For those who have studied this case, this document reveals many incredible details that not only help "connect the dots" in many parts of the case, but reveal that the federal government does indeed have video tapes showing more than one person getting out of the Ryder truck in front of the Murrah building. This document goes into detail on the efforts of certain federal agents and prosecutors to hide the facts, hide evidence, and discredit the witnesses in this case. The Big Question that hangs over the OKBOMB case is "WHY?"
Why hide the facts...and the Others Unknown?
Read on....
Nichols Defense Motion
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IN
THE DISTRICT COURT OF PITTSBURG COUNTY
STATE OF OKLAHOMA ,THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA, )
Plaintiff, )
V. ) Case No. F-2004-68
TERRY LYNN NICHOLS, )
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Defendant.
)
TERRY LYNN NICHOLS' MOTION TO DISMISS BASED ON THE
STATE'S FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH BRADY v. MARYLAND
Submitted by:
Brian T. Hermanson, OBA #4131
W.
Creekmore Wallace, II, OBA #9315
Rodney J. Uphoff, OBA #014170
Barbara E. Bergman
Mark A. Earnest
Theresa M. Duncan
P.O. Box 879
McAlester, OK 74502
(918) 426-0032
Court-Appointed Attorneys for the Defendant
Table of Contents
I. STATEMENT OF FACTS 1
A. Introduction 1
B. McVeigh and Others Unknown 5
C. McVeigh and Elohim City 7
` D. McVeigh and the Midwest Bank Robbers 12
E. Frustrating the Defense Investigation 21
F. Solomon's Documents 24
G. Critical Information Contained in 1B 3484 43
H. The FBI's Investigation of the Midwest Bank Robbers
Calling Cards/Phone Records 54
I. The Federal Government's Investigation into Elohim
City 69
II. MR. NICHOLS HAS BEEN DEPRIVED OF DUE PROCESS OF
LAW
BECAUSE THE STATE HAS FAILED TO PROVIDE HIM WITH THE
EXCULPATORY MATERIAL TO WHICH HE IS CONSTITUTIONALLY ENTITLED 75
III. EVIDENCE THAT OTHERS ASSISTED TIMOTHY MCVEIGH IS
CRITICAL TO ENSURING THAT MR. NICHOLS IS PROVIDED HIS
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO PRESENT A DEFENSE 82
I. STATEMENT OF FACTS
A. Introduction
To fully appreciate the extent to which the federal
government and the state prosecutors have sought to mislead this Court, the
defense, and the public about the bombing of the Murrah Building, it is
necessary to bear in mind a number of actions taken by the FBI, officials in the
Department of Justice, and the state prosecutors.
* First, relatively soon after the bombing, Attorney
General Janet Reno announced publicly that the bombing was an act of domestic
terrorism.
* Second, the FBI and federal prosecutors proclaimed
prior to and at the federal trials that there was no John Doe #2 or other
unnamed co-conspirators. Rather, officials of the federal government insisted
that the bombing was solely the work of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols,
except for some early assistance by the Fortier’s.
* Third, the federal government has withheld critical
information from the defense, has sanitized or redacted 302s, 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 co-conspirators. This was
particularly easy to do given the volume of material turned over to the defense
and the roadblocks thrown up by the federal government and state prosecutors to
bar access to relevant documents and information. The state prosecutors not only
have echoed the federal government's claim that only Timothy McVeigh and Terry
Nichols committed this bombing, they have fought to prevent us from discovering
exculpatory material and the connection between McVeigh and others unknown.
Invoking their claimed "open file policy" and relying on an unduly
narrow view of their Brady obligations, state prosecutors have insisted that it
is up to the defense to search for itself in millions of documents to find
whatever exculpatory material lies hidden there.
* Fourth, the FBI kept the lead sheets from the
federal defense team and only provided a portion of them to Mr. Nichols' state
lawyers. By failing to turn over the documents and information identified in
this motion and in our last continuance motion, and by withholding the lead
sheets and other exculpatory material contained in other investigatory files
related to the Murrah Building bombing, the federal government has been largely
able to cover up the connection between Timothy McVeigh and his co-conspirators.
Indeed, it was only after the disclosures by AP reporter John Solomon and our
subsequent review of other federal investigatory files (the federal bank robbery
file of Peter Langan, one of the Midwest bank robbers1) that we discovered
critical exculpatory material buried in a 1B file in the 37 file cabinets in the
District Attorney's Office. Absent Mr. Solomon's disclosures, it is likely that
the federal government would have accomplished its goal of covering up Timothy
McVeigh's involvement with unnamed others in his plot to bomb the Murrah
Building.
State prosecutors and the Department of Justice have
repeatedly represented to this Court that the federal government and the State
have turned over to the defense all exculpatory material related to the
investigation of the bombing of the Murrah Building on April 19, 1995. Indeed,
on March 1, 2004, state prosecutors once again assured this Court that all
exculpatory material in their possession and in the possession of federal
authorities had been fully disclosed to the defense. They made this
representation even though this Court had made it perfectly clear that it wanted
to know "if you or the federal government have any hint, any indication,
direct or indirect, that anybody in any of those groups played a role in the
bombing of the Murrah Building."2 This Court, relying upon the
representations made by the State and the Department of Justice, denied Mr.
Nichols' Motion for Continuance.3 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.
Indeed, they have withheld from the defense and from this Court the fact that
they have a video in their possession showing "the suspects" exiting
the Ryder truck three minutes and six seconds before the detonation. They have
also failed to disclose the critical fact that Timothy McVeigh made a second
phone call to Elohim City after he rented the Ryder truck. This omission is
particularly significant in light of additional evidence we have now uncovered
that Mr. McVeigh's call on April 5, 1995, to Elohim City was made on "[a]
day that he was believed to have been attempting to recruit a second conspirator
to assist in the OKBOMB4 attack."5
As this Motion and our last Motion for Continuance
spell out, the federal government and state prosecutors have deliberately
frustrated our efforts to link Mr. McVeigh with the Midwest bank robbers and
with terrorists living in Elohim City.6 It was not until the disclosures made by
AP reporter, John Solomon, in his February 25, 2004 article and our subsequent
investigation, however, that we found more information that now allows us to
fully appreciate the extent of the connection between Mr. McVeigh and these
others. In fact, the additional investigation we have conducted since March 1,
2004, together with the documents and information set forth in our Motion for
Continuance, unequivocally demonstrate that Timothy McVeigh was aided by persons
other than Terry Nichols in his plot to bomb the Murrah Building.
Moreover, significant circumstantial evidence points
to the conclusion that those who aided Timothy McVeigh were members of a violent
gang of bank robbers known as the Midwest bank robbers and to people living in
Elohim City, a communal compound of anti-government violent radicals located in
northeastern Oklahoma. As this Motion demonstrates, however, the federal
government and state prosecutors have withheld much of this exculpatory
information while other exculpatory material lay buried --- and more may still
be buried -- in the voluminous files in the District Attorney's Office. The
evidence withheld from the defense coupled with the evidence we have now
discovered following Mr. Solomon's revelations directly substantiates Mr.
Nichols' defense: Mr. McVeigh was aided by others and he manipulated Mr. Nichols
to take the blame instead of these others. Because the federal government and
the state prosecutors have misled this Court and have done so in a way that
denies Mr. Nichols' his right to a fair trial, we now request the remedy that
this Court promised - dismissal of this case with prejudice.
B. McVeigh and Others Unknown
When we began to review the 302s provided to us by the
State, it became clear that there were numerous sightings of Timothy McVeigh in
the company of other persons in Oklahoma City and in Kansas in the weeks and
days before April 19, 1995. These sightings did not involve Terry Nichols.
Rather, numerous witnesses identified a person or persons with Mr. McVeigh at
times when Terry Nichols was clearly not present or described the accomplices
with Mr. McVeigh in a manner that was totally inconsistent with Terry Nichols.7
In addition, there were frequent reports of persons driving the yellow Mercury
Marquis owned by Mr. McVeigh or being seen riding in that Mercury either on
April 19th or in the days before the bombing.8 There were also sightings of
McVeigh and another person near the Murrah Building before and after the
bombing.9 The information provided by these witnesses confirmed the existence of
another person or persons aiding Mr. McVeigh. Once again, most of these
sightings were at times that eliminated Terry Nichols as Mr. McVeigh's
accomplice.
In addition, there were 302s that related sightings of
Mr. McVeigh and another person or persons in a Ryder truck either on April 19th
or before the bombing.10 Moreover, there were witnesses who clearly put another
person with Mr. McVeigh when the Ryder truck was rented.11 Finally, there was
considerable evidence that pointed to others unknown being with McVeigh at the
Dreamland Motel in Junction City, Kansas in the days before the bombing.
Specifically, Lea McGown, the owner of the Dreamland Motel, heard male voices,
at least two and possibly three, coming from Room #25, McVeigh's room, at the
Dreamland on either Saturday evening, April 15, 1995, or Sunday evening April
16, 1995.12 In addition, Jeff Davis from the Hunam Palace restaurant delivered
an order to that same room on the evening of Saturday, April 15. He has
previously testified that the man who came to the door to take the order was not
Timothy McVeigh.13 Indeed, the calls made from Room #25 to order the Chinese
food and to check on its delivery were made without using the Daryl Bridges
calling card, suggesting that they were made by someone other than Timothy
McVeigh who regularly used the Bridges card for local calls.14 All of this
evidence points to the conclusion that a person or persons other than Terry
Nichols assisted Mr. McVeigh in his plot to blow up the Murrah Building.
In the early months of 2001, therefore, the defense
began to interview a number of these witnesses. Given the length of time that
had passed, the defense had to spend hundreds of hours trying to locate these
witnesses. What the defense learned, however, when a number of these witnesses
were finally interviewed, was that many of these witnesses were confident that
they had, in fact, seen Timothy McVeigh in or around Oklahoma City or in Kansas
at relevant times in 1994-95. Based on the growing number of credible sightings,
the defense undertook the significant challenge of trying to determine the
identity of the person or persons who were assisting Mr. McVeigh.
C. McVeigh and Elohim City
The 302s provided to us by the State occasionally
referenced persons connected to Elohim City, a communal compound located in
northeastern Oklahoma near the city of Muldrow. The State disclosed in the
materials turned over to us the fact that Timothy McVeigh, using the Daryl
Bridges calling card, called Elohim City on April 5, 1995, two weeks before the
bombing. He asked to speak to an individual named Andy Strassmeir. See Trial
Transcript, United States v. Nichols, December 10, 1997, at 13718. Minutes later
Mr. McVeigh used that same Bridges card to make a call to a Ryder truck rental
store in Arizona. See State's Exhibit 553, p. 189. Nevertheless, the federal
government and the state prosecutors have steadfastly denied any connection
between Timothy McVeigh and Elohim City. Not surprisingly then, most of the
information that we were able to obtain about Elohim City did not come from the
302s or the federal government, but from the state grand jury, from a motion
filed by the defense in the McVeigh case, and from our own investigation.
From these sources we learned that a number of the
residents of the Elohim City compound had long been known to both local and
national law enforcement authorities for advocating violence and the overthrow
of the government. In 1994 and 1995, the Reverend Robert Millar was the leader
of Elohim City. The residents of Elohim City practiced a religion known as
Christian Identity that promoted white supremacy. In 1994 and 1995, before the
bombing of the Murrah Building, a number of well-known anti-government persons
either lived in or passed through Elohim City, including Jim Ellison. Mr.
Ellison was Reverend Millar's son-in-law, and former head of the Arkansas wing
of a paramilitary anti-government group, the Covenant, Sword and Arm of the Lord
("CSA"). In 1983, members of this compound conspired with Richard
Wayne Snell, another member of the CSA, to blow up the Murrah Building.15 Snell
was later executed on April 19, 1995, by the State of Arkansas for killing a
state trooper. He was buried in Elohim City. Media reports suggested a
connection between Snell's execution and the Murrah Building bombing because
Snell was alleged to have said shortly before his execution: "Governor,
look over your shoulder, justice is coming."
We discovered that in the fall of 1994 the ATF began
to investigate a person by the name of Dennis Mahon.16 Mr. Mahon was a leader of
an organization called WAR (White Aryan Resistance). Not only was Mr. Mahon an
avowed racist, but he was also a sworn enemy of the United States government who
approved of the use of violence against the government. At one time, Mahon was
also leader of the Oklahoma chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. In the fall of 1994,
Mahon was a frequent visitor to Elohim City and a close friend of Andreas
Strassmeir.
As part of their investigation into the activities in
Elohim City, the ATF utilized a confidential informant to obtain information.
The ATF later disclosed that the confidential informant was a woman named Carol
Howe. While working as an informant, Ms. Howe spent time at Elohim City in 1994
and through April of 1995. Ms. Howe would report what she saw and heard about
the activities at Elohim City to her ATF "handler," Special Agent
Angela Finley-Graham.
Carol Howe reported to Agent Finley-Graham about the
increasing militancy of those in Elohim City. She told Finley-Graham that Mahon
and Strassmeir had discussed "targeting" federal installations for
destruction, such as the Tulsa IRS Office, the Tulsa Federal Building and the
Oklahoma City Federal Building. In fact, Mahon not only discussed the
destruction of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City by bombing, but Mahon and
Strassmeir took at least three trips to Oklahoma City in November 1994, December
1994, and again in February 1995. In fact, Carol Howe claims to have accompanied
them during the December 1994 trip. See E-427, attached as Exhibit 2.
Carol Howe later testified at Mr. Nichols' federal
trial and at the state grand jury investigating the Murrah Building bombing. She
stated that following the Oklahoma City bombing she saw pictures of Timothy
McVeigh in the media and realized that she had seen McVeigh in Elohim City. He
was with Andreas Strassmeir. Ms. Howe believes that she saw McVeigh sometime
around July 1994.17 He was using the alias of "Tim Tuttle."
Ultimately, however, other than Carol Howe's testimony and evidence of Mr.
McVeigh's April 5, 1995 phone call we could find little corroboration of this
linkage between Mr. McVeigh and Elohim City.18
There is no doubt that Andreas Strassmeir was living
in Elohim City in 1994 and until August of 1995. In fact, Mr. Strassmeir, a
German national, was the security director at the Elohim City compound. On
February 28, 1992, State Highway Trooper Vernon Phillips had stopped Strassmeir
near Elohim City and searched his car finding a copy of The Terrorist
Handbook.19 See E-427.20 Strassmeir was not only familiar with bomb making and
weaponry, he organized paramilitary training sessions at Elohim City and
regularly discussed taking direct action against the federal government. See
id.; E-1866. After the bombing of the Murrah Building, Strassmeir admitted
meeting Timothy McVeigh at a gun show in Tulsa in 1993 and discussing Waco with
him. See D-14897. Furthermore, Mr. Strassmeir has been linked with several of
the Midwest bank robbers and supposedly trained some of the robbers at Elohim
City. See D-16207. In fact, he roomed for a while with Michael Brescia, one of
the Midwest bank robbers. Strassmeir was in this country illegally on an expired
visa on April 19, 1995.
On April 5, 1995, the same day that McVeigh was
calling Strassmeir, the telephone records prepared by the FBI reveal that nine
calls were placed by Timothy McVeigh to the National Alliance.21 The National
Alliance is a neo-Nazi group that was founded by Richard Butler, the author of
The Turner Diaries and The Hunter.22 See Exhibit 3, attached pamphlet entitled:
"What is the National Alliance?" As that brochure demonstrates, the
National Alliance is a hate group that preaches the superiority of the Aryan
race and the need for a regime change in the United States. Undoubtedly, Timothy
McVeigh firmly believed in the ideas espoused in The Hunter and The Turner
Diaries and was sympathetic to the ideology of white supremacist organizations.
In contrast, there is no evidence that Terry Nichols was a member of any white
supremacist group. Indeed, Terry Nichols' marriage to a non-Aryan Filipino,
Marife Nichols, is wholly inconsistent with the tenets of the National Alliance.
The National Alliance and other Aryan hate groups are fundamentally opposed to
interracial marriage. Exhibit 3 (the National Alliance pamphlet) sets forth the
requirements for membership in the organization and makes clear that interracial
couples and children will not be tolerated. It states:
Requirements for Membership: Ineligible persons:
"No homosexual or bisexual person, no person actively addicted to alcohol
or an illegal drug, no person with a non-White spouse or a non-White dependent,
and except, in extraordinary circumstances, no person currently confined in a
penal institution may be a member.
See also The Hunter (a novel about a man who kills
mixed-race couples to incite a race war).
Nevertheless, prior to Mr. Solomon's revelations and
our subsequent discovery of 1B3484,23 the defense did not make any significant
progress in proving that Timothy McVeigh was, in fact, working with the people
in Elohim City. Although the defense did spend considerable time trying to
locate Ms. Howe, we have only been able to talk to her father and to her lawyer.
They would not divulge her location so we have been unable to talk with her.
Moreover, the defense believes that Andreas Strassmeir is out of the country.
Consequently, we have been unable to talk to him about this case. Even if we
were able to locate him, it is unrealistic to believe that Strassmeir or any of
the residents of Elohim City would admit to the defense that they were involved
with Mr. McVeigh or identify others who might have helped him.
D. McVeigh and the Midwest Bank Robbers
In our investigation, the defense learned of a claimed
a link between Timothy McVeigh and members of a group of bank robbers known as
the "Midwest Bank Robbers" (a.k.a., the Aryan Republican Army ("ARA")).
The ARA was a group of bank robbers who committed twenty-two (22) bank robberies
in states throughout the Midwest between October 1993 and December 1995. Law
enforcement officials estimated that they netted over $250,000 from these
robberies. The ARA was a militant, anti-government group who advocated
"war" with the government. They used bombs during their robberies and
in a mission statement clearly stated that the proceeds of the robberies were to
be used to fund other acts of terrorism against the government.24 A homemade
underground video, made by the members of the ARA and confiscated by the FBI
during its investigation of the ARA, specifically references violence to
government entities and preparing for a "court house massacre." The
defense has obtained a copy of this video from journalist J.D. Cash. It is
attached as Exhibit 4.
The known members of the ARA include the following
persons: Peter Langan, Richard Guthrie, Jr., Kevin McCarthy, Scott Stedeford,
Michael Brescia and Mark Thomas. Most, if not all of them, either lived in or
visited Elohim City at some time before the Oklahoma City bombing.25 The
following short biographies of these individuals will adequately describe them
for purposes of this Motion:
a. Richard Guthrie, Jr.
Richard Guthrie was apprehended on January 15, 1996,
in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the first of the ARA members to be arrested. At some
point following his arrest, he decided to cooperate with federal authorities in
the prosecution of the other bank robbers. He was "debriefed" by
federal investigators in March of 1996. He was purportedly offered a plea
agreement that would have resulted in a sentence of up to twenty-five years
imprisonment. On July 12, 1996, before his guilty plea and a week before he was
scheduled to testify against his co-defendant, Peter Langan, Guthrie committed
suicide in his jail cell in Covington, Kentucky.
b. Peter Langan
Peter Langan was arrested by federal law enforcement
authorities in Columbus, Ohio, on January 18, 1996, three days after Guthrie was
arrested. He was originally indicted for assault of on a federal agent and
weapons charges. In March 1996, however, Mr. Langan was charged in a superseding
indictment with two counts of bank robbery and additional weapons charges.26
During plea discussions, the federal prosecutors proposed a plea agreement that
would have required Mr. Langan to be debriefed. Federal prosecutors advised Mr.
Langan's defense counsel that he could assist himself by providing substantial
assistance in other criminal investigations. Government counsel also advised
defense counsel that they thought Mr. Langan could assist them with respect to
the Oklahoma City bombing investigation. Ultimately, no plea agreement was ever
reached. See Affidavit of Kevin Durkin, attached as Exhibit 5. As a result that
information was never provided, and Mr. Langan proceeded to trial. In two
separate trials he was convicted on 9 out of 12 charges including assault on a
federal agent, two counts of bank robbery with a firearm and a bomb, and various
other weapons charges. On December 18, 1998, Mr. Langan was sentenced to life
imprisonment without parole plus 35 years. At the time of his arrest on January
18, 1996, Mr. Langan had in his possession several prepaid calling cards
including three with the brand name "Driveline." These were prepaid
calling cards issued by Fone America, Inc. (Exhibit 6, 302 dated 1/18/96, FBI
file # 91A-CI-63809, MC-124). This 302 was not produced to the defense by the
federal government or state prosecutors in this case. Rather, it was found in
Langan's BOMBROB27 file.
c. Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy was arrested on May 24, 1996. He was
indicted in federal court on six counts of bank robbery on January 30, 1997.
