Attorneys, reporters face off with prosecutors in records controversy

A daylong legal drama over records hit a fever pitch in the newsroom of this newspaper Monday afternoon.

An Oklahoma police investigator said he had been ordered by the Oklahoma County district attorney's office to remove 40 boxes of records from the newspaper, while local attorney Jerry McCombs and an Oklahoma City attorney, Gazette publisher Bruce Willingham and reporter J.D. Cash all told him no, he was not taking them.

Meanwhile, a National Public Radio reporter who had come to Idabel to interview Cash and knew nothing of the controversy, got a firsthand look at how the Oklahoma City bombing investigation has occasionally thrust a small newspaper into unlikely situations.

To answer a subpoena issued late last week in the Terry Nichols Oklahoma City bombing trial, Cash had picked up a U-Haul trailer, expecting to load the many boxes and head to McAlester, where Mike Minnis, representing Cash and this newspaper, would argue before Nichols trial judge Steven Taylor why the newspaper should not have to turn over the boxes to state prosecutors.

McCombs represents the owner of the boxes, Peter Langan, former head of the Aryan Republican Army who is serving a life sentence on bank robbery and weapons charges. McCombs, too, was expected to argue before the judge Monday evening.

But Minnis called Monday morning to say an agreement had been reached: The DA's office would send a person to Idabel to view the documents under the same circumstances a defense attorney had previously viewed them.

The boxes contain tens of thousands of documents, plus hundreds of photos, dozens of videotapes and audiotapes and part of a pipe bomb. There's even one box full of the clothes Langan wore during his trial.

Most of the documents were from Langan's federal trial, but they also include personal letters and notes to his attorneys.

Langan - whose father and sister oddly enough both work for the CIA - has become a possible key defense witness in the Nichols mass murder trial in McAlester. Prosecutors are becoming increasingly concerned about what may be in the boxes that they haven't seen - evidence which might corroborate Langan's expected testimony that his band of bank robbers helped Timothy McVeigh blow up the Murrah federal building.

At 2:20 p.m. Monday, Oklahoma City police investigator Mark Easley arrived at the Gazette and began going through the documents.

An hour later, he was scanning his third box when he suddenly made a phone call, then said he would have to take possession of all the boxes after all - essentially reneging on the deal that had been worked out.

Then McCombs arrived at the newspaper office to represent Langan's interest. (McCombs is representing Langan because he believes the bank robber is an important link to the truth about the Oklahoma City bombing).

The police officer did not say what caused the prosecution's sudden change of heart, but admitted that he, too, understood the agreement was for only an on-site inspection of the documents.

By 3:30, when prosecutors changed their minds, there was no way to reach the McAlester court in time to respond to the 5 p.m. subpoena. So attorneys faxed the judge to report what had happened.

The officer left, but the only document he copied may explain why prosecutors suddenly decided they want to take all the documents after all.

The letter Easley copied, written by Langan on May 28, 1997, is written to "Mike." Part of it reads as follows:

"For now, looks like OK bomb cover-up phase one is over. Scratch one government (Army) employee, Tim McVeigh. Next up, Terry the fall guy Nichols. Remember Watergate? Nixon went down for the cover-up but not the break-in."

The defense has indicated it will argue that Nichols was the "fall guy" in the Oklahoma City bombing, that McVeigh actually framed him to cover up the roles of his several bank robber friends.

There's quite an irony in Monday's events. While prosecutors say they should have unfettered access to the documents at the Gazette, the newspaper has argued that prosecutors should have only the same limited access defense attorneys had.

Defense attorneys, seeking specific documents after interviewing Langan in preparation for the trial, had looked through only about a third of the many boxes.

Actually, the defense had not come across the letter from Langan to "Mike," but now that prosecutors have it in their possession, they may be required by the court to provide it to the defense because it contains exculpatory material - that is, material that tends to support the defense contention that Nichols is not guilty as charged.

