FBI told state police not to wear body cameras for 2016 stop of refuge occupation leaders

By Maxine Bernstein

Prosecutors say witness testimony, audio and video evidence, plus bullet trajectory analysis yielded one conclusion: FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita lied about firing two shots at the truck of refuge occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum in 2016 after he swerved into a snowbank. The information is detailed in a 32-page government response to Astarita's motion to dismiss the federal indictment against him. He's pleaded not guilty to three counts of making false statements and two counts of obstruction of justice. Astarita's lawyer claimed the indictment was based on "junk science.'' The government response also reveals that Oregon State Police SWAT troopers at the scene, ordinarily required to wear body cameras, didn't that day at the request of the FBI. The FBI did obtain video from FBI surveillance planes flying above the scene. State police detectives also normally record interviews of officers who might be involved in a shooting, but they didn't that night when questioning the FBI Hostage Rescue Team members, again at the FBI's request. A follow-up interview with the hostage team members also camne with unusual conditions, prosecutors note. Astarita's first rifle shot missed Finicum's truck entirely and the second entered Finicum's truck from the roof, "sending sparks into the cabin and blowing out the left rear passenger window next to Ryan Bundy,'' according to federal prosecutors. Finicum wasn't struck... Three other members of the FBI hostage rescue team who were at the roadblock on U.S. 395 also said they hadn't taken any shots, according to prosecutors. As a result, "evidence that would otherwise have been gathered and preserved was not,'' Astarita's weapon wasn't seized, examined or secured and an FBI shooting investigation wasn't initiated, prosecutors wrote. Astarita's second response to B.M., his immediate FBI supervisor, was "direct and unequivocal'' that he had not fired his rifle, prosecutors noted. The FBI ceded the shooting investigation to local authorities, thinking none of the federal agents present had fired their weapons...more

FBI - No body cameras, no interviews at the scene. Both in contravention of state policy and procedure. Certainly makes it hard to hold them accountable for their actions. Your friendly feds, so afraid of scrutiny. And as more of these events play out, we're beginning to understand why. 

Embedded below is the court document referred to in the article:

http://media.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/other/2018/02/02/GOVTRESPONSEASTARITAFEB2.pdf