After testifying for the federal government in the trials of Langan and
Stedeford, he plead guilty to one count each of bank robbery, possession of a
weapon during a criminal act, and conspiracy to commit armed robbery. Other
charges involving alleged RICO violations were dismissed. He was sentenced to
five years in prison and was placed in the federal witness protection program.
At various times during 1994 and 1995, McCarthy lived in Elohim City.
d. Scott Stedeford
Scott Stedeford was arrested on May 22, 1996.
Approximately six months later, he was found guilty in a jury trial in U.S.
District Court in Iowa of three charges related to the 1995 robbery of an Iowa
Boatman's Bank. On February 7, 1997, Stedeford was sentenced to 20 years in
prison. He also pled guilty in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia to
conspiracy in six other bank robberies, and he received an additional 12 years.
At various times in 1994 and 1995, Mr. Stedeford lived at Elohim City and was
present at the compound the week before the Murrah Building bombing.28
e. Michael Brescia
Michael Brescia was arrested on January 30, 1997, on
charges of conspiracy to commit seven of the Midwest Bank robberies. On May 30,
1997, Brescia pled guilty to robbing the Bank One in Madison, Wisconsin. He was
sentenced to fifty-seven months in prison and was released early in March 2001.
Brescia also had lived in Elohim City and at one point was engaged to the grand
daughter of Robert Millar, the leader of the compound.
On July 2, 1996, six months before he was arrested on
charges related to the bank robberies he committed in 1995, Brescia was
contacted by telephone concerning his knowledge of Timothy McVeigh and the
Oklahoma City bombing. See E-8564. At that time, he told the FBI he would not be
interviewed outside the presence of his attorney, Kirk Lyons. Mr. Lyons was also
the attorney for Andreas Strassmeir. Brescia told the FBI that he had been told
that Timothy McVeigh had called Elohim City looking for Strassmeir.
f. Mark Thomas
Mark Thomas was arrested at his farm located in
eastern Pennsylvania on January 30, 1997. On March 19, 1998, he pled guilty to
plotting seven Midwestern bank robberies and using the cash to further the cause
of the white supremacy movement. He was sentenced to eight years in prison. He
was recently released into a work release program in January of this year. On
April 5, 1997, his former girlfriend, Donna Mazaroff, was interviewed by an FBI
agent in Alburtis, Pennsylvania. She stated that in late 1994 or early 1995, in
a moment of intense anger, Thomas made a remark to the effect: "We are
going to get them. We are going to hit one of their buildings, a Federal
building, during the day. That's when there will be the most casualties. They
will know what it is to lose their loved one, how it feels." See Exhibit 7
(302 # 17778).
In the discovery material provided to us by the State,
we have found no mention specifically of the Midwest bank robbers. We did
receive a few lab reports included in a group of over five hundred lab reports
turned over to us in this case that are connected to bank robbery investigations
that we now know were committed by members of the Midwest bank robbers gang. See
attached Exhibits 8 and 9.29 Although one of these lab reports does refer to a
bank robbery, there is no way from reading this lab report in isolation that one
is able to connect it with the Midwest bank robbers gang. The other two lab
reports contain only case numbers without any specific reference to the Midwest
bank robbers. Thus, upon our original review of these lab reports, they were set
aside as irrelevant because we were unaware that the FBI was investigating any
connection or that there was any connection between Timothy McVeigh and the
Midwest bank robbers.
There were in 302s provided to us a few references to
people who we have come to learn were the Midwest bank robbers. Specifically,
there were seven 302s and inserts which referred to Michael Brescia, none for
Peter Langan, one for Richard Guthrie, five for Kevin McCarthy, four for Scott
Stedeford, and nine for Mark Thomas. Many of these reports mention more than one
of these individuals. In all, the defense was given fourteen separate reports
that refer to the Midwest bank robbers. None of these reports contains
information that would have linked any of them to the Murrah Building bombing.
As such, it was not until the disclosures by Mr. Solomon and our subsequent
investigation that we began to recognize the strong connections between the
Midwest bank robbers, Timothy McVeigh, and Elohim City. We then obtained the
ninety-one page 302, not from the State, but from Peter Langan's BOMBROB files
describing the FBI March 1996 debriefing of Richard Guthrie after his agreement
to testify on behalf of the federal government. Surprisingly, despite the fact
that the FBI clearly had been investigating the connections between the Midwest
bank robbers and the Murrah Building bombing, this 302 contains no mention of
Timothy McVeigh or anything about the Murrah Building bombing other than a brief
notation that the bank robbers left a newspaper article about Timothy McVeigh
and the Oklahoma City bombing in one of their getaway cars.
There was some information in the discovery material
the State provided to us, however, that shows that Mr. McVeigh was involved in
bank robberies. For example, Jennifer McVeigh told the FBI that prior to the
bombing her brother, Timothy, told her that he was involved in planning or
setting up a bank robbery. See attached Exhibit 10. Describing a conversation
that she had with her brother at the residence of their recently deceased
grandfather, Ms. McVeigh said:
At that time [Timothy McVeigh] advised me as follows:
He had been involved in a bank robbery but did not provide any further details
concerning this robbery. He advised me that he had not actually participated in
the robbery itself, but was somehow involved in the planning or setting up of
this robbery. Although he did not identify the participants by name, he stated
"they" had committed the robbery. . . . . It was my belief that this
bank robbery had occurred within the recent past. I was not made aware of any of
the details or if there were additional robberies involving my brother or any of
his associates. I do recall that my brother remarked that the money that he had
in his possession was his share of the proceeds.
McVeigh's grandfather died on October 16, 1994.
McVeigh returned home to Lockport, New York sometime in November 1994. Banks
were robbed by the Midwest bank robbers in Overland Park, Kansas on September
21, 1994, and in Columbus, Ohio on October 25, 1994.
Moreover, in one letter that McVeigh wrote to his
sister he talks approvingly of robbing banks. He states in that letter:
To start with, the credit "scam" (or our
friend who knocks over banks . . .) In the past, you would see the news and see
a bank robber, and judge him a 'criminal." But without getting too lengthy
the Federal Reserve and the banks are the real criminals, 'cash" as we know
it is counterfeit, and a dollar is just worthless paper, so where is the crime
in getting even / fighting a criminal? I guess if I reflect, it's sort of a
Robin Hood thing, and our gov't is the evil King.
See attached Exhibit 11. This letter was dated
December 24, 1993, approximately two months after the first robberies attributed
to the Midwest bank robbers took place in Columbus, Ohio. When these statements
are read together, they constitute admissions by Timothy McVeigh that he was
involved in a bank robbery. It is much more likely that the proceeds of this
bank robbery in which Mr. McVeigh participated provided the funding necessary to
bomb the Murrah Building rather than the so-called robbery of Roger Moore. It
also is very likely - given the circumstantial evidence described below - that
the bank robbery to which Mr. McVeigh is referring is one he planned with the
Midwest bank robbers.
One of the important links in the State's
circumstantial case against Terry Nichols has been the prosecutors' claim that
Terry Nichols robbed Roger Moore on November 5, 1994. The State lacks any direct
evidence but is relying solely on circumstantial evidence and alleged statements
by Timothy McVeigh to Michael and Lori Fortier to pin this robbery on Mr.
Nichols. Additionally, the State claims that Mr. Nichols shared the proceeds of
this robbery with Mr. McVeigh to finance the bombing of the Murrah Building.
Nevertheless, significant evidence will be introduced that shows that Roger
Moore was not robbed in the first place. For example, Roger Moore did not call
the sheriff after the alleged robbery until prompted to do so by his neighbors
and his description of the robber changed over time. The sheriff and
representatives of Moore's insurance company who investigated the alleged
robbery all believed that he had made up the story. In addition, when Moore
returned to his home with his neighbors after the alleged robbery, he went
directly to the place where the telephone lines had been severed, although he
had told them that he immediately went to their home after getting out of the
restraints he alleged were used on him.
If, in fact, Roger Moore was robbed on November 5,
1994, evidence that will be introduced at trial supports the conclusion that
Terry Nichols was not the robber. For example, Moore alleges that the robber had
a one-inch beard, a dark complexion and strong body odor. Days before the
alleged robbery, Lana Padilla saw Mr. Nichols without any facial hair. In
addition, Mr. Nichols is light-complected and was known for having good hygiene.
Finally, tire tracks taken near where Moore's van was abandoned following the
robbery did not match the tires on Mr. Nichols' truck.
Indeed, if Mr. Moore was robbed on November 5, 1994,
circumstantial evidence suggests that the actual robber(s) may have been members
of the Midwest bank robbers. Peter Langan is expected to testify that he and
Richard Guthrie, Jr. visited Roger Moore's home at least twice before the
alleged robbery. In addition, videotape seized from Mr. Guthrie's property,
entitled "Contract," allegedly contained images of Roger Moore's home.
Unfortunately, we have reason to believe that this videotape was destroyed by
the federal government. Finally, an Arkansas driver's license in the name of
"Bob Miller" was found in a storage facility rented by the bank
robbers. "Bob Miller" is an alias used by Roger Moore. Other testimony
at trial will show that, prior to the alleged Moore robbery, Richard Guthrie,
Jr. possessed everything that Moore described the robber as wearing and using
during the robbery; namely, a ski mask, "Israeli combat boots,"
plastic restraints, and the exact type of weapon allegedly used by the robber.
Conversely, in the case of Mr. Nichols, there is no evidence that he ever
committed a violent act in his life, let alone committed an armed robbery.
Moreover, the State cannot connect Mr. Nichols to the specific clothing and
weapon described by Moore. Despite the fact that the federal government was
aware that evidence seized from the Midwest bank robbers tied them to Roger
Moore "robbery," none of this information was provided to the defense.
E. Frustrating the Defense Investigation
In the summer of 2001, defense investigation was shut
down because of the funding controversy. It was not until January of 2003 that
the defense began to resume investigating this case. Most of the defense
efforts, however, at that point were consumed getting ready for the preliminary
hearing scheduled for May 2003. It was only after the preliminary hearing, in
the summer of 2003, that the defense began in earnest to resume its
investigation.
At this point, the defense faced a truly daunting
challenge. With the trial set for less than a year away, the defense had to
locate and interview hundreds of witnesses when we had only reviewed a small
fraction of the material contained in the 37 files cabinets located in the
District Attorney's Office. It is true that theoretically we have had access to
the materials in those cabinets since January of 2000. As a practical matter,
however, given the sheer volume of discovery provided to the defense, we had
only been able to review a small percentage of the material in those cabinets.
Before the team was disbanded in July 2001, the defense had concentrated on
organizing the voluminous discovery material and reviewing as many of the 302s
as possible. Our problems were compounded by the state prosecutors' initial
resistance to our efforts to copy all of the material in those cabinets or to
provide us the indexes that they had. In addition, the state prosecutors were
unwilling to allow us to scan those materials so that they could be computer
searchable.30 It was not until May 30, 2003, that this Court ordered that the
indexes be provided to us and that the defense be permitted to scan those
documents. It took several months for the defense to scan a considerable number
of those documents, but the time and expense involved was too great to scan all
of the materials in the possession of the State. In fact, many of the documents
in those file cabinets remain unread.
It was at that time that the defense sent a letter to
Ms. Elliott setting forth its defense theories and requesting any exculpatory
material given those theories. Specifically, the defense asked for any
information that pointed to the fact that Timothy McVeigh conspired with others
whose identities were still unknown to bomb the Murrah Building. A copy of that
letter is attached as Exhibit 12. We sent this letter to Ms. Elliott outlining
our defense theories, therefore, because we knew we would be unable to
physically search all of the 37 file cabinets. She continued to insist, however,
that the full extent of her Brady obligation was turning over the 302s in her
possession and making the 37 file cabinets available for our inspection. Because
we feared that there was, in fact, exculpatory material that we were missing in
the District Attorney's Office, we continued to push Ms. Elliott to disclose
material as requested in our letter.
Our last Motion for Continuance spells out our efforts
to compel the federal government and the state prosecutors to live up to their
obligation to disclose all exculpatory material about the Midwest bank robbers,
Elohim City, and McVeigh's involvement with members of this gang and with Elohim
City. Not only have the federal government and state prosecutors failed to turn
over exculpatory evidence, but they have consistently represented that none
exists. Moreover, they have done so while blocking our efforts to learn more
about Mr. McVeigh's connection with other suspects, especially those in Elohim
City. The state prosecutors vigorously resisted our efforts to obtain the state
grand jury transcripts31 and fought our efforts to obtain unredacted 302s.32
They resisted when we asked Judge Linder to order them to contact other law
enforcement agencies to obtain records relevant to the OKBOMB investigation.33
Moreover, the federal government and the state
prosecutors have thwarted our efforts to find out more about Elohim City and the
Midwest bank robbers and their connection with McVeigh by improperly invoking
the Touhy doctrine at the conditional examinations in this case. One example is
the pretrial conditional examination of Special Agent William Davitch of the
FBI. When defense counsel attempted to question Agent Davitch concerning his
knowledge of Kevin McCarthy, one of the Midwest bank robbers, the attorney for
the Department of Justice and the state prosecutor objected. See Conditional
Examination of William Davitch, December 2, 2003, at 33-35. This is particularly
illustrative of the state and federal governments' efforts to block our inquiry
into the connection between the OKBOMB investigation and that of BOMBROB because
it turns out that Agent Davitch was the one of the case agents on the BOMBROB
investigation.34
Another example of this is the conditional examination
of FBI Agent Lou Ann Sandstrom. Mr. Hermanson asked S.A. Sandstrom:
Did your investigation uh, include looking at any
connection between any of the following organizations and Mr. Timothy McVeigh or
Michael Fortier and the Oklahoma City bombing? Uh, the White Arian [sic]
Resistance, Elohim City, Arian [sic] Republican Army, Carol Howell [sic], Dennis
Mahan [sic], Andreas Strassmeir, Reverend Robert Mallar [sic], Bruce Mallar
[sic], Chevy Cheviekehoe [sic], C-h-e-v-i-e-k-e-h-o-e, Cheyne Cheviekehoe [sic].
Cheyne is C-h-e-y-n-e. Peter Langan, L-a-n-g-a-n. Peter Ward, Tony Ward, Michael
Brescia, B-r-e-s-c-i-a, Kevin McCarty [sic], Richard Guthrie (sic), Scott
Stedford [sic], S-t-e-d-f-o-r-d, Mark Thomas, Ray Willie Lampley, L-a-m-p-l-e-y,
and Kurt - Kurt Lyons, L-y-o-n-s?
Conditional Examination of Lou Ann Sandstrom, December
22, 2003, at 57. Mr. Thomas Ferraro, AUSA, on behalf of the DOJ instructed the
witness "not to answer any question posed to her uh, covered under
paragraphs one and two of the Defendant's request, which had been specifically
excluded under our Touhy letter on page three." Id. at 57-59.
The FBI, the Department of Justice, and the state
prosecutors might have been successful had it not been for AP reporter John
Solomon. Mr. Solomon's first article on February 25, 2004, spurred the defense
to file our last Motion for Continuance. On March 11, 2004, Mr. Solomon
published a second article detailing more information about the FBI
investigation into the connection between Timothy McVeigh and the Midwest bank
robbers. Attached as Exhibit 13. Based on the information learned from Mr.
Solomon, Mark Earnest went to the offices of J.D. Cash, a reporter with the
McCurtain Gazette located in Idabel, Oklahoma. The defense had learned that Mr.
Cash had obtained defense files relating to Peter Langan's federal prosecution
from Langan's attorneys. In the more than twenty-five boxes of documents, the
defense found additional evidence that the FBI did, in fact, as early as a week
after the bombing, investigate the connection between Timothy McVeigh and the
members of the Midwest bank robbery gang.
F. Solomon's Documents
At the hearing on March 1, 2004, the defense provided
the Court with copies of the four documents referred to in AP reporter John
Solomon's February 25, 2004 article. Those documents are attached here as
Exhibit 14. Following the hearing on March 1, the defense obtained additional
documents from Mr. Solomon. A review of those documents provided to us by Mr.
Solomon clearly shows that the FBI was actively investigating -- beginning
shortly after the bombing -- a connection between OKBOMB and BOMBROB as well as
a connection between Timothy McVeigh and Elohim City. This is significant for
three reasons. First, given the other evidence suggested in this motion,
evidence that points to a connection between McVeigh and to the Midwest bank
robbers or to persons in Elohim City directly supports Mr. Nichol's theory of
defense in this case.
Second, the federal government has acknowledged that
it is looking into why certain information about BOMBROB was supposedly not
communicated to the OKBOMB Task Force. Additionally, the federal government has
blocked our efforts to question witnesses about the Midwest bank robbers and
Elohim City and continues to block access to other documents generated in the
OKBOMB investigation. Finally, the federal government has withheld from the
defense virtually all of the documents pertaining to the BOMBROB investigation.
The federal government's evasive behavior strongly suggests that there is other
exculpatory material in its possession. Indeed, the documents we got from Mr.
Solomon are certainly not complete. One is missing a page and others refer to
other documents we have never been provided.
Third, exculpatory evidence includes impeachment
evidence or evidence that mitigates a defendant's involvement as well as that
which points to his innocence. These documents clearly contain exculpatory
evidence. Yet, none of the following documents discussed by the defense have
ever been turned over to us by the federal government or state prosecutors in
this case. Nor were they ever turned over to Mr. Nichols in the federal case.
Equally significant, however, is that these documents
and the information set forth in the following sections of this Motion show that
the federal government and the state prosecutors have not truthfully responded
to this Court's December 30th directive. Rather, it is clear that the federal
government knew considerably more about Mr. McVeigh and his connections to
Elohim City and the Midwest bank robbers than acknowledged when Mr. Deitch wrote
his letter of January 12, 2004. Indeed, it would not have required the federal
government to have conducted the massive undertaking suggested in his letter
because the federal government had already collected considerable information
that it was simply refusing to provide the defense or this Court.
Moreover, it is totally disingenuous for Ms. Elliott
to provide a list of 302s and inserts in response to this Court's December 30th
directive and to fail to acknowledge the host of other documents that are
directly responsive to this Court's inquiry.35 Certainly, the state prosecutors
have been well aware of the investigation into a connection between OKBOMB and
BOMBROB. Indeed, while conducting the Oklahoma County Grand Jury, investigating
the Murrah Building bombing, Ms. Lister (then Ms. Gump), while questioning Carol
Howe put a picture of Peter Langan in front of her and asked her if she had seen
him in Elohim City. Howe said she had. She also said she had seen some of the
other bank robbers there.36 Clearly, Ms. Lister would not have been asking about
these individuals and their connection to Elohim City absent a familiarity with
the Midwest bank robbers' case. Yet, as we demonstrate in the rest of this
Motion, absent Mr. Solomon's revelations we would have had no way of connecting
this line of questioning with the Midwest bank robbers or their link to this
case.
A review of the documents provided to us by Mr.
Solomon reveals the following:
Exhibit 15
Exhibit 15 is a four-page FBI memorandum that contains
the following information:
Date: January 1996
From: Director, FBI (174A-OC-56120) [Oklahoma City
bombing case number]
To: CP (Command Post) Oklahoma / Routine/
(and others)
On page three of this memorandum, it states that:
"While there is no evidence to directly link
[redacted] to the BOMBROB incident, it would appear possible that [redacted]
could have knowledge and/or conspiratorial input into such criminal activity.
Information has been received through the Southern
Poverty Law Center (SPLC) that one [redacted] AKA [redacted] telephone call from
[redacted] on or about 4/17/95, two days prior to the OKBOMB attack, when
[redacted] of the SPLC, was in the white supremacist compound at [redacted], OK.
[Redacted] allegedly has had a lengthy relationship with [redacted] one of two
indicted OKBOMB defendants. [Redacted] advised that [redacted] is currently
residing with [redacted] in [redacted] NC, and plans to leave the U.S. via
Mexico, in the near future. [Redacted] further advised that he/she has learned
that [redacted] for an unknown reason.
Prior OKBOMB investigation determined that [redacted]
had placed a telephone call to [redacted] on 4/5/95. A day that he was believed
to have been attempting to recruit a second conspirator to assist in the OKBOMB
attack. The OKBOMB Command Post is attempting to verify the version of events as
set forth by [redacted] and to develop further information."
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 copy obtained by the defense also has on the first
page a stamp and the handwritten number of one of the numbers assigned by the
FBI to a Midwest bank robbery. The handwritten FBI case number is
91A-CM-41359-409. There is no question that this memo should have been provided
to the defense.
The significance of this memo cannot be understated.
