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LaVoy Finicum shooting: Indictment of agent "devastating" for FBI (OREGON STANDOFF)
OregonLive ^ | 6/28/2017 | Maxine Bernstein

Posted on 06/28/2017 9:29:06 PM PDT by Nextrush

An indictment accusing an FBI agent of lying to hide the he fired two shots at Robert "LaVoy" Finicum and missed caps an 18-month investigation....

Deschutes County Sheriff Shane Nelson credited his investigators for their tenaciousness.....

The sheriff also revealed that FBI leaders, told of his department's findings more than a year ago, didn't put the agent or four of his colleagues on leave.....

all members of the Hostage Rescue Team.....

The indictment of W. Joseph Astarita, 40, of New York casts a shadow on the highly trained team......

"I'm encouraged. I'm thrilled that the grand jury came back with this finding," said Finicum's widow, Jeanette Finicum......

She said Astarita's shots may have contributed to the firing of the fatal gunshots moments later by two state police troopers.....

Astarita, wearing a dark gray pinstriped suit, white shirt and red-and-blue striped tie, showed no emotion as he sat beside his lawyer in a packed federal courtroom.....

Defense lawyer Alison Clark entered not guilty pleas on Astarita's behalf to the five-count indictment....

It charged Astarita with three counts of making false statements and two counts of obstruction of justice.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart set a trial date for Aug. 29.......

Astarita will remain out of custody pending trial. Federal prosecutors referred repeatedly to Astarita as an FBI special agent but they and an FBI spokesman declined to say whether Astarita has been placed on leave or reassigned......

Sheriff Nelson crtiticized the FBI for failing to place Astarita and the other Hostage Rescue Team agents on paid leave when he and investigators traveled to FBI headquarters over a year ago. They briefed the FBI's then-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, now acting director.........

(Excerpt) Read more at oregonlive.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: andrewmccabe; fbishillmoonman62; fedshillmoonman62; fibbieshillmoonman62; finic; finicumslanderers; govshillmoonie; govshillmoonman62; lavoyfinicum; leoshillmoonman62; mccabe; moonietheshill; moonshill62; oregon; oregonstandoff; slanderingfinicum
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To: Moonman62
"Astarita’s bullets didn’t hit Finicum, 54. The sheriff’s investigators concluded that Astarita fired twice at the truck, hitting it in the roof and missing on the second shot."

Do they say whether Finicum was inside or outside the truck at the time Astarita fired the shots?

21 posted on 06/28/2017 10:06:11 PM PDT by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
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To: Nextrush

Just make sure you remember these lies when you have jury duty.....


22 posted on 06/28/2017 10:15:55 PM PDT by glasseye
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To: Nextrush

“They briefed the FBI’s then-Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, now acting director.........”

AND there’s the money shot!


23 posted on 06/28/2017 10:17:14 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: Nextrush
Here's part of the backstory:

The FBI Hostage Rescue Team is based out of Quantico, Virginia which is now McCabe territory. That team answers to the HQ FBI that has been taken over by CIA retreads heading up the JTTF and those boys think they can do anything they want.

One has to ask the question why a federal "Hostage Rescue Team" was out in Oregon where there were no hostages to begin with? The Malheur Wildlife Refuge Center was shut down, abandoned for the Winter. There were no workers there, not one, nada.

It was occupied by protestors and no one else. There were zero reasons for the HQ FBI to be involved. The LEOs that had jurisdiction were the Sheriff's Office and the State Troopers. There was no reason for the HQ FBI to be anywhere near that conflict. That FBI Team answers to HQ making them an HQ FBI asset.

The HQ FBI team was there as a component of their JTTF mentality which violates constitutional restrictions on a regular basis along with so many other rights. Just like the NSA and NGA, we have parts of our federal government that have grown accustomed to doing whatever they want.

The only FBI that had jurisdiction to be there were Field Office FBI and that's only because some of the protestors were from out of state. But I don't see that any Field FBI were there. It seems reasonable to say that members under HQ FBI were there to make an example, to ensure dead bodies would act as a deterrent to others in the future. They were there to see that some killings were carried out.

