RESEARCHER
[OKLAHOMA BOMBING] Nichols defense claims cover-up
Mon Apr 19, 2004 08:12
63.228.145.202

Nichols defense claims cover-up
By J.D. Cash
http://www.mccurtain.com/articles/2004/04/14/top_story/top001.txt

MCALESTER - Claiming government misconduct and an outright cover-up by federal and state prosecutors in the Oklahoma City bombing investigation, attorneys for Terry L. Nichols on Monday filed a 90-page motion to dismiss charges in the 161-count mass-murder case.

Monday's defense filing included several hundred pages of supporting exhibits presented under seal, thus unavailable to the public.

In their most direct attack yet on the government's handling of evidence in the case, Nichols' lawyers provided a litany of examples where lawyers said they had to turn to journalists - including this newspaper - to find evidence still hidden by the government, evidence that tends to show convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh was involved with a group of bank bandits operating from a far-right compound in eastern Oklahoma called Elohim City.

"The federal government has withheld critical information from the defense," the motion states, "has sanitized or redacted 302s (witness statements) and has buried other materials in the discovery provided to the defense, all in an effort to mask the connection between Timothy McVeigh and his conspirators."

Nichols says his lawyers were denied critical evidence that a gang the FBI called the Midwest Bank Bandits or Aryan Republican Army assisted McVeigh. The defense contends that Nichols was "framed" by his former friend to shield McVeigh's co-conspirators operating out of Elohim City and elsewhere.

Referring to a series of recent articles by Washington, D.C., Associated Press reporter John Solomon, and materials used in earlier stories copyrighted by this newspaper, "It was only after the disclosures by AP reporter John Soloman and our subsequent review of other federal investigatory files (the federal bank robbery files of Peter Langan, one of the Midwest bank robbers) that we discovered critical exculpatory material buried in the 1B file in the 37 file cabinets in the District Attorney's office."

Hoping to convince District Court Judge Steven Taylor to toss the case out, defense attorneys argued that prosecutors as recently as March 1 claimed they turned over all exculpatory materials.

"This court made it perfectly clear, however, that if that reliance proved to be misplaced, and it was discovered that any exculpatory material had not been disclosed to the defense, the remedy would not be a mistrial, it would be dismissal with prejudice."

"Put bluntly, this Court has been misled. The federal government and state prosecutors have withheld - and continue to withhold - critical information from the defense that shows that Timothy McVeigh was aided by persons other than Terry Nichols in his plot to bomb the Murrah Building."

Film shocker

From details discovered in a Secret Service file on Richard Lee Guthrie Jr., one of the Midwest bank bandits (now deceased) defense lawyers told the court that they discovered references to a video that appears to have captured the bomb truck arriving and individuals exiting, then leaving the scene before the blast. The existence of such a film has never been confirmed before.

"Security video tapes from the area show the truck detonation three minutes and six seconds after the suspects exited the truck," the Secret Service file notes.

The Secret Service document also records that an eyewitness at the scene recalled a woman waving the bomb-laden Ryder truck into a parking place minutes before it exploded.

"ATSAIC McNally noted that this fact is significant due to the fact that the security video shows the Ryder truck pulling up to the federal building and then pausing (7-10 seconds) before resuming into a slot in front of the building. It is speculated that the woman was signaling the truck when a slot became available."

Phone records discovered

Discovered during an inspection at this newspaper by a member of the Nichols defense were critically important phone records the FBI gathered during their investigation into the Midwest bank bandits seven-state bank robbery spree.

Nichols' lawyers say these records are the missing link between the bank bandits and McVeigh at crucial times in the bombing conspiracy.

"It was not until Mr. Earnest (Nichols lawyer) found the attached prepaid telephone calling card account records in Peter Langan's BOMBROB file in Mr. Cash's office that the defense had any idea that some of numbers in the OKBOMB file were connected to the Midwest bank bandits," the motion states.

Referring to an FBI memo the defense only learned of after this newspaper used it in story published Dec. 14, 2003, the motion states:

"This FBI memorandum is a veritable bombshell. It was from the Director of the FBI and it specifically contains the Oklahoma City bombing FBI case number. ... The importance of this memo cannot be understated."

Referring to information in the mption, defense lawyers point out critically important facts such as that McVeigh had a lengthy relationship with someone at Elohim City prior to the bombing and that he called there twice before the blast.

Until now the Department of Justice and the FBI have said they never had any evidence that McVeigh had contacts in Elohim City or called there more than once.

Concerning this memo, the motion states: "It (the memo) unquestionably indicates that the FBI had additional, important information about an unknown "second conspirator" not set forth in the memo. The motion also sets forth a series of references to several witness statements contained in files obtained by this newspaper involving the Midwest bank bandits and their possible links to McVeigh.

The motion points out that the government withheld those items of evidence in spite of orders to turn over any evidence McVeigh may have been involved with others beyond Nichols.

Judge Taylor said he would need at least until Wednesday to consider the material before deciding on whether the case should be dismissed or if there might be another appropriate remedy.

Gazette reporter J.D. Cash has been subpoenaed to testify Wednesday.

(See OKC Bombing, online feature, for Nichols defense motion)

Recent OKC Bombing series
http://www.mccurtain.com/okc_bombing

OKC BOMBING RELATED STORY - VERY IMPORTANT!
The Death of Oklahoma City Police Officer Terrance Yeakey
Family on quest for answers meets harassment, intimidation and surveillance
By DAVID HOFFMAN

OKLAHOMA CITY -- On May 8, 1996, only three days before Sergeant Terrance Yeakey was to receive the Oklahoma Police Department's Medal of Valor, he "committed suicide." The 30 year-old cop was found in a field near El Reno, not far from where prison guard Joey Gladden "committed suicide." His wrists were slashed in numerous places, as was his neck and throat. Apparently not satisfied with this initial attempt to take his life, he got out of his car, walked a mile and-a-half over rough terrain, then pulled out his gun shot himself in the head.

In a manner paralleling that of El Reno Prison guard Joey Gladden, the press claimed Yeakey led a "troubled family life," having been recently divorced from his wife Tonia, and separated from his two daughters, aged two and four, whom the Daily Oklahoman claimed he was not permitted to see due to a restraining order.
CLICK FULL STORY:
http://www.geocities.com/vonchloride/wwyeakey.html


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Patriot Act gets boost from 9/11 hearings
Controversial law faces a renewal vote this year. Bush calls it a 'needed tool' in helping to catch suspected terrorists.
While the Bush administration took heavy hits in last week's 9/11 commission hearings, the hearings may have given the White House a public relations boost on one important front: its effort to win renewal this year for the controversial USA Patriot Act. Pressed by commissioners as to why their agencies failed to "connect the dots" before the 9/11 attacks, law enforcement and intelligence officials in both the Clinton and Bush administrations cited powers now included in the Patriot Act. The act, for example, makes it easier for agencies to to monitor the activities of suspected terrorists, and lets agents conducting criminal probes share information with intelligence officers, and vice versa.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0419/p02s01-uspo.html 

• Document: Oklahoma City Bombing Was Taped — Associated Press, Mon Apr 19 22:42
• [OKC BOMBING] Conspiracy Theories Still Alive Nine Years — Associated Press, Mon Apr 19 08:20