So far at least, Cash has not been arrested for any perceived failure to comply with the subpoena. If Judge Taylor addressed the issue at all Monday night, he did so outside the hearing of the news media.

Both McCombs and Minnis want a hearing before prosecutors take any of the documents from the Gazette offices.

In contending that the Gazette should retain the Langan records, Minnis notes that the government has not been a good custodian of records in the Oklahoma City bombing case. Thousands of pages that the government was supposed to turn over to the defense were not turned over.

Also, the FBI mistakenly mailed out its only copy of an agent's interview with J.D. Cash - then didn't know where it was.

It seems that others have information of which the government is not aware. Or, then again, perhaps they are aware, but thought it had all been destroyed. It is incredible to me that any self-respecting attorney would wait until two days before a major hearing to review evidence that had been disclosed in court two weeks ago.Especially since the prosecution team had been aware of the material for years.

Judge Taylor will likely issue a ruling today on the defense's request for a dismissal.

Gwjack

I just heard on KTOK radio that apparently the prosecution had not disclosed an immunity agreement reached in 1999 with Lori Fortier and former DA Bob Macy. The assistant DA handling the immunity agreement was Sandy Elliot, the lead prosecutor in this case. It had not previously been revealed to the defense. Hearings went late last night with the judge to perhaps issue a ruling at 8:00 am CDT this morning.

This came up during the testimony of Michael Fortier yesterday.

Methinks something is rotten in Denmark!

Gwjack

former DA Bob Macy.

{bells and whistles}...Gorelick alert...

After Macy lost the appeals hearing, he met with bombing victim Glenn Wilburn and Representative Key, explaining that he wished to cooperate with their investigation. Three days later, the two men discovered that Macy had decided to contest the Appeals Court's decision. When a furious Key confronted Macy, all that the "courageous, truth-seeking" DA told him was, "They won't let me." When Key demanded to know who "they" were, Macy just lowered his eyes to the floor and repeated, "They won't let me." [1] Key later learned from a source at ABC News that Macy had received a conference call from Janet Reno's deputy Jamie Gorelick, and the government's lead prosecutor, Joseph Hartzler, along with Governor Keating, Oklahoma City Fire Chief Gary Marrs, and Judge Daniel Owens. Interestingly, during a debate on FOX TV with Representative Key, Keating stated, "Nobody could get away with a cover-up; it would not be tolerated by civilized Oklahoma City.... Nobody's afraid of the truth." [2]

THE OBSTRUCTION OF THE OKLAHOMA BOMBING GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION: The Mysterious Jamie Gorelick Phone Call

I heard a single report on the radio either early this week or late last, that someone had apparently finally come up with the survellance videos of the front of the Murray building that Fedgov shills have been claiming had either "been destroyed" or "didn't exist". Not a word since. Did anyone else catch that? OKC is very dangerous to Fedgov, and they know it.

Those videos are the subject of a closed door hearing today after testimony is finished.

I have really enjoyed the state's position throughout the conduct of this trial. First, "we don't have anything," then "we gave them everything there is," then "we gave them everything the Feds gave us" then (in the story from the newspaper office, "we never gave you that and we want it to ourselves."

Judge Taylor will not be a happy camper.

BTW Judge Taylor allowed the trial to proceed this morning even after being advised of the Lori Fortier immunity agreement.

Gwjack

Thanks for the update. It is completely off the lamestream's radar screen here. I hope the judge gets good and pissed at the state's actions, but I don't hold out much hope for anything coming of this. We'll never know the full story of what went on at OKC. FedGov was obviously involved somehow, but it's impossible to say to what extent.

I mentioned on another thread on another day that John Solomon (AP) and JD Cash (McCurtain Daily Gazette)are co-authoring a book on the bombing. Any story from either of them has great credibility. Cash is the witness testifying at this evening's closed door hearing.

I have talked with the publisher and am told that the details will make paint peel.

Gwjack

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