It refers to somebody in Elohim City allegedly having a lengthy relationship
apparently with McVeigh. Of critical importance is the fact that it refers to
the April 5, 1995 telephone call from McVeigh to Elohim City on "a day that
he [McVeigh] was believed to have been attempting to recruit a second
conspirator to assist in the OKBOMB attack." Despite the obvious connection
between McVeigh and Elohim City and despite the fact that the Oklahoma City
bombing investigators clearly had this memorandum, it was never provided to the
defense by either the federal government or the state prosecutors. More
importantly, the memo clearly indicates that the FBI believed that McVeigh was
in Elohim City to recruit a second conspirator "to assist in the OKBOMB
attack." Obviously, this is not a reference to Terry Nichols nor to Michael
Fortier. It is, however, explicitly exculpatory. If, in fact, this information
is true, it directly refutes the State's theory that Terry Nichols was already
intimately involved with Tim McVeigh in carrying out the Murrah Building attack.
Although the memo does not indicate the basis for the FBI Director's belief, it
unquestionably indicates that the FBI had additional, important information
about an unknown "second conspirator" not set forth in this memo. The
defense has not been provided either with this memo or the information
supporting the FBI's conclusion.
Exhibit 16
Exhibit 16 is a five-page internal FBI memorandum that
contains the following information:
Date: August, 1996
From: Director FBI
Subject: "Changed"; Kevin McCarthy, Scott
Anthony Stedeford; Michael William Brescia, AKA fugitive; Peter Kevin Langan,
Richard Lee Guthrie (deceased); Mark Thomas. . . . Investigation has determined
that [redacted] has resided in Elohim City, Oklahoma for many years and his
wife's father in law was said to have been a former head of security at Elohim
City.
Information has been developed that [redacted] were at
the home of [redacted] Elohim City, Oklahoma on 4/5/95 when OKBOMB subject,
Timothy McVeigh, placed a telephone call to [redacted] residence. On 4/16/95, a
telephone call was placed from [redacted] residence to [redacted] residence in
Philadelphia division . . . .
Armed and Dangerous: ARA members advocate the violent
overthrow of the U.S. government; are known to be armed; use explosives; and in
the past have fired weapons at agents in an effort to avoid capture.
This is another critical memorandum from the Director
of the FBI that clearly sets forth information surrounding McVeigh's telephone
call to Elohim City on April 5, 1995. Importantly, this memo shows that the FBI
was investigating the connection between the Midwest bank robbers and Timothy
McVeigh. It clearly links McVeigh with Elohim City and it also indicates that
additional information about the joint investigation of OKBOMB and BOMBROB is
being developed that is not contained in this memorandum. Equally important,
this memo refers to another call made from Elohim City on April 16, 1995, to
Philadelphia - the hometown of one of the Midwest bank robbers. Although the
memo contains redactions that make it difficult to read, the clear inference is
that the FBI was connecting one of the Midwest bank robbers who was there at the
time of the critical call on April 5th with the call that was made on April
16th. Despite the obvious significance of this information, this memorandum has
still never been provided to the defense by the federal government or the state
prosecutors. Moreover, even though we now have this memo, it is still in a
redacted form that renders it of little use to the defense.
Exhibit 17
Exhibit 17 is four pages of a five-page internal FBI
BOMBROB memorandum. Apparently, Mr. Solomon did not receive the first page of
this memorandum and, therefore, we do not know when it was written. Nonetheless,
this memorandum indicates that Peter Langan and Richard Guthrie are suspects in
"the captioned matter" referring to the BOMBROB investigation. The
memorandum goes on to discuss Guthrie's known military training in the use of
explosives and directs certain FBI field offices to conduct further
investigation into Guthrie's military training in explosives. On page five, the
last line contains the notation "to FBI CP (Command Post) Oklahoma."
The "CP" obviously refers to the Oklahoma City bombing command post.
Since neither Langan nor Guthrie were ever accused of robbing a bank in
Oklahoma, it is obvious that the FBI was looking into the possibility that the
Midwest bank robbers assisted McVeigh in blowing up the Murrah Building. It is
difficult to imagine how Mr. Coulson and Mr. Defenbaugh can claim that they were
not fully briefed on the ongoing investigation as to the connection between the
Midwest bank robbers and OKBOMB.37 This document, however, has still never been
provided to the defense by the federal government or the state prosecutors.
Indeed, the lab report memos discussed earlier are a
clear indication that the FBI was specifically investigating the connection
between Timothy McVeigh and the Midwest bank robbers. Within two weeks of the
bombing, the FBI was comparing the fingerprints of McVeigh and Terry Nichols to
those found in a Cleveland bank robbery that was committed by the Midwest bank
robbers. In view of the fact that this FBI memorandum was specifically directed
to the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) in Oklahoma City on May 5, 1995, and even
though they both specifically mention Timothy McVeigh's name and one of them
mentions Terry Nichols' name and both of them mention the OKBOMB case number,
there is no basis for the claim that the OKBOMB Task Force was unaware of the
investigation into a connection between OKBOMB and BOMBROB. Additionally, it is
interesting to note that Exhibit 8 states: "Reference: Telephone call April
26, 1995." This shows that within one week of the Oklahoma City bombing
investigators were already concerned about the Midwest Bank robbers being
involved.
Exhibit 18
Exhibit 18 is a four-page FBI memorandum that contains
the following information:
Date: November 1995
From: FBI Omaha (174A-OC-56120) [Oklahoma City bombing
case number]
To: Director FBI / Priority /
FBI [Command Post] Oklahoma City/ Priority /
Subject: OKBOMB; Major Case 117; EID, OO: Oklahoma
City.
BOMBROB; BR (A); OO; Omaha (91A-om-41859) [A Midwest
Bank Robber
FBI case number for a bank robbery in Omaha, Nebraska]
This memo refers to a telephone call between FBI
special agents from Omaha, St. Louis, the Explosives Unit at FBI Headquarters,
and OKBOMB Command Post. It states:
"For information of receiving offices, BOMBROB is
investigating 17 bank robberies which have occurred throughout the Midwest area
of the United States since January 1994. These robberies have occurred in seven
states covering seven different FBI field offices. The last robbery occurred on
August 30, 1995, in Madison, Wisconsin. . . .
On October 28, 1995, America's Most Wanted aired a
segment on BOMBROB on their weekly telecast. Two composite sketches and one bank
surveillance video photograph were presented, including the composite sketch
obtained during the August 16, 1995 bank robbery that occurred in Bridgeton,
Missouri.
The OKBOMB investigation detected a similarity between
the sketch compiled during the August 16, 1995 bank robbery investigation and
the composite prepared of an individual know as [redacted] or [redacted]
(pronounced [redacted]). [Redacted] was identified as a third individual who
accompanied [redacted] and [redacted] when they visited a Cassville, Missouri
realtor named [redacted] at his office.
In approximately five of the 17 bank robberies
involved in BOMBROB, some type of smoke grenade or grenade simulator was either
left behind as a booby trap in the getaway vehicle or was ignited in the victim
bank. The FBI laboratory is currently in possession of all of these devices. The
FBIHQ Explosives Unit will be preparing a list of all serial numbers, lot
numbers, or any identifying marks found on these devices and this list will be
forwarded to the OKBOMB Task Force. It is the understanding of Omaha that Army
CID will be able to conduct any follow-up investigation as to the origin of the
grenade devices.
Oklahoma City Division at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Will provide the Omaha Division with any information regarding the smoke
grenades and dummy grenades that will assist Omaha in the investigation of the
BOMBROB matter."
It is patently obvious that the OKBOMB and BOMBROB
Task Forces were investigating links between the bombing of the Murrah Building
and the Midwest bank robbers. Even though this memo was specifically directed to
the Oklahoma City Command Post and even though it specifically contains the FBI
OKBOMB case number, it was never provided to the defense by the federal
government or the state prosecutors. The composite developed in connection with
the OKBOMB case was provided to us in discovery, but it was not identified or
connected in any way to the composite of one of the Midwest bank robbers in the
BOMBROB investigation. Moreover, the defense has never received this memorandum
or the BOMBROB composite from either the federal government or the state
prosecutors. Significantly, without this memorandum, the defense would never
have been able draw this connection.
Exhibit 19
Exhibit 19 is a three-page FBI memorandum from the
Omaha office to other offices including Oklahoma City.
Date: August 22, 1996
To: Oklahoma City
[and others]
Case ID#: [BOMBROB FBI case number typed in and
another one hand-written]
Title: BOMBROB
MAJOR CASE 244
Details: For information of Little Rock and Oklahoma
City, . . .
The memo contains information provided to the FBI by
Midwest Bank robber Kevin McCarthy ("according to cooperating defendant
Kevin McCarthy"). The memo explains that Kevin McCarthy told the FBI that
Midwest Bank robber Scott Stedeford and bank robber co-conspirator Mark Thomas
bought a getaway vehicle, a 1983 Chevrolet Suburban, white in color on April 17,
1995, in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Fort Smith is close to Elohim City. The memo goes
on to say that, upon investigation, an Iowa Certificate of Title was issued on
this vehicle on 4/21/95 (two days after the Oklahoma City bombing).
Less than a month after this FBI memo was written,
Midwest bank robber Kevin McCarthy was interviewed by the FBI in connection with
the Oklahoma City bombing investigation. (See 302# 16027, dated September 18,
1996, attached as Exhibit 20.) During that interview, McCarthy stated that on
April 17, 1995, he was in Elohim City. He refers to Stedeford's purchase of a
vehicle in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The 302 further indicates:
[McCarthy] and Stedeford left Elohim City and went to
Pittsburg, Kansas. >From Pittsburg, Kansas they went to Des Moines, Iowa, for
the purpose of registering the vehicle Stedeford had bought. McCarthy advised it
was easier to register vehicles in the state of Iowa. They first heard about the
bombing on the car radio enroute back to Pittsburg, Kansas from Iowa. McCarthy
advised he returned to his home in Philadelphia from Pittsburg, Kansas.
The FBI investigation, as revealed in Exhibit 19,
however, proves that McCarthy was not truthful when he was interviewed by the
FBI in connection with the Murrah Building bombing. In that interview, McCarthy
tells the FBI that he first heard about the bombing on the car radio when was
returning from registering the vehicle in Iowa implying that he registered the
vehicle before April 19, 1995. However, this memo, never provided to the
defense, proves that McCarthy lied because the vehicle was actually registered
in Iowa on April 21, 1995. Given the pervasiveness of the coverage of the
bombing, it is unimaginable that a person would not have heard about it until
April 21. Thus, this memo shows that McCarthy lied to the FBI in the interview
documented in the 302 and disproves McCarthy's claimed alibi. Moreover, the fact
that McCarthy lied to the FBI suggests that he was interested in covering up his
whereabouts on April 19th and on the days leading up to the bombing. Despite the
fact that McCarthy lied to the FBI and the FBI possessed information that
refuted McCarthy's alibi, McCarthy was given a plea deal and a minimum sentence
in exchange for his testimony at the trials of two of his co-defendants, Richard
Guthrie and Scott Stedeford. The memorandum described above, which constitutes
important impeachment evidence, has never been provided to the defense by the
federal government or the state prosecutors.
Exhibit 21
Exhibit 21 is a two-page FBI memorandum from the
BOMBROB case dated 8/23/96 and page 19 from a list describing 302s provided to
defense counsel for Peter Langan, a defendant in the BOMBROB prosecutions.
Although the memo is partially redacted, it clearly
describes a trip that a Special Agent in the BOMBROB investigation made to
Muskogee, Oklahoma to interview a witness in that case. Upon further
investigation, the "hard copy" of the 302 that resulted from the
interview described in this memo reveals that the interview was that of Robert
G. Millar, leader of Elohim City. A closer look at that 302, received from the
State by defense counsel in this case, shows that the File # is redacted on all
three pages. The obvious question is why would the FBI redact the File # on this
302? The logical answer is that the file number on that 302 is not the OKBOMB
file number (174A-OC-56120) but rather that of a BOMBROB case. In fact, page 19
of a list of 302s provided to Langan's attorney by the federal government
clearly shows that this 302 was part of that case. By redacting the case number
in that 302, it appears that the FBI was attempting to prevent the defense from
learning that the FBI was investigating a connection between the suspects in the
OKBOMB case and those in the BOMBROB investigation.
The memo for Case ID #: 91A-OM-41859 [a BOMBROB case
number for a bank robbery in Omaha, Nebraska] describes as an enclosure an
attached 302 that was provided to OKBOMB "for information purposes
only." The defense did receive this particular 302 in discovery. However,
the defense did not receive the memo that provides an explanation as to the
origin and relevance of the 302. Indeed, given the FBI's deliberate attempt to
withhold critical information regarding the connection between the BOMBROB
investigation and the investigation into the activities of Timothy McVeigh, the
defense had no way of appreciating the significance of this 302 until after Mr.
Solomon's disclosures.
Exhibit 22
Exhibit 22 is a lead sheet numbered "6996"
that was filled out by Special Agent Angela Finley of the ATF. Although there is
no date in the upper portion of the first page, it appears that she probably
filled this lead sheet out on April 30, 1995.38
Among the comments made by Special Agent Finley in
this lead sheet are:
"Brief Summary from investigative case file
43270-94-0124B"
"Mahon has detonated explosives at E/C."
"E/C is preparing for war against U.S.
government"
"They support violence against the
government."
"Robert Millar of E/C has made numerous trips to
OKC."
"Robert Millar stated that he would be wiling to
hide anyone who needed a place to stay at E/C. (Elohim City)"
'This group was planning a march in Waco during the
Branch Davidian ordeal because they strongly support the Davidian's and strongly
oppose the ATF."
The information contained in this "lead
sheet" is not from some anonymous civilian with a hunch. Rather, Special
Agent Finley was a federal law enforcement officer with an informant who was
working undercover in Elohim City. It is important to note that S.A. Finley
prepared the attached two-page official ATF report on May 22, 1995. See Exhibit
23. On page 1 of that report, SA Finley refers to picking up CI-183 (Carol Howe)
and transporting her to Oklahoma City on April 21, 1995. Ms. Finley also
indicates that on that day "[a] lead sheet was then completed."
Assuming, based on the dates of lead sheets close in number to the above
mentioned lead sheet #6996, it is apparent that this lead sheet could not be the
one that Ms. Finley states she filled out on April 21, 1995. This is so because
lead sheet # 6996 appears to have been filled out on April 30, 1995.
Lead Sheet # 6996 is a powerful example of the kind of
information that is being withheld by the government in this case. It also
demonstrates, yet again, the calculated efforts of the federal government to
hide from the defense critical information that it has concerning the
involvement of persons at Elohim City in the Oklahoma City bombing. The defense
has not been provided the lead sheet # 6996 or the lead sheet completed by Ms.
Finley on April 21, 1995 by either the federal government or the state
prosecutors.
The importance of these two lead sheets is obvious. It
also is obvious why the federal government did not want to provide the defense
with access to all of the remaining undisclosed lead sheets. These lead sheets
would demonstrate that the FBI was actively monitoring those inside Elohim City
prior to the bombing. In addition, these lead sheets show that those in Elohim
City were preparing for a war against the United States government. This
confirms other information that we have received that Reverend Millar was
calling for a "Holy War", in part, to avenge the ATF's attack on the
Branch Davidian compound in Waco. Coupled with the other undisclosed information
regarding Timothy McVeigh's connection with Elohim City, it supports the defense
argument that Timothy McVeigh may well have been one of Elohim City's
"soldiers" and that the bombing of the Murrah Building was
orchestrated or at least assisted by those in Elohim City.
Moreover, the fact that those in Elohim City were
upset about Waco and willing to use violence against the government clearly
indicates that those in Elohim City would have been supportive of McVeigh's plan
to blow up the Murrah Building. Although Terry Nichols, like many Americans, was
upset by what happened at Waco, there is little evidence to suggest that he was
willing to use violence against the government in response to Waco. On the other
hand, this memo explicitly supports the argument that those in Elohim City were
not only willing to but were actually preparing to wage war against the United
States government because of Waco.
Equally important, it is clear from this lead sheet
that this is only a "brief summary" from a larger investigative case
file (43270-94-0124B) that unquestionably relates to the ATF's investigation
into the activities in Elohim City. Given the seriousness of the information
noted in this lead sheet and Ms. Howe's claims that she provided advance warning
to the ATF about the threat to the Murrah Building, this lead sheet provides a
compelling explanation for why the FBI and the ATF are withholding this
information from the defense. Unquestionably, the fact that there was an ongoing
investigation, as reflected in this lead sheet, indicates that the FBI and/or
the ATF were aware of what was going on inside Elohim City. It is
understandable, then, why the FBI has fought so hard to keep us from gaining
access to the lead sheets and failed to provide us this investigative file. That
is, either or both the ATF and FBI dropped the ball and failed to prevent the
bombing of the Murrah Building or, at the very least, they wanted to deflect
criticism for not having done enough to prevent the bombing.
Exhibit 24
Exhibit 24 is a two-page FBI memo generated in the
BOMBROB investigation. The memo is directed to "Director" (of the FBI)
using the Oklahoma City bombing FBI case number and also to "Oklahoma
City" using the Oklahoma City bombing FBI case number. It contains the
following information:
"To: Director, FBI Date: May 16, 1995
From: SAC, St. Louis (91-SL-179326) [a BOMBROB bank
robbery case]
Subject: UNSUBS
Maryland Heights, Missouri [bank robbery]
TIMOTHY MC VEIGH
OKBOM;
MAJOR CASE 117
(174A-OC-56120)
Reference St. Louis airtel to Director, captioned
"UNSUBS(2); . . . and FBI LABORATORY (Lab No. E-3427), dated 5/4/95."
This memorandum requests that the FBI laboratory
compare "any shoes submitted as evidence in connection with OKBOM and cause
comparison with shoe impressions lifted from those recovered in the Maryland
Heights, Missouri bank robbery." The end of the memo, under the heading
"leads," specifically directs the Oklahoma City Division of the FBI to
"ensure that all possible shoes seized in connection with OKBOM" be
submitted to the FBI lab for comparison of shoe impressions recovered in this
bank robbery case.
In this FBI memorandum, written less than a month
after the Oklahoma City bombing, the FBI are requesting impressions from the
shoes of the suspects in the Oklahoma City bombing for purposes of comparing
them to shoe impressions found at one of the Midwest bank robberies.
Unquestionably, the FBI was investigating a connection between the Midwest bank
robbers and the Oklahoma City bombing. Moreover, this memorandum also refers to
a previous FBI "airtel" that specifically mentions Timothy McVeigh's
name and which was dated May 4, 1995. Not only has the defense never received a
copy of that May 4, 1995 "airtel" or this memorandum from the federal
government or the state prosecutors; but we have also never received the results
of such comparisons.
Exhibit 25
Exhibit 25 is a one-page memo found in the BOMBROB
file. The memo refers to prints recovered during a Midwest Bank robbery that
occurred on June 8, 1994 in Springdale, Ohio.
Date May 30, 1995
Reference: Communication May 11, 1995
Your No. 91A0-CI-63809 [a FBI Midwest Bank Robbery
case number for a bank robbery in Cincinnati, Ohio]
The latent palm print is not a palm print of TIMOTHY
MC VEIGH, TERRY NICHOLS or JAMES DOUGLAS NICHOLS.
Once again, this memo shows that early on in the
Oklahoma City bombing investigation, the FBI was looking at the connection
between the suspects in the Oklahoma City bombing and the Midwest bank robbery
cases. The FBI compared the prints of Mr. Nichols and Timothy McVeigh to a
suspect print found at one of the robberies performed by the Midwest bank
robbers. Neither the federal government not the state prosecutors have provided
this memo to the defense.
Exhibit 26
Exhibit 26 is a six-page internal FBI memorandum from
August 1995 about the BOMBROB investigation marked "priority" which
states on page 6: "Receiving offices are reminded of the 8/11/95 edition of
the "USA Today" left behind in the get-away vehicle, opened to an
article on Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing."
Within a few months of the Oklahoma City bombing, the
Midwest bank robbers left a picture of Timothy McVeigh and an article about the
bombing on the front seat of one of their getaway vehicles. The use of the term
"reminded" suggests that there was an earlier communication to the
"receiving offices" pointing out the fact that this article was found
in one of the Midwest bank robbers' getaway vehicles. Needless to say, neither
the earlier communication nor this memorandum was ever provided to the defense
by the federal government or the state prosecutors.