Remember that the Bundy standoff in Nevada had Harry Reid and his two goon sons fuming at the audacity that citizens would show up in large numbers and forcefully demand their rights be respected. When one listens to the audio recording of the BLM lead enforcer, there is a mindset, an attitude, a subgrade conscience, that is arrogant, condescending, reflecting the same attributes of their superiors back in DC. And now we are slowly finding out that the whole Nevada conflict was likely related to a uranium deal brokered by Hillary in concert with Reid.

The other thing that stinks about this is the state troopers shot Levoy before they could clearly see he was drawing a gun and it may be that he was not drawing any gun.

A properly trained LEO does not shoot first and then assess the risk later. Some of them who are stupid may joke and snicker that they can do whatever they want, but they quickly learn that to advance, they must ascribe to a code of conduct. If that's not happening, then there is a problem in law enforcement. They must first have placed their eyes on a gun before pulling the trigger to kill or they must have heard with their ears that a gun would be used against them.

The procedure is to warn a person to hold their hands high over their head or out front where their hands can be seen. Then LEOs will warn if there is a failure to heed the LEO's instructions that there can be shots fired for resisting arrest. None of that was observed to have taken place.

What appears to have happened is that HQ FBI came in and told Troopers they were running the show. Then HQ FBI illegally discharged rifles into the protestor vehicles and lied about it. Members of this JTTF minded FBI should not even have had heir guns drawn. That was strictly the purview of the State Troopers. But it appears the Troopers were operating under the JTTF FBI mindset and were not following state procedures but were instead carrying out a hit ordered by this HQ FBI group.

Then they heard Levoy yell out that he was going to a meeting and he had a right to do that and that if they were going to shoot him, go ahead and shoot him. Levoy was clearly agitated by FBI sniper bullets that missed because he had kids in the car which is why he got out. Then he held his hands in the air and they shot him from two different directions. He lowered his arms either spinning from a shot or he was reaching in to pull a gun. Which it was is unknown. There is audio of all this taking place. Levoy was defiant but he was not threatening to harm. The bottom line is there was not one good reason for this killing, not one.

Knowing the evolution of HQ FBI from CIA into JTTF where JTTF was set up a command structure to federalize State and Local police for the lofty purpose of fighting terrorism, and then seeing this JTTF led by the likes of McCabe who is unquestioningly a Dirty Cop, and watching the interplay of this JTTF with BLM, Reid and his sons, Hillary, and with Obama's acquiescence, it's not surprising that a kill mentality was carried out to make an example. This explains why many are viewing this was a murder.

It is difficult for newcomers to accept that there is a network of bad people in federal government. They must be removed and permanently barred from ever returning in any capacity. The way to see to that is to see they are tried and convicted in a court of law.

24 posted on 06/28/2017 10:19:51 PM PDT by Hostage (Article V)
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To: mass55th

The sheriff is saying “outside the truck” when the FBI guy shot at LaVoy at the news conference held in connection with the indictment-court appearance of the agent today.


25 posted on 06/28/2017 10:21:05 PM PDT by Nextrush (Freedom is everybody's business: Remember Pastor Niemoller)
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To: mass55th

> “So what in the hell was a Hostage Rescue Team doing on that road that night? There was no hostage situation.”

Yes, you have it. See #24.


26 posted on 06/28/2017 10:21:55 PM PDT by Hostage (Article V)
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To: Moonman62

So the agent started shooting as Finicum was exiting the vehicle, well before ‘he reached for his pistol’, nice.
There is a special place in hell for police who lie.


27 posted on 06/28/2017 10:23:54 PM PDT by glasseye
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To: Enterprise
If he had been truthful he probably would have walked. The other four agents are now damaged goods and should at least be fired, if not brought up on lying and obstruction charges. They are useless to their agency because their testimony and work on any future case will be called into question.

