How Independent was IG's Report on Missing Bombing Evidence?
5/26/2002

By J.D. Cash

Attorney General John Ashcroft's promise to conduct an investigation into the fiasco of the missing OKBOMB evidence was fulfilled last week with the release of a 192-page report by Glenn Fine, the head of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the United States Department of Justice. The question is: How much faith should anyone place in it?

The report found that: Human error, compounded by antiquated information technology systems and procedures, caused the problems that led to last year's belated discovery of 4,500 pages of evidence -- and, a one-month delay in the execution of Timothy McVeigh. Additionally, the investigation team made up of only two inspectors, five lawyers, and a paralegal, found:

Eleven FBI field offices acknowledged they destroyed evidence in the case.

FBI agents assigned to the OKBOMB Task Force in OKC said they "lost" some of the evidence.

FBI agents around the country reported they were confused as to how to interpret the meaning of US District Judge Richard Matsch's order to turn over to defense lawyers ALL evidence collected in the OKBOMB case.

Mr. Fine concluded there was no evidence of a "cover-up" by FBI agents or their supervisors. The Inspector General (IG) did however find "significant neglect of duty" by the agent who headed the OKBOMB Task Force, Danny Defenbaugh. Defenbaugh currently is in charge of the Dallas office of the FBI. Disciplinary action against three other FBI agents was also called for in the report.

Special Agent in Charge of the Oklahoma City FBI office, Richard Marquise was among those three singled-out. Marquise was cited for failing to take action when subordinates discovered the problems.

Investigators learned that employees of the Oklahoma City office of the FBI were sorting through the documents in the storage area where the OKBOMB files were kept when they ran across evidence that had never been turned over to defense lawyers. Even more was found when field offices around the nation were queried. But in spite of these obvious problems, it took Defenbaugh and others, over 100 days to report them to FBI headquarters. By then, McVeigh's execution was less than a week away.

The sudden announcement led to widespread suspicions about the quality and integrity of the FBI's work in the $82 million case.

Since the release of the IG's report, the McCurtain Gazette has learned investigators the did not seek input from either lawyer for defendant, Timothy McVeigh or Terry Nichols, before issuing their conclusions. It was Michael Tigar and Stephen Jones, who repeatedly complained in court that they were not receiving crucial evidence in the case.

McVeigh's ex-lawyer, Stephen Jones told the Gazette, "I was never interviewed by investigators. Not even a phone call. The IG's report demonstrates the Department of Justice clearly lacks the ability to independently supervise the FBI."

Recently the Gazette published a story that one of the withheld pieces of evidence was a motel registration. The motel receipt established that on the day a federal grand jury surmised the conspiracy to bomb the federal building was hatched, Timothy McVeigh was not with Terry Nichols in Kansas, but was registered at a motel a few minutes from Elohim City.

In 1995, Elohim City was a 1,000-acre eastern Oklahoma Christian Identity compound frequented by radicals alleged to be involved with plans to overthrow the government. During the Nichols' trial, his lawyers argued that Timothy McVeigh was part of the gang at Elohim City. Their case focused on evidence that persons lived at, or frequented Elohim City, were the individuals responsible for the crime in Oklahoma City. Prosecutors countered that there was no substantial evidence linking McVeigh to Elohim City.

Also responding to the IG's report, Michael Tigar said, "I was not interviewed. I find that a little chilling, because I read all the documents and know as well as anybody how they relate to the evidence presented at the trials."

In an interview Friday, with Paul Martin of the Inspector General's office, he said, "Our investigation was not geared to determine the quality of the FBI's overall investigation, we only tried to find out what happened to those documents."

Former FBI agent Ricardo Ojeda, whose allegations on CBS 60 Minutes II, that important evidence in the case was not followed up by the FBI, said, "I got only one phone call from the OIG. It was about a year ago. They asked me if I thought there was a cover-up by the FBI in the case. That was it. No investigators asked for any of the details of what happened to the evidence I turned over to the OKBOMB Task Force in Oklahoma City." Clearly bitter, Ojeda added, "You know this is why they fired me. It was over the bombing evidence I came up with, not anything I did wrong. This is how they do everything up there."

The McCurtain Daily Gazette has also learned that the person Attorney General John Ashcroft entrusted to conduct the investigation, Glenn Fine, may, himself, be the subject a federal inquiry by the DOJ.

Sources told the Gazette that Fine, along with "unnamed FBI agents," are under criminal review as a result of their involvement in the heavily criticized investigations of the August 21, 1995 death of federal inmate, Kenneth Trentadue.

The inmate had been brought to Oklahoma City for a hearing on a parole violation. Shortly afterward, his bloody and bruised body was allegedly discovered hanging by a bed sheet in his cell.

Afterward, Mr. Trentadue's body was shipped home to his family, after Bureau of Prison officials at the OKC Federal Transfer Center claimed the inmate committed suicide.

The allegations of suicide were dismissed by the inmate's family, who said inmate Trentadue was in good spirits and about to be released from custody. Family representatives claimed that photographs of the body clearly indicate multiple wounds on the inmate's face, skull, arms, hands, torso, and legs. Evidence, they say, proves the inmate was beaten to death.

Oklahoma City FBI agents and a lawyer for the Oklahoma County DA's office determined that the inmate suffered these injuries as a result of several falls and trying to cut his own throat. An investigation by the OIG was ordered to settle the matter.

While the OIG's 1999 report found egregious misconduct, including perjury and destruction of evidence in the FBI's Oklahoma City office, the IG also concluded Trentadue somehow inflicted all the damage while trying to kill himself.

Last year a federal judge awarded the Trentadue family $1.1 million as compensation for the federal government's conduct.

In a letter obtained by the McCurtain Daily Gazette, dated December 11, 2001, on the stationary of the Chairman of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency, the chairman refers to, yet, another pending complaint pending against Mr. Fine, and others involved in the Trentadue investigation. The letter goes on to confirm that this new complaint against Fine has not moved forward, because of an ongoing criminal investigation by the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice. (emphasis added)

The Chairman confirmed that, "an additional criminal review" is ongoing in the Trentadue matter. Adding, "The IC (President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency) can not proceed with its administrative review without a "criminal declination" from the Public Integrity Section.

Stephen Jones commented, "The fact that Mr. Fine has been under the microscope of the Department of Justice while he was investigating them, raises the possibility that he may have pulled in his horns and not challenged the FBI, as he might have. We have lost important evidence in the case, possibly forever."



Copyright 2002 McCurtain Daily Gazette