Exhibit 27
Exhibit 27 is a six-page internal FBI memorandum that
contains the following information:
"Date: December, 1995"
'From: FBI St. Louis (91A-)M-4_859) [FBI BOMBROB case
number for a bank robbery in Omaha, Nebraska]"
"To: Director FBI / Priority /"
'FBI Oklahoma City / Priority /"
Page Four
"Since the August 3rd meeting, three additional
robberies have been attributed to the BOMBROB group. These robberies are the
August 6, 1995 robbery of the Magna Bank, Bridgeton, Missouri (St. Louis); the
August 30, 1995 robbery of Bank One Madison, Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Madison RA);
and the November 22, 1995 robbery of the Roosevelt Bank, St. Louis County,
Missouri (St. Louis).
Beginning with the May 24, robbery in Louisville,
Kentucky, the BOMBROB subjects started using the names of former FBI officials
to purchase some of their getaway vehicles. In the August, 1995 robbery in
Bridgeton, Missouri and the November, 1995 robbery in St. Louis County, Missouri
FBI and ATF clothing have been worn during the robbery. Also in these last two
St. Louis robberies a copy of an article on OKBOMB to include a picture of
[redacted] and a copy of the Declaration of Independence, respectively, were
left in obvious locations in the getaway vehicle to ensure recovery by law
enforcement.
Since the August meeting, this investigation has been
featured on the October 28, 1995 segment of America's Most Wanted (AMW), which
resulted in a possible connection between BOMBROB and OKBOMB."
The first full paragraph on page two suggests that a
Special Agent (SA) from FBI Oklahoma City CP (Command Post) participated in a
meeting with several other Special Agents from around the country. This FBI memo
further indicates that the Midwest bank robbers left additional "McVeigh"
articles in the getaway vehicles used in other robberies beyond the one referred
in Exhibit 26 above. Finally, this memo specifically refers to a "possible
connection between BOMBROB and OKBOMB." The memo was disseminated to FBI
Oklahoma City "priority" although none of the BOMBROB bank robberies
took place there. Despite the fact that this memo was sent to the FBI in
Oklahoma City, the defense has never received a copy from the federal government
or the state prosecutors.
Exhibit 28
Exhibit 28 is a two-page memorandum generated during
the BOMBROB investigation.
"Date: June 7, 1995
To: SAC, Cleveland
"Reference: Communication dated May 15,
1995"
FBI File No. 91A-CV-52143 [a BOMBROB bank robbery case
involving a bank in Cleveland, Ohio]:
Specimens:
Q18 One video tape
ALSO SUBMITTED:
15 prints from video tape
"The (Q18) video tape was examined to locate
frames depicting the bank robbers. These images were then compared to known
photographs of TIMOTHY MCVEIGH and TERRY NICHOLS to determine if they were
identical.
Due to a lack of image detail and resolution in the
(Q18) videotape no meaningful conclusion could be reached regarding the
identification of the depicted robbers. The submitted evidence is being returned
herewith."
This FBI memorandum reveals attempts by the FBI to
link Timothy McVeigh to a bank robbery performed by the Midwest Bank robbers.
This memo was clearly written in response to a "communication dated May 15,
1995" which must have asked that McVeigh's and Mr. Nichols' pictures be
compared with the surveillance tape of the bank robber of the Middleburg
Heights, Ohio bank. Although this memo was included in a group of 550 lab
reports turned over to us; see Lab Report 74, its significance was not apparent
to the defense until after Mr. Solomon's revelations. Moreover, the defense
still should have received a copy of the May 15, 1995 communication that
presumably contained some information and the basis for requesting the
examination of the bank robbery videotape and its comparison to the likeness of
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Finally, the bottom of the first page of the
memo states: "Enclosure 1 - SAC, Oklahoma City." SAC means Special
Agent in Charge. It is unclear what is meant by "Enclosure -1."
Neither the enclosures nor the earlier communication were provided to the
defense by the federal government or the state prosecutors.
Exhibit 29
Exhibit 29 is Insert #E-4206, a document that actually
was turned over in discovery to the defense by the State. Exhibit 29 reveals
that an investigation was conducted on May 4, 1995, at San Francisco, California
by Special Agent (SA) Thomas P. Ravenelle. It states:
"Reference Bureau teletypes to all field offices
dated 4/27/95, and 5/1/95.
Referenced Bureau teletypes directed all field offices
to review bank robbery files and compare methods of operations (mo's) to mo's
outlined in the teletype dated 4/27/95, which are believed to have been used by
subject MCVEIGH and his associates."
Although this document was produced by the State, its
significance was not apparent to the defense because of the absence of the other
documents described in this motion and the fact that the FBI sanitized the
materials provided to the defense to mask the fact that it was investigating a
connection between McVeigh and the Midwest bank robbers. The Insert does show
that as early as April 27, 1995, one week after the bombing, the FBI made a
connection between bank robberies and "MCVEIGH and his associates."
This April 27, 1995 FBI memo referenced in this Insert actually contains a bank
robbery "mo" that the FBI "believed" to have been used by
McVeigh and his associates. Neither this April 27, 1995 memo, nor the May 1,
1995 memo referred to in Insert E-4206 has ever been provided to Mr. Nichols.
Clearly, these memos set forth additional information regarding the connection
between Timothy McVeigh and the Midwest bank robbers.
G. Critical Information Contained in 1B 3484
Based on the information received from Mr. Solomon and
Mr. Cash, the defense decided to go back and review the materials provided to us
by the State to determine whether or not there was additional material that
supported a connection between Timothy McVeigh and the Midwest bank robbers or
those persons connected to Elohim City. The defense discovered for the first
time in this new review, a group of documents contained in a 1B file - 1B3484.
That 1B file consists of 1,354 pages of documents and reports generated by the
United States Secret Service related to the investigation of Timothy McVeigh and
Terry Nichols. A review of this 1B file, in light of the new information the
defense had received from Mr. Solomon and Mr. Cash, provides powerful support
for the argument that Tim McVeigh was assisted by persons in Elohim City and by
the Midwest bank robbers in carrying out his plot to blow up the Murrah
Building. Although this 1B file was in the file cabinets maintained in the
District Attorney's Office, the defense did not actually review 1B3484 until
March of 2004.
In fact, it was not until Mr. Earnest found Langan's
calling card numbers and we began a computer search for telephone records that
we inadvertently stumbled across 1B3484. Upon reviewing 1B3484 looking for phone
records, the defense for the first time learned that it contained significant
exculpatory material. Although specifically directed by this Court on December
30, 2003, to let this Court and the defendant know if they "have any hint,
any indication, direct or indirect, that any of these groups played a role in
the bombing of the Murrah Building," 1B3484 was never identified by the
state prosecutors as a document containing exculpatory material. Indeed, the
first page of the critical Secret Service timeline discussed below contains the
handwritten notation: "Remove." Obviously, someone in the federal
government or on the state prosecutors' team recognized the importance of the
exculpatory material described in 1B3484. Fortunately, this removal directive
was overlooked or ignored.
A reading of 1B3484 makes perfectly clear, however,
that the federal government and the state prosecutors still have not provided
Mr. Nichols all of the exculpatory material that has been gathered in connection
with the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing. Moreover, as the
"removal" notation dramatically illustrates, the federal government
and the State have sought to keep the defense from discovering this vital
evidence. Specifically, 1B3484 contains the following:
Exhibit 30
Exhibit 30 is an official six-page report directed to
the "Intelligence Division" of the Secret Service and dated May 31,
1995. The report also indicates that the Tulsa RA has been in contact with all
local and federal law enforcement agencies and has been cooperating with the ATF
and the FBI in the investigation of the Murrah Building bombing. The report
describes the location, membership, leadership, and history of the militia group
in Elohim City. The report noted that the Elohim City militia was a
"reformation of the CSA group [Covenant, Sword, Arm of the Lord]" that
had surrendered to the ATF and FBI after a long standoff on April 19, 1985. The
report also noted that several former Branch Davidians were believed to be
occupants of Elohim City.
The report also describes the links between Elohim
City and groups in South Dakota, Michigan, and other militia groups in the
Northwest as well as "very strong connections with Posse Comitatus groups
in Pennsylvania." The report further noted that the group had received
training from two former members of the German army, one of whom was believed to
be Andreas Karl Strassmeir.
After discussing Robert Millar, who is described as a
strident racist and noting that his son-in-law James Ellison led the CSA
movement in Arkansas, the report notes that:
. . . It was Ellison who was the camp commander of the
CSA camp in northwest Arkansas that was the subject of the standoff with the FBI
and ATF; the camp surrendered to federal authorities on April 19, 1985.
Millar also was an acquaintance of Richard Snell, a
former member of the Arkansas CSA. Snell was executed by the State of Arkansas
after Snell had been convicted of murdering a black Arkansas state trooper.
Millar attended the execution of Snell, and Snell is buried at Elohim City.
Snell was executed by the State of Arkansas on April 19, 1995, the day of the
bombing in Oklahoma City.
Investigation regarding the Oklahoma City Bombing has
revealed that Tim McVeigh telephoned Elohim City at least two times. One call
was placed after McVeigh rented the Ryder truck used in the bombing, and another
call was placed sometime before the bombing. Records indicated McVeigh was
ticketed by an Arkansas State Trooper on October 12, 1993, on a road
approximately 20 miles from Elohim City.
The date April 19 apparently has much significance to
Millar, McVeigh and the right-wing organizations. April 19 has been linked by
these groups with many alleged historical events. The link between Millar,
McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bombing and the fact that Snell was executed on the
same day as the Oklahoma City bombing remains under investigation.
Finally, the report notes that the ATF has an active
investigation of the Oklahoma militia and the Elohim City group. It also notes
that the Secret Service would be meeting with the ATF and FBI supervisors to
work together on any continuing investigations regarding these groups.
The importance of this intelligence report is
undeniable. First, the Secret Service highlights in this report significant
background material about the group in Elohim City. The report shows the rabid
anti-government attitudes of those in Elohim City and directly links them to
Waco. Indeed, the connections between those in Elohim City and the April 19th
Murrah Building bombing are spelled out in chilling detail. Much of this report
corroborates the statements made by Carol Howe. She not only said that
Strassmeir and Mahon had talked about making bombs and the need to take action
against the federal government but that Strassmeir specifically told her he was
interested in blowing up a federal building. Indeed, she indicated that they had
targeted the Murrah Building. In addition, Howe described Reverend Millar as
urging the residents of Elohim City to engage in a "Holy War" against
the federal government. Howe also described that the residents at Elohim City
were very familiar with what had happened at Waco and admired David Koresh. She
also reported that there were many weapons stored at Elohim City and that
Strassmeir regularly led military training exercises. Strassmeir not only was
familiar with bomb making but copies of The Turner Diaries were readily
available in Elohim City. See E-427 (interview with Carol Howe).
Second, incredibly, neither the federal government nor
the state prosecutors have ever revealed to any one that Timothy McVeigh made
more than one phone call to Elohim City. The defense had been informed that Mr.
McVeigh made a phone call to Elohim City on April 5, 1995, using the Daryl
Bridges phone card. Yet, this Secret Service report reveals that Timothy McVeigh
called Elohim City at least two times with the second time being after he had
rented the Ryder truck. Such evidence directly points to Mr. McVeigh's
connection to Elohim City.
Unquestionably, this evidence is exculpatory in
nature. Indeed, in view of Exhibit 22 and all of the other evidence the defense
has learned since Mr. Solomon's revelations, it is clear that those in Elohim
City intended to wage war against the government. Moreover, April 19th was an
important symbolic date to those in Elohim City. Given Mr. McVeigh's
relationship with those in Elohim City, the fact that the bomb was detonated on
April 19th is hardly a coincidence. Rather, this report convincingly supports
the defense theory that it was persons connected to Elohim City who assisted Mr.
McVeigh in the bombing, including the Midwest bank robbers.
In addition, this report makes it clear that various
agencies were going to work together on a continuing investigation of Elohim
City and the Oklahoma militia. Despite the fact that the document specifically
indicates that there will be regular updates provided, we have not received the
reports that reflect that continuing investigation. Indeed, another document we
uncovered in our post-Solomon investigation confirms that the ATF was continuing
to investigate Elohim City and the link with Mr. McVeigh. Exhibit 31 is a
Department of Treasury BATF form for "Request for Advance of Funds"
signed and dated by Angela Finley-Graham and her superior David Roberts on May
18, 1995, contains the following handwritten information in the
"Explain/Justification" part of the form:
This investigation involves the Bombing of the Murrah
Bldg. in Oklahoma City, OK. It is suspected that members of Elohim City were
involved directly or indirectly through conspiracy. It is suspected that suspect
#2 may be at the location.
Once again the basis for such "suspicions"
are not set forth in any report we have received.
Moreover, we also know that Ms. Howe's observations
were, in fact, corroborated by another person inside Elohim City. It was only
after the disclosures by Mr. Solomon and our new look for evidence connecting
Timothy McVeigh to Elohim City that we again came across 302 # 14815. Attached
as Exhibit 32. We had presented this redacted 302 in a group of redacted 302s to
Judge Linder asking that we be provided an unredacted version. Judge Linder
reviewed an unredacted version of this document in camera and denied our
request, ruling that the 302 would not lead to relevant or admissible
evidence.39 It is clear, however, in light of all the other evidence we have now
learned about Elohim City, that this information is highly relevant to the
defense of this case. The witness in this redacted 302 directly connects Timothy
McVeigh with Elohim City. This redacted 302 indicates that the unknown person
connects Timothy McVeigh with Elohim City. The 302 states: "[The unknown
interviewee] stated that [redacted] was "99 percent sure" about having
seen McVeigh and "150 percent sure" about [Andreas] Strassmeir.
[Redacted] advised that [redacted] could determine the exact dates of the visits
when [redacted] observed Strassmeir and McVeigh [redacted] to determine when
[redacted] had visited the compound [redacted]." We do not know who this
person is, but it appears likely that he or she has additional information about
McVeigh and his activities inside Elohim City. Although the State turned over
this redacted 302 to us, they have not provided us the name of this witness,
which effectively prevents us from making any use of this information.
Finally, this second call and the existence of this
second witness provides additional corroboration of Ms. Howe's observations. Not
only did she warn the ATF of her concerns about the military buildup in Elohim
City, but she warned of a potential "Holy War." She also specifically
warned that Strassmeir and Mahon were targeting the Murrah Building. In fact,
she accompanied them to Oklahoma City to scout out the Murrah Building. It is
inconceivable that the federal government and the state prosecutors would
withhold this information from the defense and this Court.
Exhibit 33 and Exhibit 34
Exhibit 33 is page 73 of a 129-page timeline prepared
by the Secret Service and contained in the 1,354 pages of 1B3484. Exhibit 34 is
page 79 of that same timeline.
Exhibit 33 contains the following entry for Monday,
April 24, 1995 (emphasis added):
A witness to the explosion named Grossman claimed to
have seen a pale yellow Mercury car with a Ryder truck behind it pulling up to
the Federal Building. Mr. Grossman further claimed to have seen a woman on the
corner waving to the truck. 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.
Exhibit 34 contains the following entry for Tuesday,
April 25, 1995 (emphasis added):
The initiation device is still unknown at this time.
However, based on their military training, the simplest and most reliable
initiation system would be TIME FUSE. Security video tapes from the area show
the truck detonation 3 minutes and six seconds after the suspects exited the
truck. A radio controlled (R/C) activation device is possible, if the suspects
constructed or purchased such a system. One possible lead could be directed at
"Ballisticorp" which stated that they sold three blowguns to the
suspect, which normally cost $20.00 each, however, the COD bill was $600.00. The
company may also sell R/C equipment. (GLOD).
These exhibits conclusively prove that the federal
government and state prosecutors have concealed critical videotapes from the
defense. Once again, the significance of these tapes is beyond dispute. Not only
do the videotapes show the actual detonation but they apparently reveal that
suspects got out of the Ryder truck immediately prior to the detonation.40 This
evidence explicitly corroborates the testimony of numerous witnesses who claimed
that they saw McVeigh with another in the Ryder truck.41 By hiding these
videotapes, the FBI allowed federal prosecutors to impeach truthful witnesses
and make them appear incredible. For example, Daina Bradley42 in Mr. Nichols'
federal trial was aggressively cross-examined by Patrick Ryan and made to appear
unbelievable when she claimed that she saw two men getting out of the Ryder
truck. Moreover, the sequence of events as reflected in these videotapes may
resolve questions about the timing of events leading up to the explosion.
Although the significance of such videotapes is
obvious, the defense has never received a copy of these videotapes. Even more
troubling, despite our repeated requests for any relevant videos related to the
bombing, this Secret Service report confirms the existence of critical videos
that we and this Court have been repeatedly assured do not exist. Contrary to
the federal government's and state prosecutors' representations, all relevant
videos have not been provided to us.
Exhibit 36
Exhibit 36 is page 126 of the Secret Service
timeline.43 It contains the following entry for Friday, May 19, 1995 at 5:45
p.m.:
The FBI asked the Fortiers who they believe were
involved in the bombing. They stated the Nichols brothers, Colbern, Kevin
Nicholas and Bob LNU, from Arkansas.
Steve Colbern was a friend of Timothy McVeigh and
shared McVeigh's hatred of the United States government. Evidence will be
introduced at trial to show that Mr. Colbern wrote several letters to Timothy
McVeigh expressing an interest in joining McVeigh in his anti-government
activities. In addition, we will introduce evidence that McVeigh left a letter
for Colbern attached to a utility pole in the desert, in which McVeigh stated
that he was looking for "fighters" not "talkers." Colbern is
a chemist with experience in bomb-making, who expressed a desire to take action
against the federal government.
Nearly three years after the federal trials of Timothy
McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the only two perpetrators of the bombing according to
the federal and state governments, federal investigators conducted interviews
with people associated with Steven Colbern. This Court also received the reports
of these interviews as exhibits to our last Motion for Continuance. These
interviews show that McVeigh was in direct contact with Colbern before the
bombing and that Colbern's friends lied to the FBI to cover up that connection.
Those interviews also show that Fortier knew Clark Vollmer and that he had
purchased drugs from him - contrary to Fortier's testimony at the preliminary
hearing in this case. See Preliminary Hearing Transcript at 111, May 13, 2003.
Mr. Fortier was also asked by defense counsel at the
preliminary hearing in this matter if he knew a person named Steven Colbern, and
he denied it.44 Although on other occasions Fortier has acknowledged that he
discussed Colbern with McVeigh, Fortier's preliminary hearing testimony suggests
that he did not know Colbern. Thus, any statement by Fortier to the contrary
should have been provided to us pursuant to Brady. Moreover, when the FBI
questioned the Fortiers about their belief as to others involved in the bombing,
undoubtedly the Fortiers were questioned as to the basis of their belief. There
should be some memo or report that provides the Fortiers' explanation as to why
they believed Colbern, Kevin Nicholas, and Bob LNU from Arkansas were involved
in the bombing. We have been provided some information regarding Michael
Fortier's allegations about Terry Nichols' involvement in the bombing and some
information about McVeigh's statements to Fortier about Colbern. Nonetheless,
the defense has not been provided any information regarding the basis of the
Fortiers' beliefs that others identified in this report were involved in the
bombing.
Exhibit 37
Exhibit 37 consists of two pages that are part of an
incomplete print out of a computer generated report. These two pages simply
appear in the middle of the 1,354 pages of the Secret Service file with no
explanation. They are obviously incomplete because of the handwritten notations
describing separate lists as "set[s]" and then numbering them.
What is particularly interesting about these documents
is the fact that among the list of seven names identified as "set #
5," is the name of Richard Lee Guthrie. Guthrie, of course, was one of the
Midwest bank robbers. It is possible that these lists contain names of some sort
of watch list generated by the Secret Service. This is so because Richard Lee
Guthrie was being actively investigated by the Secret Service prior to the
Oklahoma City bombing because of threats that he had made concerning former
President Bush.45 It is a mystery why this document is included in 1B3484. There
certainly is no explanation provided in 1B3484 or in any of the other materials
provided to us by the State. Rather, the federal government appeared to go to
considerable lengths to sanitize the materials provided to us to eliminate the
possibility that the defense would connect the investigation of the Midwest bank
robbers with the ongoing investigation in this case.
Exhibit 38
Exhibit 38 consists of pages 55 and 61 of the Secret
Service time line.46 Page 61 contains the following entry for Sunday, April 23,
1995:
A barber has been located in Junction City, KS, and
reports that he may have cut the hair of both subjects recently. That interview
is still underway.