HRT does some amazingly brave things, including a recent rescue that got very little publicity, but was extremely dangerous. The problem is that they seem to forget they are law enforcement first. Ruby Ridge is a good example, They established an ROE that on its face was unconstitutional. An ROE, of any kind, is unconstitutional because it improperly removes the government's burden to evaluate every act of force used against a citizen. They could have a major mindset shift and not threaten the safety of the people they are trying to rescue.

28 posted on 06/28/2017 10:25:21 PM PDT by USNBandit (Sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: Nextrush
A grand jury has indicted an FBI agent for lying and obstructing justice, other agents have lied, and there is conflicting testimony regarding rifle casings.

Considering that, it's plausible that other misdeeds have occurred.

At the time I commented on the position of the pistol in Finicum's coat pocket.

29 posted on 06/28/2017 10:39:21 PM PDT by Ray76 (DRAIN THE SWAMP)
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To: Fungi

Sniper Hiroshima Yamamoto at RR?

Redrum!


30 posted on 06/28/2017 10:40:39 PM PDT by urbanpovertylawcenter (the law and poverty collide in an urban setting and sparks fly)
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To: Nextrush

Read the book “License to Lie”. The whole justice department is good at it and they are supported by most judges.


31 posted on 06/28/2017 10:41:11 PM PDT by taxesareforever (Islam is an ideology. It is NOT a religion.)
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To: Nextrush
"The sheriff is saying “outside the truck” when the FBI guy shot at LaVoy at the news conference..."

Thanks for the info.

32 posted on 06/28/2017 10:43:08 PM PDT by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
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To: Hostage
> and it may be that he was not drawing any gun.


33 posted on 06/28/2017 10:44:52 PM PDT by Ray76 (DRAIN THE SWAMP)
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To: Hostage

Thanks for the heads-up!


34 posted on 06/28/2017 10:44:55 PM PDT by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
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To: Nextrush

Basically the FBI opened fire on civilians without any justification.


35 posted on 06/28/2017 10:51:15 PM PDT by kaehurowing
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To: Ray76

No dispute that he was armed. What is in dispute was whether he was reaching in to pull his gun or was he reeling around from being shot? He as shot by two shooters on either side of him.

If he had drawn his gun, then BAM! He’s dead. But if he was killed before any of that happened, then some stupid rookie troopers need a disciplinary hearing.

They can’t prove he drew his gun, so they got themselves a problem. Their best defense will be to pin it on the FBI boys that had an attitude to carry out a hit.


36 posted on 06/28/2017 10:54:05 PM PDT by Hostage (Article V)
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To: Hostage

Thanks for this information. I questioned why a hostage team was on site earlier in this thread. You answered that question and more. They reported that the two shots fired by the indicted agent were made when Finicum was outside the truck. Isn’t it possible that the shots he fired set off a chain reaction of shooting by the other law enforcement officers, that ended up with Finicum being fatally shot? The shots fired by the agent reportedly hit the truck. So what if the officers who shot Finicum thought they were being fired on from the people in the truck, and opened fire at Finicum in reaction.


37 posted on 06/28/2017 10:58:52 PM PDT by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
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To: Nextrush

Bookmark


38 posted on 06/28/2017 10:59:31 PM PDT by Pajamajan ( Pray for our nation. Thank the Lord for ,everythig you have. Don't wait. Do it today.)
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To: Hostage

I found the answer in the article: Finicum’s widow said “Astarita’s shots may have contributed to the firing of the fatal gunshots moments later by two state police troopers.....”


39 posted on 06/28/2017 11:01:02 PM PDT by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
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To: mass55th

Yes, you have the right questions backed by facts.

Finnicum was not a danger to them or anyone. He was defiant. He was told to get out of his car and he did. But he was defiant saying he was going to a meeting with the Sheriff and there was nothing illegal about that, and that if they were going to shoot him, then go ahead and shoot him. That conversation is all recorded.

So he knew they were there to kill him. For what? They wanted to kill him as a revenge on the Bundy standoff in Nevada. This was McCabe carrying out a revenge killing for Hillary and Reid.


40 posted on 06/28/2017 11:03:53 PM PDT by Hostage (Article V)
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