Judge: Possible FBI misconduct in Finicum shooting irrelevant to Oregon standoff defense
By Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on July 15, 2016 at 3:02 PM, updated July 15, 2016 at 8:22 PM
... Prosecutors last month revealed that the federal investigation into an FBI agent's apparent firing of gunshots at Finicum on Jan. 26 and the alleged FBI tampering with evidence at the scene had gone to a grand jury for review. They objected to any sharing of the evidence with defense lawyers.
Defense lawyers urged the judge to compel the government to turn over the investigative records regarding the FBI's alleged misconduct. They argued that prosecutors must share any evidence that could benefit the defense, including any material that could damage the credibility of a prosecution witness. Federal prosecutors countered that they won't call law enforcement officers involved in the investigation as witnesses in the case.
"The Court emphasizes this criminal case concerns only Defendants' alleged conduct in relation to the events at the MNWR (Malheur National Wildlife Refuge) as set out in the Superseding Indictment,'' U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown wrote in her order. "The very important questions whether the shooting of Lavoy Finicum was justified or whether FBI HRT officers engaged in misconduct at the time of that shooting are beyond the scope of this criminal case.''
The circumstances surrounding the FBI's firing of shots play no part in helping the defense explain why they came to the refuge armed with guns, since the shooting occurred more than three weeks after Ammon Bundy and supporters first arrived at the refuge, the judge said ...
http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/07/fed_judge_possible_misconduct.html
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