'' Astarita said, referring to Finicum's truck in the snowbank.

He said he spotted Oregon State Police Officer Joey Pollard in his backdrop and worried about crossfire.

"Did you fire your weapon at that moment?'' defense lawyer Robert Cary asked.

"No, I did not,'' Astarita responded.

"Did you fire your weapon at all that day?'' Cary continued.

"No, I did not,'' Astarita said.

As Finicum walked away further from his truck, Astarita said he tried to get Neidert and himself and his boss, supervisory special agent B.M., behind the state police car for better cover. He recalled seeing Finicum reach with his right hand into his left inner pocket and Finicum "go down.''

"Do you recall hearing any shots at the roadblock that day?'' Cary asked.

"I do not,'' Astarita said.

"Did you see who shot him?'' Cary asked.

"I did not,'' Astarita aid.

The attention of FBI agents and officers at the scene then turned to the passengers still in Finicum's truck, he said. He said he deployed one flash bang at Finicum's truck as a distraction so those still in the truck wouldn't get " a line of sight'' to shoot one of the officers, Astarita said.

Astarita said he gave loud, authoritative commands for the remaining occupants of Fincium's truck to exit with their hands up. He also said he was using loud commands to organize the state SWAT and FBI agents huddled on the driver's side of the state police truck in the middle of the roadblock. They were trying to cover one another in a standard patrol "up/down" technique, he said, describing how they'd take turns popping up and down over the truck to cover the passenger side of Finicum's truck so no one in Finicum's truck could get a shot off at any of them.

Once Ryan Bundy stepped out of Finicum's truck, Astarita recognized his voice on a bystander's video played for jurors, in which he could be heard yelling, "Keep coming'' as Bundy was directed to walk backwards toward officers once he got to the road, out of the snowbank.

Astarita said he noticed Bundy was wearing a gun holster, and he put his hand on it, to make sure it was empty and asked Bundy where the gun was. Bundy didn't answer, he said. Bundy was ordered by state police to lay prone on his stomach in the road. As he did, his cowboy hat fell off on the street, according to Astarita. Bundy was then placed on his knees so officers could handcuff his hands behind his back, the agent said.

"The cowboy hat was in the way so I picked it up in a frisbee style motion, and I tossed it out into the snow,'' Astarita said.

A state police officer previously testified that he couldn't understand why Astarita, unprovoked, had walked up and knocked Bundy's hat off.

Asked why he was seen walking up to Bundy's right side later as Bundy remained kneeling in the street, Astarita said, "I was looking at Mr. Bundy's cuffs.''

Prosecutors attempted to suggest that Astarita walked up to Bundy to inspect whether he had been injured by the gunshot that struck the roof of Finicum's truck, the disputed one in the case.

Asked by Cary if he was aware Bundy had been injured, Astarita said, "I did hear out there that Mr. Bundy had a cut.''

Cary asked Astarita to explain his unusual statement to FBI supervisory Agent Ian McConnell at the scene when McConnell asked if he was OK and had taken any shots. McConnell testified that Astarita responded with a flippant remark, which became a "pet peeve'' of his.

Astarita said he couldn't remember the exact words, but he said something like, "Don't ask me, I don't know.''

"I could tell Ian was a bit confused about my answer,'' Astarita said, and when McConnell asked him if he had shot again, he said he told him he did not.

During much of Wednesday morning, Astarita's lawyer played back the FBI infrared aerial video, which captured officers walking and scouring the scene that night, bending to look under trucks, which the FBI's former special agent in charge Greg Bretzing has testified was concerning.

After stopping several frames, Cary asked Astarita if he could identify the figures. "No I cannot,'' Astarita said, as he stood before the jury, watching the video on a large computer screen beside the witness stand.

"Did you pick up any .308 rounds?'' Cary asked.

"I did not,'' Astarita said.

"Did you pick up any .223 rounds?'' Cary asked.

"I did not,'' the agent said.

After the shooting, Astarita said he did spend some time in an FBI truck with other agents, including Neidert. Asked if he remembered telling a colleague he had saved Neidert, Astarita explained that he was teasing Neidert about the fact he "bailed the wrong way'' and he had to come rescue him. Neidert testified that Astarita never rescued him.

The night of the shooting, Astarita was interviewed by state police detectives, but they didn't ask him whether he had fired his gun, he said.

Astarita confirmed that he later told his immediate boss, agent B.M., that he hadn't shot either. In their 10-person tent back at their tactical operations center a day or two later, he recalled learning later that investigators had concerns about unaccounted-for rounds. He and B.M., Astarita said, separately checked their rifles and magazines "to see if there was any indication we shot.'' They checked their own rifles simultaneously, he said.

Astarita said he placed no restrictions on the second group interview held with state police detectives in February. Prior testimony revealed his boss, agent B.M., did, demanding an unrecorded, group interview, highly unusual in an officer-involved shooting case.

Prosecutors contend Astarita is the only one who could have taken the disputed shots, based on FBI aerial surveillance videos, Astarita's unusual remarks to his superiors after the shooting and forensic analysis tracing the bullet back to his position by the open passenger door of a state police truck parked in the middle of the roadblock.

Astarita's lawyers argued the government's forensic experts erred, and the bullet trajectory cone can't pinpoint one particular shooter, but places Astarita and two others as potential shooters, fingering a state police SWAT officer as the most likely one who fired, considering he shot five other times that day, including two shots killing Finicum.

If convicted, Astarita could face up to 20 years of prison - five years each for each count of making a false statement, and up to 10 years for obstruction of justice.


Onward and upward,
airforce

Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case [Re: airforce] #167726
08/10/2018 06:05 PM
08/10/2018 06:05 PM
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Not Guilty on all counts.


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airforce

Last edited by airforce; 08/10/2018 06:45 PM.
Re: Trial Underway for FBI Agent in Lavoy Finicum Case [Re: airforce] #167755
08/13/2018 03:14 PM
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Imagine that, Who woulda thunk, Can't happen Here, "MuriKa.


"To achieve One World Government it is necessary to remove from the minds of men their individualism, their loyalty to family traditions and national identification."
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