This reference is important because the existence of
such a witness corroborates defense witnesses. Specifically, Kim Adams will
testify that she saw Timothy McVeigh in the presence of another man - not Terry
Nichols -- on the Friday before the bombing. Ms. Adams will testify that, when
she observed Mr. McVeigh's picture in the paper following the arrest, she
identified him except for the fact that when she had seen him his hair was
longer. This means he had a haircut sometime between Friday, April 14 and
Wednesday, April 19, the day of the bombing. Two other defense witnesses, Tonia
Rumbaugh and Kathy Henderson, will testify that on the morning of April 18,
1995, McVeigh and another man (i.e., John Doe # 2) came into a hair salon in
Junction City, Kansas seeking haircuts but were turned away because the salon
was booked with appointments. Therefore, the existence of a witness who is a
barber in Junction City who cut Mr. McVeigh's and his companion's hair would be
critical in terms of impeaching the State's theory of events. A computer-aided
search of all 302s provided to us by the State fails to locate any 302 involving
a "barber" or "haircut" in relation to Junction City.
Moreover, the defense does not have any report or documentation identifying who
this person is. Thus, this is yet another example of a report that was not
disclosed to the defense.
H. The FBI's Investigation of the Midwest Bank Robbers
Calling Cards/Phone Records
Despite the FBI's efforts to sanitize the discovery
provided to the defense to mask any involvement of the Midwest bank robbers with
the April 19th bombing plot, it is indisputable that the FBI was actively
looking into the activities of the Midwest bank robbers as early as a week after
the Murrah Building bombing.47 Indeed, after John Solomon's revelations, Mr.
Earnest reviewed some of Peter Langan's defense files at Mr. Cash's office and
discovered that the Midwest bank robbers were using telephone calling cards much
in the same way that Timothy McVeigh used the Daryl Bridges card. Based on this
discovery, Mr. Earnest went back and reviewed some of the 1As and 1Bs that had
been scanned into the defense computer system. As already indicated, however,
the defense still has not scanned in all of the 1A and 1B files located in the
District Attorney's file cabinets. Thus, Mr. Earnest had to physically search
the District Attorney's filing cabinets. When Mr. Earnest searched those file
cabinets, he discovered some telephone calling card records that matched some of
the calling card numbers used by the Midwest bank robbers. Nevertheless, nothing
in the 1A or 1B files identifies these telephone numbers as being connected to
the Midwest bank robbers. Indeed, until receiving the information from Mr.
Solomon and Mr. Cash, the defense would have had no way of connecting any of
these phone records to the Midwest bank robbers or really appreciating their
significance.
The results of Mr. Earnest's search of the materials
and documents contained in the BOMBROB files in Mr. Cash's office together with
his review of some of the 1A, 1B, and 1C files amassed by the FBI in the OKBOMB
case clearly demonstrate that FBI agents from both the BOMBROB and OKBOMB Task
Forces were actively pursuing an investigation into the connection between
crimes committed by the Midwest bank robbers and the bombing of the Murrah
Building. Of critical significance is the fact that the FBI actually obtained
telephone records of the Midwest bank robbers months before the first of the
bank robbers was arrested in January 1996. This fact strongly suggests that the
FBI had an informant or access to other information that permitted the FBI to
subpoena phone records of the Midwest bank robbers. Given the information
discussed in the last section, it is highly likely that the ATF's ongoing
investigation into the activities in Elohim City enabled the ATF and, in turn,
the FBI to know what records to subpoena.
Moreover, it appears that the FBI, the federal
government, and the State have withheld additional calling card records of the
Midwest bank robbers that may well support the conclusion that these men aided
Timothy McVeigh in his plot to bomb the Murrah Building. As Frederick Dexter has
already testified at this trial, the FBI commonly subpoenas telephone records in
an effort to develop leads and to check out particular suspects. That was done
in both the OKBOMB and BOMBROB investigations. A comparison of some of the
telephone records in the two cases reveals that the FBI was clearly
investigating the possible involvement of the Midwest bank robbers in the
Oklahoma City bombing. As the following columns graphically illustrate, calling
card account numbers that are referenced in Peter Langan's BOMBROB file were
also located in the OKBOMB file.
BOMBROB OKBOMB
1052239845 1052239845
1184277771
1247621602
1406554333
1409554333
1247621602
1649719062 1649719062
1674187942 1674187942
1742617125
1760920159 1760920159
2778248611 2778248611
3057231504
3259413782 3259413782
3954104162
5346061222
5532512530
5594696351
5595696351
6984838299 6984838299
7140638643
8611078005
9803283211
It was not until Mr. Earnest 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 the numbers in the
OKBOMB file were connected to the Midwest bank robbers. See attached Exhibits
40, 41, 42 from Langan's BOMBROB file and Exhibits 43, 44, 45, and 46 from the
BOMBROB file. There is no question that these prepaid calling card account
numbers belonged to members of the Midwest bank robbery group. Not only were
these calling card numbers found in Langan's files, but a review of the numbers
called supports that conclusion. For example, Exhibits 41 and 42 from the
BOMBROB file and Exhibit 44 from the OKBOMB file show calls made to or from
Michael Brescia's father's telephone number.48 Exhibits 41, 42, and 44 also show
calls made either to or from Kevin McCarthy's grandmother's telephone number.49
Finally, Exhibits 42 and 44 shows three calls being made to convicted Midwest
bank robbery co-conspirator Mark Thomas' telephone number.50
Remarkably, many of the records for these specific
calling cards involve calls either going into or coming out of Elohim City --
(918) 427-7739. There are over forty such calls involving the Elohim City phone
number. See Exhibit 43. Certainly, the State or the federal government would not
suggest that these cards belonged to Timothy McVeigh -- even though they are
found in the Oklahoma City bombing investigation file -- because that would
suggest even more of a connection between McVeigh and Elohim City. It is
obvious, therefore, that the Midwest bank robbers were regularly making calls to
and from Elohim City.51
As Mr. Dexter indicated in his trial testimony, the
FBI, when investigating the OKBOMB case, was subpoenaing the telephone records
of people suspected of involvement in the Murrah Building bombing. In the OKBOMB
files, Mr. Earnest found subpoenas from the federal grand jury from the Western
District of Oklahoma seeking prepaid calling card account records for specific
cards used by the Midwest bank robbers. These records were being sought at least
as early as August 1995, and probably earlier, even though no bank robbery
allegedly committed by the Midwest bank robbers ever took place in Oklahoma.
Unquestionably then, the OKBOMB investigators were looking into the activities
of the Midwest bank robbers to see if they were involved in the Murrah Building
bombing.
A thorough review of all the Midwest bank robbery
phone records reveals two other important points. First, in reviewing the
Midwest bank robber telephone records found in Langan's BOMBROB files, Mr.
Earnest found entries for six (6) different telephone calls for account number
6984838299. In the corresponding OKBOMB records in the District Attorney's
Office, that particular account number is referred to only in 1A-1108. In
1A-1108, there are entries for only three (3) telephone calls made on that
account number. Thus, the Midwest bank robber's telephone records contained in
the Oklahoma City bombing file unquestionably are incomplete.
Furthermore, the last line of the paragraph of the
federal grand jury subpoena found in 1A - 0617 in the District Attorney's files
specifically lists six (6) ten-digit calling card accounts for which records
were being sought. Yet, a comparison of those account numbers with the account
records actually contained in the 1A file show an important inconsistency. The
last account number listed in the subpoena is 1247621602. Although the printouts
for the account numbers for the other five accounts listed in the subpoena are
in file 1A-0617, there are no records regarding account number 1247621602.52
Instead, in the file is a printout of another account record for account number
1406554333. Those two numbers, 1247621602 and 1406554333, are nowhere close
enough in similarity to suggest that the inclusion of one for the other is due
to a simple clerical error. Rather, what this suggests is that - for whatever
reason - the FBI is deliberately withholding the complete records for account
number 1247621602 - which they unquestionably subpoenaed. Additionally, this
shows that the FBI obtained separate account records -- in this case, at least
for account number 1406554333 -- for which the defense can find no subpoena.
This suggests that the FBI obtained even more Midwest bank robbery telephone
records than those contained in the District Attorney's files.
After discovering the calling card records in Langan's
files in Mr. Cash's office and finding the Midwest bank robbery calling card
numbers in the OKBOMB files, Mr. Earnest attempted to track down the calling
card company that had issued the calling cards. In view of the fact that a
number of the subpoenas were directed to a company called Fone America, Inc.,
Mr. Earnest tried to find out precisely what records Fone America, Inc. had
provided to the FBI during the course of the investigation of the Oklahoma City
bombing. The 1A-0616 and 1A -0617 files contain fax cover sheets from Fone
America, Inc., to Special Agent Elvis McBride of the FBI. Agent McBride was one
of the agents responsible for subpoenaing and gathering the voluminous telephone
records during the investigation of the bombing. On these fax cover sheets is
the name of Joe G. Joseph / Vice-President - Operations, the person at Fone
America, Inc. who sent the records to Agent McBride. As Mr. Joseph indicated in
his attached affidavit, Exhibit 49, Fone America, Inc. no longer exists because
it went bankrupt. Mr. Earnest then located and spoke with Mr. Michael Grassmueck,
the bankruptcy trustee for Fone America, Inc., who has supplied an affidavit,
attached as Exhibit 50. According to Mr. Grassmueck, all corporate records for
Fone America, Inc. have been destroyed. Therefore, there is absolutely no way
the defense can now independently verify exactly what Fone America, Inc. records
were sent to the FBI/Western District of Oklahoma Grand Jury during the
investigation of this case.
Before becoming aware that the records of the
telephone calling cards used by the Midwest bank robbers even existed, the
defense had absolutely no reason to search for them among the literally hundreds
of thousands of records contained in the State's files. Moreover, the defense
would not have found them by searching for records pertaining to the
"Midwest bank robbers," "ARA," "BOMBROB" or the
names of "Langan" and "Guthrie" or any of the other bank
robbers to whom the calling cards belonged. That is so because of the vague
description in the 1A, 1B and 1C indexes provided to the defense. Each index
simply mentioned "Fone America, Inc." and in one instance referred to
"call detail for account number" and then listed six separate 10 digit
account numbers. Among the hundreds of thousands of telephone records gathered
by the FBI in this case there is no reasonable way that anybody could have
expected defense counsel to seek out, for example, 1A-0617 or 1A-0616 to find
these records earlier. The importance of these records became apparent to Mr.
Earnest only after he found the prepaid calling card records in Peter Langan's (BOMBROB)
file in Mr. Cash's office.
Among the subpoenas that Mr. Earnest found when he
began looking at telephone records was Federal Grand Jury Subpoena Number
0951610. See Exhibit 51; see also Exhibit 44 (1A-0617). This subpoena requests
"call detail" for six (6) Fone America, Inc. account numbers. It
remains a mystery to the defense how the FBI obtained the accounts numbers for
the prepaid calling cards used by the Midwest bank robbers necessary to subpoena
the records for those specific accounts. Certainly, no physical prepaid calling
card (besides the Spotlight "Darryl Bridges" card) was listed as
having been recovered as a result of the investigation of the Oklahoma City
bombing. A computerized search of every one of the 302s provided to the defense
in this case fails to find a single 302 which mentions these "Fone America,
Inc., Driveline" prepaid calling cards, the account numbers, or their
source in terms of the Oklahoma City investigation. Yet Federal Grand Jury
Subpoena # 951610 was issued on August 16, 1995, five months before any of the
Midwest bank robbers were arrested. It cannot be overemphasized that the FBI
agents involved in the federal grand jury investigation of the Oklahoma City
bombing must have known the actual telephone account numbers used by the Midwest
bank robbers when they began subpoenaing records. The account numbers for
prepaid calling cards are not recorded in toll records of specific outgoing and
incoming calls made on a particular telephone. As such, the FBI must have had an
alternative source for these account numbers.
Not only did the subpoena ask for the account records
for these calling card numbers - numbers that indisputably belonged to the
Midwest bank robbers - but the subpoena also demanded records pertaining to
particular calls. The "call detail" requested information as to what
calls were made from particular phones on specific dates to the
"1-800" number for Fone America, Inc. That number 1-800-808-0805 is
the entry number that somebody using a Fone America, Inc. DriveLine system
prepaid calling card had to call to access the service. Calling that number
would activate the same process as calling 1-800-793-3377 to access a Spotlight
calling card.
We have no way of knowing how many people in the
United States used Fone America calling cards in 1995. What is striking is the
fact that in requesting information about the phone records of the Midwest bank
robbers, the FBI was, in the same paragraph of the same subpoena, also checking
to determine if a Fone America calling card was used on critical dates and at
critical locations. A review of the records that were subpoenaed reveals that
the investigators were looking at the following:
[1] (913) 762-0650 on 2/22/95 . . . to 800/808-0805
[2] (913) 762-9679 on 4/4/95 . . . . to 800/808-0805
[3] (913) 762-9647 on 4/4/95 . . . . to 800/808-0805
[4] (602) 757-9902 on 4/9/95 . . . . to 800/808-0805
[5] (913) 762-0101 on 4/13/95, 4/15/95 & 4/20/95 .
. . . to 800/808-0805 [6] (405) 725-3461 on 4/19/95 . . . . to 800/808-0805
[7] (405) 282-9700 on 4/19/95 . . . . to 800/808-0805
It is obvious that the FBI investigators in
scrutinizing the activities of the Midwest bank robbers were focusing on the
robbers' whereabouts at critical times in connection with the April 19th bombing
of the Murrah Building. Moreover, the FBI was targeting phones in this subpoena
with such precision that it logically follows that the FBI was either acting on
the basis of other information supplied to them by an informant or revealed by
surveillance at Elohim City. The records that reflect the basis of the FBI's
information has not been provided to the defense. Specifically, an examination
of these telephone records shows that:
[1] Telephone number (913) 762-0650 is a pay phone at
the McDonald's Restaurant, 1127 S. Washington Street, Junction City, Kansas.
This is the same McDonald's restaurant that McVeigh frequented prior to the
bombing and where he was captured on videotape on April 17, 1995, prior to his
rental of the Ryder truck. 1B2064 (Exhibit 52) includes telephone records for
toll calls made from this phone on February 22, 1995. Page 148 of 1B2064 reveals
that four calls were made on that date within a period of sixteen minutes to the
Fone America, Inc. access number. The first of these calls was at 9:15 a.m. on
that date and the last one was at 9:22 a.m. Based on these records the defense
cannot determine what number was called (beyond the Fone America, Inc. access
number). Contact was made with somebody, however, as one of the calls lasted 1
minute and 42 seconds and another lasted 6 minutes and 2 seconds. Given the fact
that a call was made from this phone on this date by use of a Fone America
calling card, it follows that the FBI would have tracked down the number to
which the call was made. We could not find any such records in the District
Attorney's files nor have we been provided any such information.
[2] Telephone number (913) 762-9679 belongs to a pay
phone in the lobby of the WalMart located in Junction City, Kansas. According to
the State, calls were also made from this exact pay phone using the Darryl
Bridges calling card. For the date of April 4, 1995 -- as requested in the
subpoena according to telephone records for this pay phone found in 1B-0244 and
1B-2005 -- a call was made from that phone to the 1-800 access number for Fone
America. The call occurred at about 3:29 p.m. and lasted 4 minutes and 28
seconds. See Exhibits 53 and 54. Given the fact that a call was made from this
phone on that date by use of a Fone America calling card, it follows that the
FBI would have tracked down the number to which the call was made. We could not
find any such records in the District Attorney's files nor have we been provided
any such information.
[3] Telephone number (913) 762-9647 belongs to a pay
phone at Winters Hardware in Junction City, Kansas. According to the State,
calls were also made from this exact pay phone using the Darryl Bridges calling
card. For the date of April 4, 1995 - as requested in the subpoena according to
telephone records found in 1B-0244 and 1B-0255 -- a call was made from that
phone to the 1-800 access number for Fone America. The call occurred at about
5:46 p.m. See Exhibits 53 and 54. Given the fact that a call was made from this
phone on that date by use of a Fone America calling card, it follows that the
FBI would have tracked down the number to which the call was made. We could not
find any such records in the District Attorney's files nor have we been provided
any such information.
[4] Telephone number (602) 757-9902 belongs to a pay
phone at Byers Liquor Store located at 3019 E. Northern Avenue, in Kingman,
Arizona. According to the Daryl Bridges card summary created by the federal
government, there were no calls made from this phone using the Daryl Bridges
card. Although telephone records for the specific date of April 8,1995, were
subpoenaed in Federal Grand Jury Subpoena No. 951610 (1A-0617), it is unclear if
any call was made from that phone using the 1-800 access number for Fone
America. This pay phone is important because Byers Liquor Store is located less
than a couple of miles from Michael Fortier's residence in Kingman, Arizona. By
his own admission, Fortier frequently bought cigarettes at Byers Liquor Store.
See Exhibit 55 (302 # 1847).
Early on in the prosecution of the federal case,
federal investigators prepared lists that were entitled OKBOMB TARGETS. These
were alphabetical listings of subscribers to all telephone numbers that were
determined to be of relevance in the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing.
Exhibit 56 is one such "OKBOMB TARGETS" report that was generated on
January 17, 1996. Exhibit 57 is another report created on April 30, 1996. In
both of these reports the number (602) 757-9902 is listed. The January 17, 1996
OKBOMB TARGETS printout shows:
Subscribe Name Phone Number Total Calls
Address Time Period of Calls
(Page 4)
Byers Liq 520-757-990253 18
3019 Northern Ave Pay Phone
Kingman, AZ 03/24/95 - 04/24/95
(Page 9)
CUC Coin Byers Liq 602-757-9902 61
3019 Northern Ave Pay Phone
Kingman, AZ 03/14/95 - 4/27/95
The April 30, 1996 "OKBOMB TARGETS" report
lists the same information, however, both entries are listed under Byers Liq on
Page 5. Exhibit 57. Therefore, at one time, the federal government had 79 call
records for this telephone made at times which include the date of April 8,
1995; the specific date of the call from that phone to 1-800-805-0805 for which
records were subpoenaed in Federal Grand Jury Subpoena No. 951610 (1A-0617).
Given the fact that calls were made from this phone
during this relevant time period, it follows that the FBI would have tracked
down the numbers to which the call were made. The defense, however, has not been
able to locate any records regarding this telephone number in any of the 1A, 1B
or 1C files after reviewing the index received by the defense, including the
records of 79 calls which the federal government admitted it had in the two 1996
"OKBOMB TARGETS" reports. Nor is the telephone number mentioned in a
single 302 provided to the defense.54 Therefore, the records for this telephone
number - which include at least 79 calls - were either never placed in a 1A, 1B,
or 1C file or they have simply vanished.
[5][6][7] Telephone number (913) 762-0101 belongs to a
pay phone at a Kwik Sack store located in Junction City, Kansas. According to
the testimony produced at trial, calls were also made from this exact pay phone
using the Darryl Bridges calling card. For the date of April 13, 1995 - as
requested in the subpoena - according to telephone records for this Junction
City, Kansas pay phone found on page 15 of 1B0244, a call was made from that
phone to the 1-800 access number for Fone America. The call occurred at about
10:39 a.m. and lasted 7 minutes and 1 second. See Exhibit 53.
For the date of April 15, 1995 -- as requested in the
subpoena according to telephone records for this Junction City, Kansas pay phone
found on page 16 of 1B0244 -- two calls were made from that phone to the 1-800
access number for the Fone America. The calls occurred at about 11:44 a.m. and
11:46 a.m. The second one connected with someone, and the call lasted 3 minutes
and 1 second. See Exhibit 53.
For the date of April 20, 1995, the day after the
bombing - as requested in the subpoena - according to telephone records for this
Junction City, Kansas pay phone found on page 19 of 1B0244, two calls were made
from that phone to the 1-800 access number for Fone America. Those calls
occurred at about 12:21 p.m. and 12:22 p.m. The second one connected with
someone since the call lasted for 1 minute and 52 seconds. See Exhibit 53. Given
the fact that calls were made from this phone on these relevant dates, it
follows that the FBI would have tracked down the numbers to which the calls were
made. We could not find any such records in the District Attorney's files nor
have we been provided any such information.
[8] Telephone number (405) 725-3461 belongs to a pay
phone located at the Cimarron Travel Plaza on I-35 at the Highway 15 junction
near Billings, Oklahoma. See Exhibit 55 (Inserts 473 and 308). This location is
especially significant because there was at least one possible sighting of
Timothy McVeigh at the Cimarron Travel Plaza in the early morning hours of April
19, 1995.
