Jury In Gypsy Case Sees News Video

A federal jury on Monday watched a CBS News video of a fight between members of a Spokane Gypsy family involved in an obstruction of justice case.

As the tape played over and over, Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Wilson questioned prosecution witness Johnny Marks about what was said on the video.

Marks told the jury he lied several times on the tape, filmed in 1994 by a CBS News crew for the network show, “Eye-to-Eye.”

The video shows Marks and his wife fighting with their relatives, who now are accused of witness intimidation.

The fighting began, Marks said, after he and his wife were subpoenaed by a city attorney to testify in the city’s defense in a civil rights lawsuit brought by their relatives.

Eight people involved in the civil rights suit, including Gypsy leader Jimmy Marks, are being tried on criminal charges of intimidating and threatening witnesses in the still-unresolved civil case.

Both Johnny Marks and his wife, who testified earlier, said they want no part of the civil rights lawsuit - on either side. , DataTimes