Witness protection expected in trial

The U.S. attorney’s office in Spokane may invoke extraordinary legal procedures to keep names of witnesses secret until the last minute in the coming murder trial of James H. Galliher Jr., authorities said Monday.

Galliher is charged with killing Edwin O. “Eddy” Pooler in 1991 on the Colville Indian Reservation. His body has not been found.

New information from various witnesses led the FBI in December to get a grand jury indictment charging Galliher with murder on an Indian reservation.

If convicted, he faces life in prison.

At an initial appearance on Monday for Galliher, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Harrington said the U.S. attorney’s office likely will invoke the Jenks Act to protect potential prosecution witnesses.

In most criminal cases in U.S. District Court, federal prosecutors follow “open file” practices and immediately release all investigative documents and other evidence to defense attorneys.

But if there is fear for the safety of witnesses or the potential for witness intimidation, prosecutors can use the Jenks Act to block the release of FBI reports and other material until after a witness has testified.

“We may invoke the Jenks Act in this case,” Harrington told U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno when she asked if the government is ready to release FBI reports and other “discovery material” to the defense.

Galliher, 47, had been scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court last Wednesday, but transportation delays by the U.S. Marshals Service forced the hearing to be rescheduled.

Galliher waived the reading of the indictment when asked by the magistrate judge.

“Do you understand the charges?” Imbrogno asked the defendant.

“Yes, your honor,” he answered.

More than a dozen people, including Pooler’s sister, Lynda Tonasket, attended Monday’s hearing.

Galliher, whose criminal record goes back to 1977, has been in federal prison since his 2000 conviction for being a felon in possession of ammunition. He was convicted in 1992 of abuse of a minor through sexual contact, and the previous year of theft of government property.

His state crimes include a 1978 conviction for second-degree robbery in Okanogan County.