Fbi Lab Problems Took Toll On Case Against State Militia
As top FBI officials assured the public last winter that widely reported troubles at the bureau’s crime lab would not jeopardize any criminal prosecutions, those very problems were eroding the case against seven allegedly violent militia leaders here.
In an example of how mistakes at the lab could reshape pending cases around the nation, defense attorneys used reports of shoddy lab practices to try to impeach the testimony of the lab examiner who analyzed evidence against members of the Washington State Militia and the Montana freeman organization.
As lab examiner Robert Heckman was testifying in February, prosecutors abruptly dismissed one important criminal charge, possessing an explosive device, saying that they did so “to avoid jury confusion.”
The jury ultimately convicted four of the seven defendants on other illegal explosives and firearms charges. But it was unable to reach a verdict on the most serious charge- that the group conspired to assault federal agents and destroy federal installations. U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour declared a mistrial on the conspiracy count.
The other three defendants were not convicted of anything, although they since have been indicted again.
At the time of the Seattle trial, Justice Department inspectors had documented problems at the lab in a draft report that was not circulated publicly. That report is now final and was released last week.
The seven Seattle defendants were accused of chilling crimes. The FBI said that a paid informant and an undercover agent turned up evidence that the seven were stockpiling illegal machine guns, building bombs and plotting the deaths of federal agents and assaults on several installations.
Heckman, an 18-year FBI employee with six years’ experience in the lab’s explosives unit, in his testimony described tests he had performed on various explosive devices allegedly manufactured by the defendants.
Under cross examination, however, he acknowledged that his lab report included some “inaccuracies.”