-Caveat Lector-
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Peace at any cost is a prelude to war!
Thursday, December 24, 1998 12:00 AM
Subject: An Illusion Of Justice
AN ILLUSION OF
JUSTICE
The only thing worse than being convicted of a crime and sent to prison
when you are innocent... is when the government deliberately does it,
and then tries to keep you there.
In July, 1996, John Irvin Pitner was arrested at his home in Deming, WA,
and charged with six counts of conspiracy to overthrow the US Government.
Among other charges, he was accused of conspiring to manufacture pipebombs,
convert weapons to fire on full-automatic, and to assault & kill federal
officers
in the performance of their official duties.
These charges stemmed from a year-long undercover FBI investigation
into the activities of the Washington State Militia, of which Pitner was the
founder & former Executive Director. They were based largely on the
testimony of Edward G. Maeurer, a three-time convicted felon (fraud),
who had infiltrated the militia group as a paid FBI informant beginning
in June, 1995.
Maeurer's official reports to the FBI claimed that he had seen & handled
fully-automatic M-16's, dynamite, grenades, sacks of fertilizer & night-
vision devices stolen from Ft. Lewis, WA, at a 'fortified' room in Pitner's
garage. He claimed the militia group was planning to kill federal officers,
blow up government buildings, and assassinate David Rockefeller while
he attended a conference on the Olympic Peninsula, in WA State.
Maeurer's reports led to a full field investigation of the WSM being
conducted, and the placement of an undercover FBI agent into the group.
Seven people, including Pitner, were eventually arrested & brought to trial.
After six weeks, the jury could not reach a verdict on the conspiracy charges,
and a mistrial was declared. Pitner, along with three other militia members,
was found guilty of separate illegal-weapons charges in March, '97. Pitner,
who has never been sentenced for that crime, remains incarcerated at the
Federal Detention Center SEATAC, in Seattle, WA.
Astoundingly, according to the sworn testimony of informant Maeurer and
the FBI agents participating in this case, the following facts were made known
during the trial:
1. Maeurer had lied to his FBI handler's all during the investigation. On or
about
20 February, 1996, Maeurer was given a series of polygraph examinations by
Special Agent Raymond Lauer, a certified polygraph examiner for the FBI,
concerning what he had seen and done at Pitner's home. Maeurer recanted ever
having seen or handled any M-16's. He recanted ever having seen any grenades,
or dynamite. (The stolen military night-vision devices had earlier been
recovered
& were never in the possession of the WSM.) Instead, he "might have" seen an
M-16. Or, it might have been "a toy". Instead of actually seeing or handling
any
dynamite or grenades, he now claimed to have seen boxes which he "knew"
contained those explosives.
2. There was no 'fortified' room in Pitner's garage. A storage room,
constructed of
plywood & two-by-fours, had been built in the garage and the door was not even
kept locked.
3. Under questioning by federal prosecutors and defense counsel, as to why
he had lied about Pitner to his FBI employers, Maeurer said he thought Pitner
was dangerous and needed to be arrested.
4. Maeurer owed in excess of $35,000 in summary judgement outstanding against
him, for passing fradulent checks, at the time he began informing on the WSM.
Under questioning, he admitted that he had never re-paid any of this
court-ordered
restitution.
5. John Pitner had resigned as Director of the WSM three months prior to his
arrest, due to growing financial, marital and health problems. His wife had
left
him, he had suffered a small stroke that summer, and was no longer attending
any militia meetings.
6. Michael German (the undercover FBI agent) and Maeurer (the paid informant)
assumed leadership positions within the militia group after Pitner's
departure,
becoming members of a three-man Leadership Council heading the WSM.
7. German and Maeurer instigated every illegal activity performed by the
militia
members, after assuming leadership of the organization. It was German &
Maeurer
who first suggested building pipebombs to sell and raise money for the WSM,
through German's supposed 'contacts' in the military surplus business. It was
German & Maeurer who brought the idea up over & over again, until people
agreed to do it. It was German & Maeurer who first suggested converting
weapons
to full-automatic, and insisted on stockpiling them, and pushed the idea
until it was
acted upon. It was German who leased a warehouse in downtown Seattle, and
German who bought milling equipment needed to alter the weapons, and German
who directed people to travel out-of-state to purchase bomb components.
8. German and Maeurer caused suspicion and distrust of Pitner to develop among
the other militia members. They engendered the belief that Pitner had taken
money from a group yardsale & spent in for his own benefit. They encouraged
the other WSM members to ostracize Pitner & insisted he not be told about the
bomb-building and weapon conversions which were then taking place. They
forbade the group members from informing Pitner of the location or existence
of the downtown warehouse.
9. Maeurer, in the presence of Special Agent German, elicited death threats
to be made over the telephone to Pitner and another WSM member who was
out-of-favor with the group.
10. Maeurer's trial testimony accused Pitner of being an active participant in
the sale of an UZI submachine gun. Pitner did not own the gun, and no evidence
was presented that he knew the transaction was occurring between Maeurer
and another WSM member, or that he profited in any way from the sale. Despite
repeated references to Pitner (by Maeurer) on secretly-recorded tapes as the
transaction took place, the seller of the gun continually denied that Pitner
had
any part in what was taking place, stating at one point, "I don't know why you
keep talking about John... he doesn't have anything to do with this. I don't
even
think he knows I have an UZI."
11. An illegal warrantless search was made of Pitner's home on 25 July, 1996,
by Special Agent In Charge Ramon Garcia and Special Agent Cathy Fahey,
of the Bellingham FBI office. Pitner's home was up for sale, and the two
agents
posed as interested home-buyers to Pitner's real-estate agent, inspecting
every
room in the house, and the garage. Garcia was alone in Pitner's bedroom, while
Fahey and the real estate agent were outside. In sworn testimony, Garcia
admitted
openly to searching the bedroom closet and water heater cabinet for illegal
weapons,
which he stated he would have confiscated - had he found any.
12. Maeurer, who was paid in excess of $25,000 by the FBI over the course of
the investigation, was also drawing disability payments from the WA State
Department of Labor & Industries during that same time period. He never
reported
his income from the FBI to L&I, or to the IRS. He stated that the federal
prosecutors
were aware of that fact.
13. Maeurer, a convicted felon, admitted that he was still in possession of
multiple
firearms at the time of the trial, six months after the investigation
concluded. He
stated that SAIC Garcia was aware of that fact.
An detailed complaint about FBI conduct, and that of the federal prosecutors
at
trial,
was filed with the Office Of professional Responsibility, Department of
Justice, in
December, 1998. OPR responded on 1 July, 1999, stating that they "found no
mis-
conduct by the attorneys or agents, and we consider this matter closed."
Despite
a further FOIA request, they refuse to provide any basis of fact for that
conclusion.
Pitner remains confined at FDC SEATAC because the presidng judge in the case
(John C. Coughenour, #CR96-500C) refused to sentence him for the weapon
conviction,
until an appeal to the 9th Circuit Court could be heard concerning the matter
of
retrial,
on the conspiracy charges. That appeal was filed 24 September, 1997
(#97-30179), on
grounds of double-jeopardy.
In May, 1999, a three-judge panel heard oral arguments in the matter, and in
early
December, 1999, a motion for an emergency ruling was filed by Pitner's
attorney.
On December 15th, 1999, the three-judge panel was directed by some unknown
higher authority to cease dliberations on the matter, as the issue was
non-appealable
and should never have come before them.
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