For the date of April 19, 1995 -- as requested in the
subpoena -- the defense cannot verify that a call was made to the 1-800 access
number for Fone America. That is because a thorough search of the indexes for
all the 1A, 1B, and 1C files fails to yield any records related to calls made on
that phone for that date. Nonetheless, since the FBI subpoenaed records for that
date, there should be some record pertaining to that pay phone in the files in
the District Attorney's Office. Indeed, a review of the same "OKBOMB
TARGETS" reports referred to in the discussion of telephone number (602)
757-9902 ( [4], supra) reveals in both the January 17, 1996 report (Exhibit 53,
p.6) and the April 30, 1996 report (Exhibit 54, p.7) that the federal government
had in its possession records of 35 "total calls" made from or to that
pay phone on "4/19/95," the same day as requested in the subpoena and
the day of the bombing. A computerized search of the indexes for the 1A, 1B, and
1C files provided to the defense using that specific number and the location of
the pay phone "Cimarron Travel Plaza" failed to locate any telephone
records that the federal government admitted existed in the 1996 "OKBOMB
TARGETS" reports. Therefore, the records for this telephone number - which
include at least 35 calls -- were either never placed in a 1A, 1B, or 1C file or
they have simply vanished.
[9] Telephone number (405) 282-9700 belongs to a pay
phone located approximately ten miles north of Oklahoma City, along Interstate
35 at mileage marker 149, a southbound rest stop exit, which has three pay
telephones located in the passenger car parking area. See Exhibits 58 and 59.
For the date of April 19, 1995 - as requested in the
subpoena - the defense cannot verify that a call was made to the 1-800 access
number for Fone America. That is because a thorough search of the indexes for
all the 1A, 1B, and 1C files fails to yield any records related to calls made on
that phone for that date. Nonetheless, since the FBI subpoenaed records for that
date, there should be some record pertaining to that pay phone in the files in
the District Attorney's Office. However, a review of the same "OKBOMB
TARGETS" reports reveals that in both the January 17, 1996 report (Exhibit
56, p.30) and the April 30, 1996 report (Exhibit 57, p. 33) that the federal
government had in its possession records of 47 "total calls" made from
or to that pay phone on "4/19/95"; the same day as requested in the
subpoena and the day of the bombing. Given the fact that calls were made from
this phone on an obviously significant date, it follows that the FBI would have
tracked down the numbers to which these calls were made. We could
not find any such records in the District Attorney's
files nor have we been provided any such information.55
In reviewing the telephone records for pay phones that
were subpoenaed by the FBI in the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing,
Mr. Earnest found that although the FBI learned the numbers and locations of
hundreds, perhaps even thousands of pay phones all over Oklahoma, Kansas,
Arizona, and elsewhere, they did not request toll records for each and every one
of them. They certainly did not request records that would verify that a
particular number was called from a particular pay phone on a particular day for
each and every pay phone about which the FBI was aware. Common sense suggests
that when the FBI subpoenaed records for a specific telephone number such as
(405) 725-3461 (the pay phone at a rest stop 10 miles north of Oklahoma City)
for a call to a 1-800 access number on the day of the bombing, they had a
specific reason for doing so. It is the fact that the FBI was specifically
interested in only a limited number of pay phones on specific days that creates
an inference that the FBI had other information connecting the Midwest bank
robbers or somebody else using a Fone America calling card on the days in
question with the Murrah Building bombing. Indeed, the fact that the federal
grand jury subpoena was issued for only one of the three pay phones56 at the
rest stop on I-35, ten miles north of Oklahoma City, on April 19, 1995,
highlights the targeted nature of the FBI's phone record investigation.
Clearly, the fact that the subpoena specifically
requests records for calls from one of those three pay phones shows that the
subpoena was not a shotgun approach or a broad attempt to subpoena a large
number of records. Rather, it appears to be a targeted subpoena designed to
confirm or corroborate information already in the possession of the FBI. Yet,
none of these records or any of this information was provided to the defense.
Once again, the defense had no way of connecting any of the information in the
files in the District Attorney's Office with the Midwest bank robbers until
after the defense reviewed the telephone records in Langan's files.
I. The Federal Government's Investigation into Elohim
City
After reviewing the materials in Langan's BOMBROB file
and some of the telephone records noted above, the defense believes that federal
law enforcement officials were monitoring the telephone activities of Elohim
City prior to and at the time of the bombing. This belief is supported by a
review of the investigative activities going on inside Elohim City discussed
earlier in this Motion and the timing of specific investigative requests for
telephone records made as part of the investigation in the OKBOMB and BOMBROB
cases. Evidence uncovered in our recent review suggests that this telephone
monitoring was occurring as early as February 1995, two months before Timothy
McVeigh called Elohim City on April 5, 1995. In addition, the Secret Service
timeline found in 1B3484 reveals that the FBI was aware of at least one other
call from McVeigh to Elohim City. If, as the evidence suggests, the telephone at
Elohim City was being monitored (likely either by a pen register or a
trap-and-trace device) that fact has never been disclosed to the defense.
Certainly, any such records of telephone calls going into or out of Elohim City
could reveal additional calls made to or from Elohim City by McVeigh or others
involved with him.
An analysis of the telephone records of the Midwest
bank robbers subpoenaed in connection with the OKBOMB investigation reveals a
number of calls either going into or coming out of Elohim City. The defense has
created a spreadsheet to show the data that supports the conclusion that the
Elohim City telephone was being monitored before the bombing. See Exhibits 60
and 61 (describing each call included in the spreadsheet). Those exhibits
demonstrate that the FBI was able to request subscription records for telephone
calls made on specific days by the Midwest bank robbers out of Elohim City
before the FBI had obtained the Midwest bank robber telephone records from Fone
America, Inc. that detailed those calls.
There are only two possible conclusions that explain
how the FBI was able to make such specific requests. First, there was an
informant who was providing detailed accounts of the Midwest bank robbers'
telephone activities, including numbers called to and from and the exact dates
of the calls. Second, or alternatively, some federal law enforcement agency had
attached to the Elohim City telephone number/line an electronic "pen
register" or a "trap and trace" device. No other logical
explanation exists for the FBI's specific subpoenas for telephone subscriber
records to and from Elohim City before the FBI had ever obtained the Midwest
bank robbers' Fone America calling card records.
Listed in the attached Appendix is a spreadsheet and
explanatory notes regarding the Midwest bank robbers' calling card records.
Indeed, in 23 of the 30 specific telephone calls, the requesting FBI agent
preparing the subpoena seeking subscriber information for the telephone numbers
set out the actual date of the calls made to or from the questioned number.57
See Exhibits 60 and 61. The requests correspond exactly with the actual account
number calling card records received by the FBI. Yet, in most cases the FBI did
not receive the account records until after they had already subpoenaed the
individual telephone records. The only reasonable inference is that the person
who was requesting the subscriber information for the individual telephone
numbers had access to information that indicated that a particular telephone
number was involved and the date of the relevant call when he or she was
subpoenaing subscriber records for a particular telephone number. The odds of an
FBI agent just pulling a telephone number and a date that number was called to
or from out of the air and that number ending up on a telephone account record
that they received at a later time are simply astronomical.
In either case, it appears that the FBI had access to
information linking the activities of the Midwest bank robbers with Elohim City
and may well have additional information linking Timothy McVeigh to both groups.
If it was an informant who was providing this information to federal law
enforcement agents, then this informant was giving detailed information to those
investigating the Murrah Building bombing about the Midwest bank robbers.58 On
the other hand, if there was a pen register or trap and trace device connected
to Elohim City's telephone number, it may well be that there are additional
calls connecting Timothy McVeigh to Elohim City. Clearly, the defense would be
entitled to any such information.
In an attempt to determine whether any pen register
records or trap and trace records of the Elohim City telephone number were
obtained by the FBI in the investigation in this case, the defense has conducted
a computer assisted search for those terms in the 1A, 1B, and 1C indexes
supplied to the defense by the State. The results of the search for "pen
register" are attached as Exhibit 62. As that exhibit shows, only five
items listed in the indexes used that term. A review of those five files
disclosed that none of them contained any information about the Elohim City
telephone number.
Similarly, the defense also did a computerized search
for the phrase "trap and trace" in the indexes for the 1A, 1B, and 1C
files in this case. The results of that search are attached as Exhibit 63. The
first two of four items listed in the indexes for that term did not include any
records pertaining to the Elohim City telephone number. The third file, 1B1728,
is described in the index simply as "TRAP AND TRACE INFO." Defense
counsel sought permission from the State to review this file. When the file
cabinet was opened to the place where that file was supposed to be located, the
only thing there was the attached document, Exhibit 64. It states "1B1725
to 1B1730 INTERNAL FBI RECORDS NO COPY." The fourth file that refers to
"trap and trace" in the indexes is 1C913. It is described as:
"MISC. TELEPHONE TAPE EDITS, TOLL RECORDS & TRAP & TRACE
INFO." When defense counsel asked to view that file, the State initially
told us that the file was contained in a locked file cabinet in the District
Attorney's Office that the State was incapable of opening. Later, when the
defense pushed for access to the cabinet, the State gave us a copy of a notice
that was apparently found where 1C913 should have been located in the State's
filing cabinet. It says, "1C913 to 1C914 AGENT WORK PRODUCT, NO COPY."
Attached as Exhibit 65.
The federal government has purposefully withheld these
files from the State so that the defense would not have access to these records.
The existence of a so-called "open file" discovery policy is
meaningless if the files one seeks to review are empty. Similarly, Brady is
meaningless if the FBI can designate documents as internal records and rely upon
that label to withhold potentially critical information from the defense.59
It may well be that these undisclosed records will
contain information about the existence of a pen register or a trap and trace
device at Elohim City. Undeniably, the ATF was conducting an on-going
investigation into the activities at Elohim City prior to the bombing. See
Exhibit 22. If there was electronic monitoring of Elohim City's telephone number
prior to the bombing, the telephone call analysis suggests, it is likely that it
was being done under the auspices of that ATF investigation. Regardless of what
federal agency conducted the electronic telephone monitoring the results of that
monitoring that are exculpatory or lead to the development of exculpatory
evidence are subject to Brady disclosure in this case. Neither the state
prosecutors nor the federal government should be permitted to conceal
exculpatory material from the defense by claiming that the records were
maintained by the ATF.
But that appears to be exactly what has happened in
this case. In 1B3484, the Secret Service file there is an undated letter from
United States Secret Service Chief Counsel John J. Kelleher to Mark White,
Special Agent in the Oklahoma City Office of the FBI. Attached as Exhibit 66. In
that letter, Mr. Kelleher notes that the Secret Service was responding to a
request that the Agency conduct a search for all investigative materials
compiled as a result of the bombing. That search revealed that the Secret
Service Office of Inspection had extensive reports and materials relating to an
investigation "connected to the Oklahoma. City bombing." That letter
also confirms that Secret Service Special Agent Pat O'Carroll met on several
occasions with members of the federal prosecution team to discuss the documents
compiled by the Secret Service Inspection Division. It is clear from this letter
that the federal prosecutors made copies of only some of the documents contained
in this Secret Service file and that the rest of the file was not retained by
the prosecutors nor forwarded to the FBI. Thus, it is also clear that the
defense has never received the information contained in this file even though it
is directly related to the Oklahoma City bombing. In fact, the defense does not
know if it has received documents that were copied by Mr. Mackey and reviewed by
both Mr. Mackey and Mr. Hartzler. As the next section indicates, the defense is
entitled to exculpatory material found in the files of any investigative agency
that has worked on a particular case. Similarly, playing a shell game by
shuffling reports into a separate federal agency's investigative file or into
another FBI investigative case file to conceal them from the defense is
constitutionally impermissible.
As we have already demonstrated in this Motion, the
fact that the federal government and state prosecutors have concealed other
documents linking McVeigh to the Midwest bank robbers and at least one
additional call to Elohim City, there is every reason to believe that additional
exculpatory evidence may have been withheld from the defense.60
II. MR. NICHOLS HAS BEEN DEPRIVED OF DUE PROCESS OF
LAW BECAUSE THE STATE HAS FAILED TO PROVIDE HIM WITH THE EXCULPATORY MATERIAL TO
WHICH HE IS CONSTITUTIONALLY ENTITLED.
Unquestionably, both the United States and Oklahoma
Constitutions mandate that a criminal defendant be provided any information that
tends to negate the guilt of the accused or mitigates the offense with which he
is charged.61 See U.S. Const. amend. V, XIV; Okla. Const. art II, § 7. Under
Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87 (1963), "suppression by the prosecution
of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the
evidence is material to either guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good
faith or bad faith of the prosecution." See also Kyles v. Whitley, 514 U.S.
419 (1995); State v. Munson, 1994 OK CR 77, 886 P.2d 999. Furthermore,
"impeachment evidence merits the same constitutional treatment as
exculpatory evidence." Bowen v. Maynard, 799 F.2d 593, 610 (1oth Cir.
1986); see also United States v. Buchanan, 891 F.2d 1436, 1443 (10th Cir. 1989)
("because impeachment is integral to a defendant's constitutional right to
cross-examination, there exists no pat distinction between impeachment and
exculpatory evidence under Brady").
In determining whether a Brady violation has occurred,
the individual prosecutor's knowledge or possession of the exculpatory evidence
is irrelevant if it is shown that law enforcement personnel were aware of the
evidence. See Smith v. Secretary of New Mexico Dept. of Corrections, 50 F.3d
801, 834 (10th Cir. 1995) ("[E]ven assuming that the prosecution did not
know about these statements, it is clear the various law enforcement personnel
did. Accordingly, their knowledge is imputed to the prosecuting attorneys for
Brady purposes."). In the present case, fundamental fairness requires that
the knowledge of federal law enforcement be charged to the State prosecutors
given that the State's case is founded upon evidence gathered by federal
investigators and on testimony by federal witnesses and the State has repeatedly
asked this Court to rely on the representations of the federal government in
overruling Mr. Nichols' prior motions for disclosure of Brady materials.
"Brady and its progeny are ... grounded in notions of fundamental fairness
and they embody a practical recognition of the imbalances inherent in our
adversarial system of criminal justice[, where the] 'government's hand is
stacked with cards the defense lacks.'" Smith, 50 F.3d at 823 (quoting
United States v. Abello-Silva, 948 F.2d 1168, 1180 (10th Cir. 1991). The
prosecution's Brady obligations are broad and extend not only to evidence that
bears on a defendant's innocence or on the credibility of the State's evidence,
but also that bears on the defendant's moral culpability for purposes of
sentencing. See Brady, 373 U.S. at 87. Applying those standards here, the
information that has been withheld by the federal government and state
prosecutors is critical at both stages of this case.
A. Innocence Phase
Both the state prosecutors and the federal government
have long been on notice of Mr. Nichols' defense in this case, namely that
Timothy McVeigh conspired with others to bomb the Murrah Building. Evidence of
the involvement of others not only supports our theory that McVeigh set up Mr.
Nichols to protect his co-conspirators, but also seriously undermines the
significance of the entirely circumstantial evidence that the State is relying
on to link Mr. Nichols to the conspiracy. The State's position has been that
Timothy McVeigh could not have acted alone and that the circumstantial evidence
that points to Terry Nichols warrants a conviction because there is no other
credible evidence that points to any other co-conspirator. Thus, by process of
elimination, the State attempts to buttress its claim that it must have been
Terry Nichols who aided Tim McVeigh.
Evidence that someone other than Mr. Nichols aided
Timothy McVeigh, on the other hand, considerably weakens the State's
circumstantial case against Mr. Nichols. Indeed, evidence that points to other
co-conspirators is, therefore, clearly exculpatory, because it provides and
alternative explanation for how it is that Mr. McVeigh was able to carry out his
plot to bomb the Murrah Building.
Nonetheless, despite clear notice of the defense's
theory, the State and the federal government have withheld from the defense and
from this Court the fact that they have a videotape in their possession showing
"the suspects" exiting the Ryder truck "three minutes and six
seconds" before the detonation. They have also failed to disclose the
critical fact that Timothy McVeigh made a second phone call to Elohim City after
he rented the Ryder truck. They also failed to disclose that Mr. McVeigh was
trying to recruit a second co-conspirator in Elohim City on April 5, 1995.
Finally, they have failed to disclose the details of the federal investigation
showing links between members of the Midwest bank robbery group, Elohim City,
Mr. McVeigh, and the plot to destroy the Murrah Building. Unquestionably, these
failures have violated Mr. Nichols' state and federal constitutional rights to
due process of law and to a fair trial.
This Court has previously recognized the critical
importance of any videotape showing the occupants of the Ryder truck on April
19, 1995, or documenting the actual explosion. The impact of the federal
government's failure to disclose this videotape to Mr. Nichols prior to trial
cannot be overemphasized. The videotape not only corroborates Mr. Nichols' claim
that others assisted Mr. McVeigh, but also raises serious questions regarding
the integrity of the federal investigation of this case. Within days of the
bombing, federal investigators denied the involvement of anyone other than
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. They also conducted their investigation so as
to pressure and attempt to discredit witnesses who claimed to have seen McVeigh
and another in or around Oklahoma City on April 19th or the days leading up to
the bombing. For example, Danny Wilkerson, who reported seeing a passenger
inside the Ryder truck Timothy McVeigh was driving, stated that he was pressured
by the FBI to change his story. The videotape, therefore, is not only direct
evidence of the involvement of others in the bombing conspiracy, but such
evidence, in light of all the representations made by the federal government and
State in this case, casts serious doubt on the integrity of the investigation
and prosecution of Mr. Nichols. Evidence impugning the integrity of a criminal
investigation falls squarely within the disclosure requirements of Brady. See
Bowen, 799 F.2d at 613 ("A common trial tactic of defense lawyers is to
discredit the caliber of the investigation or the decision to charge the
defendant, and we may consider such use in assessing a possible Brady
violation."); see also United States v. Howell, 231 F.3d 615, 625 (9th Cir.
2000) (noting that "information which might 'have raised opportunities to
attack the thoroughness and even good faith of the investigation' constitutes
exculpatory, material evidence.") (quoting Kyles, 514 U.S. at 443).
Furthermore, the document describing the existence of
the videotape includes the troubling notation "remove," suggesting
that the federal government intended to withhold from the defense, the courts,
and the American public evidence of the videotape's existence. Although the
state of mind of the prosecutor is irrelevant in determining whether a Brady
violation has occurred, it is relevant where the evidence has been destroyed.
See Arizona v. Youngblood, 488 U.S. 51, 58 (1988). The defense already has
reason to believe that some of the evidence discussed in this motion, such as
the "contract" video that was made by the Midwest bank robbers and
allegedly showed Roger Moore's home, has, in fact, been destroyed by the federal
government.
In addition, any evidence that another individual is a
"suspect in the investigation" is clearly exculpatory and subject to
disclosure. See Smith, 50 F.3d at 829. Although most of the remaining evidence
that has been withheld from the defense is circumstantial in nature, it points
to a connection between Timothy McVeigh and those other violent criminals who
were committed to waging war against the United States. The government, both the
federal government and the State relying on work done by the federal government,
has been permitted to build its case on largely circumstantial evidence that
includes telephone records, especially the "Daryl Bridges" calling
card. Surely, the defense is entitled to do the same. However, the federal
government has hidden not only from the Mr. Nichols but also from this Court
those records that may allow him to do just that. Finally, the very fact that
the government has hidden these records - and continues to withhold other
investigative files directly related to this case -- strongly suggests that
there is additional exculpatory information that has still not been revealed.
Undoubtedly, the State will raise its usual argument
that it has fulfilled its Brady obligations simply by maintaining a so-called
"open file" policy. Yet, as this motion demonstrates, redacted 302s
and sheets of paper marked "internal FBI files, no records" undermine
any the validity of this claim. Ms. Elliott's representations to this Court that
all exculpatory material had been provided to the defense underscore the
illegitimacy of this reading of Brady given the context of this case. Indeed, a
prosecutor cannot discharge her or his Brady obligations by overwhelming the
defense with a mountain of information and then expect defense counsel to find
the proverbial needle in the haystack. See United States v. Hsia, 24 F.Supp.2d
14, 29-30 (D.D.C. 1998) ("The government cannot meet its Brady obligations
by providing Ms. Hsia with access to 600,000 documents and then claiming that
she should have been able to find the exculpatory material in the
haystack."); see also Smith, 50 F.3d at 828 (recognizing that a
prosecutor's "open file" policy, lack of intent to withhold
exculpatory evidence, or lack of knowledge of the existence of exculpatory
evidence is "largely irrelevant to Brady analysis"). Not only was the
State obligated to inform defense counsel and this Court of the existence of
this videotape, the State cannot rely on its so-called open file policy to
escape its obligation to disclose the existence of 1B3483. This is especially so
given this Court's December 30, 2003 order that the State disclose to the
defense all evidence within its possession that supported the defense's theory
that Timothy McVeigh was aided by others unknown.
