Freeh: Agents Didn’t Violate Jewell’s Rights

A Justice Department report has determined that FBI agents acted improperly, but not illegally, in using a ruse to interrogate former Olympic bombing suspect Richard Jewell.

“The report concludes that there was no intentional violation of Jewell’s civil rights, and no criminal misconduct occurred,” FBI Director Louis Freeh said in a memo distributed to agents nationwide.

Aides said the bureau must decide on discipline for the five FBI agents implicated.

An attorney for Jewell, identified as a suspect in the July 27 bombing at Centennial Olympic Park, disputed the report’s conclusion.

Attorney L. Lin Wood said he believes the FBI conspired to trick Jewell into a confession. Jewell, a security guard, initially won praise for discovering the pipe bomb and moving people away before it exploded.

FBI agents interviewed Jewell on July 30 but did not tell him he was a suspect. They instead told Jewell they needed his help for a training film, a ruse that included reading Jewell’s “character” his rights to remain silent and to have a lawyer present during questioning.

Jewell left the interview after a friend contacted him at FBI headquarters and said a local newspaper had identified him as a suspect. The Atlanta U.S. attorney’s office publicly exonerated Jewell in October.

Aides said Freeh only ordered agents to read Jewell his rights and did not know until after the fact they were worked in as part of the ruse.