B. Life Phase - Mitigation
Brady also applies to information that is material to
punishment. See Brady, 373 U.S. at 88; see also Chaney v. Brown, 730 F.2d 1334,
1336 (10th Cir. 1984) (reversing death sentence where state failed to disclose
three FBI reports that suggested the defendant had not acted alone in committing
a murder and may not have been at scene of murder and holding that evidence
might have affected the jury's choice to impose the maximum sentence). In the
present case, evidence that others conspired with McVeigh to bomb the Murrah
Building is clearly material to the jury's determination of the appropriate
sentence in this case, should Mr. Nichols be convicted. This is particularly
true given that Mr. Nichols was not present at the time of the bombing, there is
absolutely no evidence that he intended to kill, and the evidence suggesting his
participation in the bombing is wholly circumstantial. Cf. id. at 1351-52.
Additionally, evidence that shows that Mr. McVeigh was aided by other radical
terrorists who were actively involved in a war to overthrow the United States
government, many of whom advocated white supremacy, stands in sharp contrast to
the anti-government views attributed to Mr. Nichols. Not only is there no
evidence that Mr. Nichols supported racist, neo-Nazi views, there is also no
evidence that he ever committed any violent act. Nor was he ever convicted of
any crime prior to his conviction in the federal case. Once again, the
juxtaposition with the Midwest bank robbers would constitute significant
mitigation evidence.
Because the federal government and the state
prosecutors have failed to meet their Brady obligations, due process and the
principles of fair play enshrined in both the Oklahoma and United States
Constitutions demand that this case be dismissed. Alternatively, we ask this
Court to dismiss the bill of particulars. If the Court decides that the actions
of the prosecution do not warrant a dismissal, then the defense would ask that
the defense be provided (1) a copy of the videotape, (2) any and all records
pertaining to a second telephone call to Elohim City by McVeigh after the rental
of the Ryder truck, (3) an unredacted copy of the 302 # 14815, (4) the remaining
reports of Angela Finley-Graham and the ATF investigative file pertaining to
Elohim City, (5) any pen register and any trap and trace records currently
marked as internal and not produced, (6) the un-produced Secret Service reports
relating to the investigation connected to the Oklahoma City bombing, (7) the
missing telephone records the federal government claimed to have had in their
OKBOMB TARGETS reports regarding telephone numbers (602) 757-9902, (405)
225-3461, (405) 282-9700, and Fone America, Inc. card number 1371591790, as well
as all the other exculpatory information we have identified in this motion.
III. EVIDENCE THAT OTHERS ASSISTED TIMOTHY MCVEIGH IS
CRITICAL TO ENSURING THAT MR. NICHOLS IS PROVIDED HIS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO
PRESENT A DEFENSE.
Mr. Nichols asks that if this Court overrules his
Brady motion that he, nonetheless, be permitted to introduce evidence that shows
Timothy McVeigh was aided by others -- not Terry Nichols -- in his plot to bomb
the Murrah Building. To prohibit Mr. Nichols from introducing such evidence is
to deny Mr. Nichols his constitutional right to present a defense. See
Washington v. Texas, 388 U.S. 14,19, 87 S. Ct. 1920, 1923 (1967) ("The
right of the accused to confront the prosecution's witnesses and to present his
own witnesses to establish a defense is a fundamental element of due process of
law."); Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 302, 93 S. Ct. 1038 (1973)
("Few rights are more fundamental than that of an accused to present
witnesses in his own defense."); White v. State, 1998 OK CR 69, 10, 973
P.2d 306, 310 (same); see also U.S. Const. amends. V and XIV; Okla. Const. art.
II, § 7.
Unquestionably, the defense is entitled to call
witnesses who saw Timothy McVeigh in the company of unknown males in the days
before the bombing and in the vicinity of the Murrah Building, and witnesses who
saw someone other than Mr. McVeigh driving Mr. McVeigh's Mercury Marquis in
Oklahoma City the week before the bombing. Furthermore, the defense will call
witnesses who saw others unknown with Timothy McVeigh on April 19, 1995.
Additionally, Mr. Nichols is entitled to witnesses to show that, while Mr.
Nichols was at home in Kansas taking care of his family and building his
business, Mr. McVeigh was actively recruiting and building a network of people
who shared his violent animosity towards the federal government.
These witnesses will show that persons unknown were in
the company of Mr. McVeigh during relevant times and support the inference that
persons other than Terry Nichols aided Timothy McVeigh in the commission of this
bombing. Clearly, Timothy McVeigh could not have committed this bombing by
himself. Thus, the fact that Mr. McVeigh was with others at relevant times is
admissible to rebut that theory that someone had to help McVeigh and the most
likely person was Mr. Nichols. Because the defense contends that Mr. Nichols did
not aid McVeigh, then the jury will surely ask who else might have done so. The
defense will offer direct evidence that links Timothy McVeigh with certain other
suspects. Circumstantial evidence that also points to these suspects bolsters
the defense claim that some of these persons may, in fact, have been the
"others unknown" who aided McVeigh. Barring the introduction of this
evidence strips Mr. Nichols of his ability to answer the State's circumstantial
case.
In addition, the defense will argue that Timothy
McVeigh and his real accomplices set up Terry Nichols to take the blame. The
evidence that the defense seeks to offer - such as McVeigh's contacts with other
radical violent groups - provides a viable explanation why these persons are
more likely than Mr. Nichols, a man without any history of violence, to have
aided McVeigh in his plot. Finally, as this Motion demonstrates, the State and
the federal government orchestrated this investigation so as to perpetuate the
myth that it was McVeigh and Mr. Nichols - and to a limited extent, Michael
Fortier - who alone conspired to blow up the Murrah Building. By withholding
critical evidence such as the videotape of suspects getting out of the Ryder
truck, blocking access to other evidence, and manipulating the investigation,
the federal government worked to shift blame toward Terry Nichols and away from
others unknown.
Witnesses that the defense has listed are all building
blocks in a defense based largely on circumstantial evidence that points to the
conclusion that others unknown, and not Terry Nichols, aided Timothy McVeigh in
his criminal acts. What the defense seeks to do is no different than what the
State intends to do in its case-in-chief -- that is, rely on circumstantial
evidence and ask the jury to reach a conclusion that Mr. Nichols is not guilty
of conspiracy to blow up the Murrah Building. Certainly, the State will rely
heavily on circumstantial evidence. For example, the State has already put into
evidence The Hunter and has sought and received a ruling from this Court
permitting them to also use The Turner Diaries as evidence. The State apparently
is using these "anti-government" books in an attempt to show how the
contents of The Turner Diaries, i.e., the truck bombing of a federal bombing,
mirrors what actually occurred in this case. The defense is entitled to show, in
turn, other aspects of these books. To that end, the books show that the
character who best represents Timothy McVeigh organized and dealt with numerous
"cells" in the fulfillment of his ultimate goal. These
"cells," according to the book that the State intends to use, were not
always aware of each other; and, often times, the members of a particular cell
did not even know the identities of others in the same cell. In summary, if the
State can use parts of these books to show the conspiratorial origin and the
plans of the Murrah Building bombing, the defense can use other parts of these
same books to show how other activities of Timothy McVeigh also mirrored events
in the books.
The State claims that Irvin v. State, 11 Okla. Crim.
301, 146 P. 453 (1915), requires that when a defendant seeks to admit evidence
that someone other than a defendant committed a charged crime, the defendant
must proffer evidence that directly connects that person with the commission of
the crime. Much of the evidence the defense intends to offer does, in fact, show
that a person or persons other than Terry Nichols was involved with Timothy
McVeigh when he carried out his bombing plot. Clearly, evidence that a person
other than Terry Nichols accompanied Mr. McVeigh when he parked a bomb in front
of the Murrah Building is "an overt act ... towards the commission of the
crime itself." In addition, evidence that someone other than Timothy
McVeigh was seen driving Mr. McVeigh's Mercury Marquis in Oklahoma City in the
days prior to the bombing connects that person or persons to the crime. Evidence
of Mr. McVeigh's numerous attempts to recruit other people to assist his war
against the federal government supports the existence and involvement of another
person or persons. Finally, evidence that Mr. McVeigh called Elohim City a
second time after the rental of the Ryder truck, especially in light of his
earlier call to recruit a second co-conspirator, surely is admissible because it
constituted a deliberate effort to involve others in the commission of this
crime.
Although the defense has only limited direct evidence
of who these people were who were with Timothy McVeigh, circumstantial evidence
strongly suggests that the Midwest bank robbers and those in Elohim City were
the persons who aided him. For example, it is undisputed that just two weeks
before the bombing Timothy McVeigh called Elohim City. The person he called in
Elohim City was Andreas Strassmeir who along with Dennis Mahon was targeting the
Murrah Building for an attack. As described more fully earlier in this Motion,
the activities of Strassmeir and Mahon coupled with the call for a "Holy
War" against the federal government lend powerful support to the conclusion
that McVeigh found his accomplices in Elohim City.
Moreover, as this Motion also describes in detail, the
Midwest bank robbers committed a series of bank robberies to finance their
revolutionary activities. This group had links to Elohim City and to the alleged
robbery of Roger Moore. Given the admission by Mr. McVeigh that he was involved
in the planning of a bank robbery, evidence of the activities of the Midwest
bank robbers is clearly admissible.
The defense has also found a direct connection between
Steven Colbern and Timothy McVeigh at a critical time during the planning and
preparation for the bombing.62 It is also undisputed that around the same time
that McVeigh was making calls to inquire about renting a Ryder truck in Arizona
he repeatedly called the telephone number of a prominent racist, neo-Nazi
organization, the National Alliance. It should seem no coincidence to anyone
that the National Alliance was once led by former American Nazi Party officer
William Pierce, who is the author of The Turner Diaries and The Hunter, the very
books which the State claims contain the blueprints for the Murrah Building
bombing. The jury ought to hear such evidence in order to be able to draw their
own conclusions as to whether people associated with these groups and
individuals are, in fact, the persons who were aiding Timothy McVeigh.
The Irvin Court explicitly cautions that:
"It is evident that no precise rule can be laid
down to govern the admission of such evidence in all cases. Much must depend
upon the circumstances of the case, as well as the character of the evidence
offered."
146 P. at 465 (quoting Horn v. State, 12 Wyo. 80, 73
Pac. 705) (emphasis added). The Irvin Court's assertion that "much must
depend upon the circumstances of the case," must be heeded because it is
beyond argument that this case is unlike any other. As set forth in detail in
this Motion, the evidence that we have now uncovered combined with other
circumstantial evidence in this case unquestionably shows that others aided
Timothy McVeigh. Mr. Nichols is constitutionally entitled to present that
evidence to this jury.
The fact that the State is pursuing the death penalty
in this case requires that this Court offer the defense wide latitude in
presenting evidence that will mitigate Mr. Nichols' alleged involvement in the
crimes charged. Hale v. United States, 25 F.2d 430 (8th Cir. 1928), is a federal
case from Oklahoma. The Hale Court noted the general rule as set forth in Irvin,
but cautioned that the exclusion of evidence of alternative suspects in a
capital trial is disfavored:
The [trial] court evidently excluded the testimony
under the rule thus stated, and we do not think its action, standing alone,
would constitute reversible error. However, in view of the relationship shown
and the evidence already before the court, we think the testimony of Tulk might
have been well admitted, and, in general, in a capital case, opportunity should
be afforded to present all competent evidence tending to show that a party other
than the accused might have committed the crime under the rule above stated.
Id. at 436.
Thus, some fifty years before the United States
Supreme Court's development of extensive death penalty case law that reiterates
time and again, "death is different,"63 a federal court in Oklahoma,
acknowledging Irvin v. State, recognized that in a capital case a rule of law
like that in contained in Irvin should be used sparingly when applied to a
defendant who is on trial for his life.64
The Tenth Circuit has also made clear that the rules
of evidence must be cautiously applied against a defendant in a capital case to
insure that the application of these rules does not deny a defendant his
constitutional right to present a defense. See Romano v. Gibson, 239 F.3d 1156
(10th Cir. 2001) (noting that the strict application of evidentiary rules is
unconstitutional "if a state court applies the State's evidentiary rules
unfairly to prevent a defendant from presenting evidence that is critical to his
defense"). See also Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 427, 92 S. Ct. 1056
(1971) (holding that enforcement of a state voucher rule and a hearsay rule to
prevent cross-examination of a defendant's own witness as to prior statements
denied federal guarantees to due process); Washington v. Texas, 388 U.S. 14, 87
S. Ct. 1920 (1967) (holding that a state may not impose a general rule excluding
co-defendants as witnesses for a defendant on the grounds that this class of
witnesses is incompetent).
Finally, as it relates to death penalty cases,
Oklahoma law provides that the jury can consider "any" mitigating
evidence in its determination as to imposing the death penalty. See 21 O.S. 2003
§ 701.10(C); see also OUJI - CR 4-78, 4-79; Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U.S. 586, 98
S. Ct. 2954 (1978). Mr. Nichols asserts that as part of mitigating circumstances
the jury should be permitted to hear evidence of others involved in the offenses
charged and should be permitted to hear evidence that McVeigh was actively
recruiting and building a network of people who shared his violent animus
towards the federal government at a time when Mr. Nichols was actively building
a family and a business. Indeed, the Midwest bank robbers and those in Elohim
City were robbing banks and expressly planning the commission of a series of
violent acts to overthrow the government. By hearing this evidence, the jury,
even if it concludes that Mr. Nichols had some involvement in the bombing plot,
might then consider relative culpability of others whom the jury believes might
be involved. Presented in this context, the rigid rules of showing an
"overt act," as held in Irvin cannot, and should not, apply.
Mitigating evidence is "any" evidence that would influence a single
juror to vote for a sentence less than death. It is not evidence that needs to
be proven by "an overt act."
The State's evidence against the Mr. Nichols in this
prosecution is circumstantial. Where the evidence against a defendant is wholly
circumstantial, fundamental fairness dictates that a defendant be allowed to
present like evidence of other suspects involvement to counter the prosecution's
evidence. See State v. Scott, 235 P. 380, 117 Kan. 303, 118 Kan. 464 (1925). The
Scott case cited Irvin. In Scott, the court acknowledged the general law as set
forth in Irvin, but cautioned against strict application of that law where the
prosecution's evidence is circumstantial:
And in such a prosecution, where the state relies upon
circumstantial evidence to convict the accused, the courts as a rule are much
more liable in receiving evidence of threats, motive, presence in the vicinity,
flight, or confession, and circumstances tending to connect the third person
with the offense, than in cases where there is direct evidence against the
accused. It seems sound reasoning to say that, in a case where the state relies
upon circumstantial evidence to connect the accused with the crime, the
defendant who contends that the crime was committed by a third party and shows
threats, motive, presence in the immediate vicinity at the time of the homicide,
flight, or confession of such third person, might also rely upon circumstances
tending to connect such third person with the crime. In other words, the
defendant ought not be made in a given case to make a higher degree of showing
with respect to third person than the state is required to make with respect to
the accused.
235 P. at 386. The Scott Court reversed the conviction
in that case (for murder), inter alia, because the defendant was not permitted
to present evidence that tended to show that someone other than he committed the
crime.
Furthermore, Irvin was a conspiracy case. As such it
contains interesting language as to evidence that can be presented in such a
case. The Irvin Court noted:
The rule of law applicable to questions of this kind
is well settled. In a trial for murder, any evidence which fairly tends to prove
a conspiracy between persons to commit the murder and the motive for the murder
is admissible, although not tending directly to prove the murder charged in all
cases, where such testimony tends to corroborate the testimony tending directly
to prove the murder charged. It is not necessary that the prosecution establish
beyond peradventure that the acts, declarations, or conduct of the alleged
conspirators were based upon the conspiracy or in reference to the crime
charged. It is sufficient if they harmonize with and tend to confirm the charge
of conspiracy, or show motive for the crime. If such acts, declarations, or
conduct of the alleged conspirators could not be shown, unless the motive
therefore, or the connection between the same and the crime, were made
undisputably clear, the range of inquiry would be very limited. It is sufficient
that such acts, declarations, and conduct have an apparent or probable
connection.
146 P. at 463 (quoting Starr v. State, 5 Okl. Cr. 440,
115 Pac. 356).
Clearly, a criminal defendant does not have the
authority to charge someone with a crime, for example, with conspiracy. But a
criminal defendant does have a constitutional right to present a defense. If a
defendant is charged with conspiracy (as is Mr. Nichols) and as part of that
defense he seeks to present evidence that others conspired with the person that
he is alleged to have conspired with (Timothy McVeigh), then his standard of
proof should not be any higher than the State's. In other words, an
"apparent and probable connection" ought to be sufficient.
Respectfully submitted,
BY ________________________________
Brian T. Hermanson, OBA #4131
W. Creekmore Wallace, II, OBA #9315
Rodney J. Uphoff, OBA #014170
Barbara E. Bergman
Mark A. Earnest
Theresa M. Duncan
P.O. Box 879
McAlester, OK 74502
(918) 426-0032
Court-Appointed Attorneys for the Defendant
Certificate of Service
I certify that on the 12th day of April, 2004, I hand
delivered a true and correct copy of Motion to Dismiss Based on the State's
Failure to Comply with Brady v. Maryland to:
Sandra Elliott
Assistant Oklahoma County District Attorney
118 E. Carl Albert Pkwy.
McAlester, OK 74501
Brian T. Hermanson
1 The Midwest bank robbers were a gang of violent
terrorists who robbed twenty-two banks across the Midwest to finance their
campaign against the United States government. See pages 13-17 of this Motion.
2 Transcript of December 30, 2003 Hearing at 159-62.
3 Mr. Nichols incorporates by reference his Motion for
Continuance filed on February 29, 2004, and all other Brady motions, both
written and oral, previously made in this case.
4 OKBOMB was the major case name used by the FBI to
refer to its investigation of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building.
5 See Exhibit 30, discussed at pages 45-46 of this
Motion; Exhibit 15, discussed at pages 27-28 of this Motion;
6 See, e.g., infra page 45, describing the first page
of the critical Secret Service timeline on which is handwritten the word,
"Remove."
7 Over 50 different witnesses saw Timothy McVeigh and
a man resembling the composite sketch of John Doe 2 in Kansas and Oklahoma in
the week before the bombing. For example, on April 16, 1995, a waitress at a
Denny's restaurant in Junction City observed Timothy McVeigh and two other men
(neither of whom was Terry Nichols) inside the restaurant. See Testimony of
Nancy Kindle, United States v. Nichols, December 3, 1997, at 12222. Ms. Kindle
is sure that she spoke with Mr. McVeigh, who spelled out his last name for her
and whom she later identified in court. See Testimony of Nancy Kindle, United
States v. McVeigh, May 23, 1997, at 10707-08. David Crane saw Timothy McVeigh
and a group of men inside the Murrah Building on the morning of April 13, 1995.
See D-751. One of these men resembled a composite sketch drawn of "John Doe
2." Catherine Woodley saw Timothy McVeigh inside the building later that
same day. See D-38, D-14805. Telephone records and other evidence establish that
Mr. Nichols was at home with his family in Herington, Kansas on April 13th.
Furthermore, several witnesses saw Mr. McVeigh accompanied by another man inside
the Murrah Building the week before the bombing. See, e.g., statements of Paul
Heath and Vernon Buster. Their descriptions of the man accompanying Mr. McVeigh
are inconsistent with Mr. Nichols' appearance. See D-5731, D-6191.
8 Over 30 witnesses reported seeing a distinctive
yellow, Mercury Marquis being driven in Oklahoma City in the days before the
bombing. The car was described as being distinctive for a variety of reasons,
including unusual rust patterns on a back panel and a dangling Arizona license
plate. When Timothy McVeigh checked into the Dreamland Motel in Junction City,
he reported an Arizona license plate number on the registration form. When Mr.
McVeigh was arrested on April 19th, the Mercury had no license plate indicating
it had come loose and fallen off at some point. Some witnesses reported seeing
the Mercury being driven at times when the State alleges that Mr. McVeigh was in
Kansas. For example, Sherry and Chris Boston saw an older model, yellow Mercury
Marquis with a dangling Arizona license plate being driven in Oklahoma City on
April 18, 1995 at approximately 11:30 a.m. See D-6428, D-6429. There was only
one person in the vehicle. Numerous witnesses reported seeing a similar car in
the vicinity of the Murrah Building later that day. See, e.g., statement of Gary
Lewis, D-245 (two men in a yellow or cream-colored Marquis with a dangling
license plate in a parking lot of the Journal Record Building minutes before the
bomb exploded); statement of Lula Rider, D-6985 (two men in a yellow Mercury
Marquis driving near the Journal Record Building at approximately 12:30 p.m. on
April 18, 1995); statement of Kevin Waters, D-10345 (two men in a yellow Mercury
Marquis parked outside the Murrah Building at approximately 9:30 p.m. on April
18, 1995). Several other witnesses reported seeing a man resembling Mr. McVeigh
and another man next to the Marquis on the morning of April 19th. See, e.g.,
Testimony of Morris Kuper, United States v. Nichols, December 5, 1997, at 12819;
D-245 (statement of Gary Lewis).
9 At least fifteen witnesses saw Mr. McVeigh and
another man near the Murrah Building on the morning of April 19, 1995. For
example, Daina Bradley saw two men get out of a Ryder truck moments before the
bomb exploded. Rodney Johnson and Billie Hood, saw two men, one of whom
resembled Timothy McVeigh, hurrying away from the Murrah Building moments before
the explosion. See D-3253. Moments after the bombing, Germaine Johnston saw
Timothy McVeigh and another man standing near a Mercury Marquis in an alley near
the Southwestern Bell building. See D-9458. It is undisputed that Mr. Nichols
was at home with his family in Herington, Kansas on the morning of April 19,
1995.
10 For example, Guy Rubsamen saw two men exit a Ryder
truck parked in front of the Murrah Building at approximately 4:00 p.m. on April
18, 1995. See D-9804. Heather Laughlin saw Timothy McVeigh and another man with
the Ryder truck the evening of April 18, 1995 at a gas station in Oklahoma City.
See D-354. Many of the witnesses listed in footnote 7, supra, saw Mr. McVeigh
with another man in or near a Ryder truck the morning of April 19, 1995. Mike
Moroz, who worked at Johnny's Tires in Oklahoma City, reported that a man
driving a Ryder truck stopped at Johnny's Tires the morning of April 19th to ask
for directions to 5th and Harvey. See D-68. There was a second man in the
passenger's seat of the truck. Mr. Moroz later participated in a line up and
identified Mr. McVeigh as the driver of the truck. See D-69. Mr. Moroz's
statement has been corroborated by other employees at Johnny's Tires who saw the
Ryder truck and have identified Timothy McVeigh as the driver. See Grand Jury
testimony of Bryan Marshall, October 20, 1997.
11 This Court has already heard testimony from Eldon
Elliott, the owner of Elliott's Body Shop, that Mr. McVeigh was accompanied by
another individual when he picked up the Ryder truck on April 17, 1995. Mr.
Elliott's testimony is corroborated by statements made by other employees who
were present that day. See, e.g., D-1197 (statement of Tom Kessinger).
12 U.S. v. Nichols, Testimony of Lea McGown, December
2, 1997, at 11836-38.
13 U.S. v. Nichols, Testimony of Jeff Davis, December
3, 1997, at 12117.
14 No record exists of any call to the Hunam Palace
using the Daryl Bridges calling card even though Timothy McVeigh often used the
Daryl Bridges calling card even for local calls. For example, McVeigh used the
Daryl Bridges card to call Elliott's Ryder Truck Rental shop, which was just a
few miles away, on the day before "Robert Kling" called the Hunam
Palace restaurant. McVeigh did register at the Dreamland Motel using his real
name. Thus, there would have been no need for him to use the "Robert
Kling" alias when he ordered Chinese food.
15 Assistant United States Attorney, Steven Snyder,
had obtained information about a 1983 plot to blow up the Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City. See 302, D-6754, attached as Exhibit 1. Jim Ellison,
the founder of the CSA, provided this information to AUSA Snyder when Snyder
interviewed Ellison in preparation for his testimony in the Sedition trial
against fourteen other white supremacists who were accused of plotting to
overthrow the government. Snyder was the prosecutor in the Sedition trial, and
ultimately, all the defendants were acquitted. One of the defendants in that
case was Richard Wayne Snell. The FBI's summary of its interview with AUSA
Snyder states, in part:
ELLISON relayed to SNYDER that at a July 1983 Aryan
Nations Congress meeting at Hayden Lake, Idaho, the various leaders of
anti-Government groups met to discuss objectives. These group leaders agreed to
do certain activities to strike back at the U.S. Government and wage war. One of
these activities mentioned was to blow up Federal buildings. The groups would
use robberies to finance their revolution.
. . . ELLISON explained to SNYDER that the reason
SNELL wanted to blow up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City was because the
INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE (IRS) was in that building. SNELL had a lot of problems
with the IRS and SNYDER believed that the IRS had raided SNELL's home to collect
back taxes. SNELL wanted to blow up the building to get even with the IRS. SNELL
came to ELLISON at the CSA compound because he felt ELLISON had expertise with
explosives and could get the job done. SNELL actually took ELLISON to the
Federal Building in Oklahoma City to check it out prior to it being bombed.
SNELL and SCOTT were requesting that a rocket launcher be used to blow up the
building. A timer or remote control would be used so the launcher could be left
in a trailer or van and then fired. The truck carrying the launcher would be
left near the Federal Building. ELLISON drew a picture of the prototype of the
actual rocket launcher that would have been used for use in the Sedition trial
in 1988. SNYDER advised that much of the testimony by ELLISON could he heard on
tape 27 of the Sedition trial, and a copy could be obtained upstairs in the U.S.
District Clerk's Office.
Exhibit 1 at 1-2.
16 Testimony of Angela Finley-Graham, In re Grand
Jury, CJ-95-7278, March 13, 1998, at 12-13.
17 U.S. v. Nichols, Testimony of Carol Howe, December
10, 1997, at 13737.
18 Although the defense has attempted to locate Ms.
Howe, we have been unable to do so.
19 The Terrorist Handbook includes a chapter on how to
build bombs from fertilizer and fuel oil.
20 Documents designated with an "E" prefix
refer to inserts, and documents designated with a "D" prefix are 302s.
21 These calls were made about the same time as the
call made to Elohim City and to the Ryder truck rental store.
22 Butler wrote those books under the pseudonym of
Andrew MacDonald.
23 See discussion of 1B3484 on pages 43-54 of this
Motion.
24 In addition to the mission statement, the federal
grand jury indictment contends that the bank robberies were used to finance the
Aryan Republican Army activities. Indictment: U.S. v. Mark Thomas, Peter Langan,
Scott Stedeford, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Brescia; United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; Date filed: January 30, 1997.
25 That indictment also states: "In or about
November 1994, the defendants MARK WILLIAM THOMAS and SCOTT ANTHONY STEDEFORD
met with defendant KEVIN MCCARTHY in Elohim City, Oklahoma. During a discussion
between MCCARTHY and defendant SCOTT ANTHONY STEDEFORED, STEDEFORD told MCCARTHY
that STEDEFORD, Richard Lee Guthrie, Jr. and one other individual had recently
committed an armed bank robbery and that STEDEFORD had received $1,000 in cash
as his portion of the bank robbery proceeds." Indictment: U.S. v. Mark
Thomas, Peter Langan, Scott Stedeford, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Brescia, p. 6.
26 Mr. Langan was also indicted in federal court in
Pennsylvania in March 1997 on charges of conspiracy to commit robbery with Mark
Thomas and other Midwest bank robbers, but those charges were eventually
dismissed.
27 BOMBROB was the major case name used by the FBI to
refer to its investigation of the Midwest bank robberies.
28 Neither the federal government nor the state
prosecutors have ever provided the defense with any document suggesting that
Stedeford was interviewed or an interview was attempted concerning his knowledge
of the Oklahoma City bombing.
29 These two very similar two-page FBI memos were
originally identified by John Solomon in his second article. In our subsequent
review, we also found them in the materials turned over to us in this case. The
first memo is dated May 3, 1995, and the second one is dated the following day.
They both involve requests to check Mr. McVeigh's and Mr. Nichols' fingerprints
with latent prints found at the scene of a bank robbery that was later connected
to the Midwest bank robbers. Both memos are directed to the Special Agent in
Charge at Oklahoma City.
30 The defense had been requesting to scan or copy
files within the District Attorney's file cabinets since 2000. On January 10,
2000, the defense sent an investigator with a copy machine to the District
Attorney's office to make copies of documents. See Transcript of Motions
Hearing, February 11, 2000, at 26. The District Attorney's Office objected to
the process and undertook to make copies for the defense at a cost of 25¢ a
page. Id. at 29-30. The State also took the position that the defense was not
entitled to copies of anything other than law enforcement reports. Id. at 68-69.
In 2001, the defense once again requested permission to copy or scan the
documents in the State's possession, but the State objected and Judge Linder
refused to compel the State to cooperate in that process. See Sealed Transcript
of Motions Hearing, March 28, 2001, at 104, 118.
31 See Sealed Transcript of Motions Hearing, February
11, 2000, at 6-7, 10-14, 18.
32 See Sealed Transcript of Motions Hearing, March 28,
2001.
33 See Transcript of Motions Hearing, February 26,
2001.
34 As explained in the next paragraph, following the
disclosures by John Solomon, Mr. Earnest searched Peter Langan's BOMBROB files
located in J.D. Cash's office. It was at that point that we learned about Agent
Davitch's role in the BOMBROB investigation.
35 See Fax from Sandra Elliott to Brian Hermanson,
dated January 12, 2004; see also discussion of 1B3484 on pages 43 to 54 of this
Motion for examples of critical exculpatory material not disclosed by Ms.
Elliott.
36 Testimony of Carol Howe, CJ-95-7278, at 125-26.
37 As discussed in our last Motion for Continuance,
when Dan Defenbaugh, a retired FBI agent who was the agent in charge of the
Oklahoma City bombing investigation, reviewed the information obtained by Mr.
Solomon, he acknowledged that, although he was the agent in charge, he had never
before seen some of this information and he could no longer say for sure that
his investigation saw everything it needed. He called for the investigation to
be reopened. See, e.g., John Solomon, Ex-FBI Agents Call for New McVeigh Probe,
Associated Press, February 26, 2004 (discussing Mr. Coulson and Mr. Defenbaugh's
lack of knowledge of information regarding the bank robbers and quoting Mr.
Coulson as saying, "There is some unanswered questions here. A lot of
things happened that were inappropriate.").
38 The lead sheets provided to the defense include
lead sheet control number 6995. The next lead sheet in sequence is control
number 7001. Numbers 6996 through 7000 inclusive (along with many others) were
not provided to the defense. Lead sheet control number 6995 in the "Hot
Line" lead sheets is dated 4/24/95. The "Oklahoma" lead sheets
provided to the defense include lead sheet control number 6990. It is dated
4/30/95. The next number in sequence is control number 6998. It too is dated
4/30/95. "Oklahoma" lead sheets control numbers 6991 through 6997
inclusive, which presumably include this lead sheet, were not provided to the
defense by either the federal government or the state prosecutors. (During the
litigation concerning the lead sheets after Mr. Nichols' federal trial, the
federal government collected and "organized" the lead sheets
concerning the OKBOMB case. The lead sheets at that time were assigned Bates
stamped numbers that did not correspond to the lead control numbers. The lead
sheet from Mr. Solomon did not contain any Bates stamped number.)
39 Not surprisingly, Judge Linder did not see the
relevance of this 302 when he reviewed it. Judge Linder's review was conducted
without any context and without the information we have learned following Mr.
Solomon's disclosures.
40 The 302 for the interview of Glenn Grossman, the
person who is referred to in the first passage from the Secret Service timeline
contained here is attached as Exhibit 35. The information provided in the Secret
Service timeline corresponds exactly with what Mr. Grossman claims he witnessed
in his 302.
41 See footnote 9, supra.
42 Daina Bradley had gone to the Murrah Building that
morning with her sister, mother and children to change her son's social security
card and to set up an appointment at the Social Security Office. See Trial
Transcript, United States v. McVeigh, May 23, 1997, at 10452-53. Her mother and
children were killed in the blast, and Ms. Bradley had her leg amputated while
trapped in the wreckage. At trial, she described looking out the plate glass
windows immediately before the detonation and seeing a Ryder truck park in front
of the Murrah building. Id. at 10455. Two men got out of the truck and hurried
away from the building. Id. at 10459-60.
43 The first page of the "Oklahoma City, OK
Bombing Timeline" is included to show that page 126 is part of that
timeline.
44 Transcript of Preliminary Hearing, May 13, 2003, at
p. 110:
Q: Did you offer at one point to help the FBI identify
a person by the name of Colbern?
A: I offered to give them any help I had in doing
that.
Q: Do you know a Steven Colbern?
A: No, I do not.
45 This document references a case file number for
Guthrie of 1276710017264. We have never seen this case file and do not see any
other reference to it in the materials provided to us by the federal government
and the state prosecutors.
46 The first page of the "Oklahoma City, OK
Bombing Timeline" is included to show that page 61 is part of that
timeline. Page 55 of the timeline is also included to show that the entry on
page 61 was made on Monday, April 23, 1995.
47 The Secret Service timeline at page 84, attached as
Exhibit 39, confirms that, as early as April 26, 1995, the FBI was investigating
the possibility that the proceeds from a series of bank robberies had been used
to finance the bombing. It states: "Seven bank robberies were reported to
have taken place prior to the OKC bombing using real and fake explosives. The
question has arisen as to the source of financing of McVeigh's, James and Terry
Nichols' activities. This will be investigated further. (Oliver)."
48 In 1995, Michael Brescia's father's telephone
number was (215) 482-7066. See Exhibit 47, 302 #5974, from the OKBOMB case.
Information concerning this telephone number was subpoenaed in the OKBOMB case
on June 6, 1995, less than a month and a half after the bombing.
49 In 1995, Kevin McCarthy's grandmother's telephone
number in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was (215) 676-3629.
50 In May 1995, Mark Thomas' telephone number was
(610) 845-3736. See Exhibit 48, 302 # 3995 from the OKBOMB case. This indicted
and convicted Midwest bank robber co-conspirator's telephone number was
identified in a 302 in the OKBOMB file on June 7, 1995, less than two months
after the bombing.
51 Indeed, several of the Midwest bank robbers lived
in Elohim City at various times before and after the bombing. See, e.g., D-15847
(report of interview with Kevin McCarthy, who stated that Michael Brescia, Scott
Stedeford, and Kevin McCarthy lived at Elohim City at various times).
52 Interestingly, there are some specific phone calls
pertaining to this account number contained in Exhibit 43 (1A-0616). That one
page record shows nine (9) telephone call entries for that account made between
April 26, 1995, and September 26, 1995. However, this particular printout
(1A-0616) only shows calls made with the Midwest bank robber calling cards that
either go into or come out of Elohim City. Therefore, this record does not
reflect all of the calls made on the "missing" account -- 1247621602.
53 As the testimony at trial established, around this
time period, the area code in portions of Arizona changed. The 520 and the 602
numbers listed in this document are for the same pay phone.
54 Mr. Earnest contacted the owner of Byers Liquor,
who said that he was interviewed several times by the FBI in connection with
this case. No 302s or inserts were turned over to the defense that reflect any
of these interviews.
55 Additionally, page 11 of the January 17, 1996
OKBOMB TARGET report (Exhibit 56) and page 12 of the April 30, 1996 OKBOMB
TARGET report (Exhibit 57) include the following entry:
Subscriber Name Phone Number Total Calls
Address Time Period of Calls
DRIVE LINE ACCESS CARD 800-808-0805 132
PIN 1371591790
HOUSTON, TX 02/02/95 - 9/27/95
These records indicate that the federal government was
in possession of records for 132 calls made using that Fone America calling card
number. A computer search of the indexes for all of the 1A, 1B and 1C files
provided to the defense fails to find any reference to these records.
Importantly, the time period for which these now missing records applied, namely
February 2, 1995 through September 27, 1995, covers all nine of the specifically
requested telephone calls for which information was requested in the August 16,
1995 federal grand jury subpoena. It is likely that the FBI followed up and
determined when these calls were made and to what number. No such records have
been provided to the defense nor could we locate any in the files we searched.
56 302 # 2482 indicates that there were three pay
phones at this rest stop and provides the telephone number of each pay phone.
57 The subpoenas and other supporting documentation
concerning these calls is provided in a separate Appendix Notebook being filed
with this motion.
58 It is clear that these specific numbers, either
called to or called from and the specific date on which the call was made, did
not come from Carol Howe. The defense learned that following the bombing of the
Murrah Building in April 1995 federal law enforcement authorities interviewed
Reverend Millar. Prior to the bombing, Elohim City had only one telephone number
available for use by the residents. In other words, not everyone had their own
telephone in their homes, and they shared the use of a communal telephone. An
honor system was set up and a log was kept near the phone. When a resident of
Elohim City made a long-distance call, he or she would write the number and date
of that call in the log so that they could contribute to the payment of the
phone bill. Soon after the bombing, Reverend Millar purportedly handed over a
copy of this telephone log to federal law enforcement officials. The defense did
not receive any information from the federal government or the state prosecutors
about any such interview with Rev. Millar regarding a telephone log at Elohim
City nor has the defense ever seen that log. Nor is the log listed among the
items in the 1A, 1B, or 1C files. Therefore, if federal authorities did, in
fact, obtain a copy of this log, the failure to provide it to defense counsel
may constitute another Brady violation because that telephone log may document
other calls to Timothy McVeigh or those working with him. This is one of the
many reasons why the defense believes it is entitled to have access to the ATF
and/or FBI investigation into the activities at Elohim City.
While it seems almost certain that Carol Howe obtained
some of the numbers that she provided to her ATF handler from that phone log,
neither she nor the phone log could have been the source of the calls referred
to above because, especially as it relates to the last five telephone numbers in
Exhibit 60, those calls were incoming to Elohim City. Thus, nobody would have
noted those incoming calls in a log being used for billing purposes. Moreover,
it would have been impossible for Carol Howe to have knowledge of the actual
telephone calling card account numbers that were in use at that time by the
Midwest bank robbers.
59 Similarly, the federal government and the state
prosecutors relied upon the labeling of certain documents as lead sheets to
block access to important exculpatory material, see, e.g., Lead Sheet # 6996,
discussed above.
60 The "I-drive" computer files maintained
by the FBI are another possible location for missing exculpatory materials. Mr.
Solomon, on March 2, 2004, published another article describing how the FBI
maintained "a special computer space where agents store investigative
documents." Attached as Exhibit 67. Apparently, the FBI was "uncertain
about the nature or breadth of the documents on the computer space and has asked
its internal investigation unit, its inspection division, to determine how many
documents on I-drives in FBI offices across the county did not make it into
official case files." Id. According to Robert J. Garrity, Jr., the FBI
deputy assistant in charge of records management, the I-drive was created in
1996 and is used by agents to upload investigative documents like interview
reports, investigative inserts and teletypes so their supervisors can approve
putting them into the FBI's official case files, which are still in paper
format. He acknowledged that documents that do not get into the FBI's official
case files or its automated computer case system would not be searched for
materials that should be turned over to defense lawyers. Although Dan Defenbaugh
is quoted in Mr. Solomon's article, commenting that he had not been aware of the
I-drive until the 2001 controversy about the 4,000 pages of additional documents
which delayed Mr. McVeigh's execution, Mr. Defenbaugh does not indicate whether
those I-drives were searched for documents in this case at that time.
Apparently, however, the FBI's Oklahoma City Field
Office does maintain "I-drives" on its computer system. When Mr. Jesse
Trentadue recently updated a long-standing FOIA request that he had pending
concerning documents in the possession of the FBI that pertained to his
brother's death while at a federal facility in Oklahoma City, he was informed by
the AUSA handling the hearing in federal court that they had found additional
records on the "I-Drive" in the FBI's Oklahoma City Field Office and
that they would be forwarding the first batch of about 300 documents to him in
four weeks. See Transcript of April 5, 2004, Hearing in Federal District Court
in Salt Lake City, attached as Exhibit 68. On April 9, 2004, the defense filed a
similar Freedom of Information Act request for such documents that relate to the
investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing.
61 Indeed, a prosecutor also has an ethical obligation
to make timely disclosure of any evidence or information known to the prosecutor
that points to a defendant's innocence or mitigates the offense with which he
charged. Oklahoma Rules of Professional Conduct 3.8.
62 The evidence regarding communications between
Timothy McVeigh and Steven Colbern is relevant for purposes other than
establishing Colbern as an alternative suspect in the bombing. For example,
evidence that McVeigh left a letter for Colbern in the desert shows that McVeigh
was actively recruiting others into his plan to take violent action against the
government, thereby discrediting the State's evidence that Terry Nichols was
actively participating in McVeigh's plan to bomb the Murrah Building.
63 See, e.g., Woodson v. North Carolina, 428 U.S. 280,
96 S. Ct. 2978 (1976); Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 96 S. Ct. 2909 (1976).
64 Irvin does not mention the death penalty or capital
punishment; therefore, it must be presumed that it was not a death penalty case.