IP: Day #1: U.S. v. Jim Bell report from federal court in Tacoma

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

>Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 00:12:18 -0400
>From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
>
>
>http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=01/04/04/0358253
>
>U.S. v. Jim Bell Trial, Day #1
>By Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com)
>April 3, 2001
>
>    TACOMA, Washington -- Jim Bell's trial began today in federal court
>    here.
>
>    Bell is best known as the author of "Assassination Politics," but he
>    is charged with stalking federal agents. He says, and some observers
>    agree, that the Feds are prosecuting him for doing what an
>    investigative reporter does: Compiling information from publicly
>    available databases, documenting what's happening, and so on. This
>    case could set a precedent that affects the First Amendment privilege
>    of journalists.
>
>    Bell is smart, rude, and ungainly. He's not particularly affluent --
>    he lived at home with his parents -- and he's an outspoken foe of an
>    oppressive federal government. He's already had run-ins with the Feds
>    over false Social Security numbers, and has spent a few years in prison
>    And, as you'll see in a moment, he has infinite trouble keeping his
>    mouth shut.
>
>    It's unclear why the U.S. government is spending so much effort trying
>    to keep him behind bars: Probably the best explanation is that they're
>    trying to depict him as a domestic terrorist and make an example of
>    him. Although the Department of Justice hasn't charged him with a
>    speech crime by writing "Assassination Politics," it's the cornerstone
>    of their case.
>
>    In the morning session on Tuesday, Bell's attorney Robert Leen tried
>    to off himself from the case, which he's spent months trying
>    unsuccessfully to accomplish. He had no better luck today.
>
>    "Haven't we gone through this once?" U.S. District Judge Jack Tanner
>    growled. "You will not be removed... I'm not going to let you withdraw,
>    but I am going to tell the defendant that he has a right to represent
>    himself... If he  wishes to take over the case, he is free to do so."
>    Tanner allowed that Leen had represented his reluctant client "very well."
>
>    The background: Bell has tried for months to fire his court-appointed
>    attorney, saying his attorney has been so negligent in filing motions
>    that Bell's case has been damaged beyond repair.
>
>    Around this time, Bell started complaining to the judge, who shot
>    back: "You will address the court when you're asked to, and no other
>    time."
>
>    Leen asked for the dismissal of counts four and five against his
>    client (on grounds that interstate stalking by way of a facility of
>    interstate commerce was not applicable). Tanner denied the motion.
>
>    Bell wants to call two or three U.S. Marshals to testify as defense
>    witnesses (presumably based on what they may have witnessed during the
>    raid on Bell's house). Leen complained that the U.S. Marshals were
>    unwilling to serve subpoenas on themselves. The judge delayed ruling
>    on the request and asked for a written motion instead.
>
>    The government wanted the judge to hold Bell in contempt for refusing
>    to follow a court order saying he must give a handwriting sample.
>    Tanner said the Feds should simply tell this to the jury and let them
>    make up their minds about what Bell's refusal means.
>
>    Bell spoke up once again, and Tanner got peeved. "You're either going
>    to be muzzled or sent downstairs," Tanner told Bell. "You're not going
>    to get a mistrial." (Apparently a basement room of the courthouse
>    includes a closed-circuit TV system for precisely this reason.)
>
>    Tanner didn't notice this, but at one point Bell wrote on "SHAM" on a
>    yellow legal pad and held it up to the spectators.
>
>    Tanner is, incidentally, 82 years old and a no-nonsense guy who makes
>    a habit of terrorizing lawyers. In 1992, he was sued by an attorney
>    who called in sick and was rousted from his bed after Tanner sent the
>    U.S. Marshals to drag him into court. A special issue of The American
>    Lawyer two decades ago on the "best and worst" federal judges dubbed
>    Tanner "the worst district judge in the Ninth Circuit." But maybe he's
>    mellowed: He seemed brusque today, but reasonable.
>
>    Leen, by this point sweating and increasingly nervous, reluctantly
>    brought up Bell's allegations of a conspiracy involving, well, just
>    about everyone: Prosecution, defense, and the judge. Leen meekly asked
>    the judge about Bell's accusations involving the judge's
>    representation of some clients before he took over his current job
>    circa 1979. Tanner was perplexed, a little annoyed, and said he "never
>    heard of (Jim Bell") before this case, and that was that.
>
>    Leen's second allegation was a conspiracy involving the Feds. The
>    broad outline seems to be that the Feds had "an agreement" with a
>    fellow prisoner during Bell's earlier incarceration who was named Ryan
>    Lund. It required Lund to beat up Bell while both were in prison in
>    exchange for a lighter sentence. Tanner didn't spend much time here
>    either.
>
>    I left the courtroom at this point. The remainder is reconstructed
>    based on interviews with multiple people who remained behind -- one
>    person even provided me with written notes -- and I believe it to be
>    accurate.
>
>    When I was outside the courtroom, I saw the potential jurors filter
>    in, about 30 of them. They seemed to be a reasonable cross-section of
>    the Seattle area, jeans, sweatshirts, an even split between male and
>    female, largely white (only two African Americans, both men, who ended
>    up on the jury).
>
>    Once they were inside, the judge asked them questions including
>    whether they had family members who were government employees, whether
>    they had been audited by the IRS, whether they had used the Internet
>    (almost everyone had), whether they used Usenet newsgroups (a few
>    had), or chatrooms (about four had). Nobody had heard of Jim Bell or
>    Assassination Politics, and one guy who didn't end up on the jury said
>    he had heard of the cypherpunks. One woman said she participated in a
>    funeral director's newsgroup.
>
>    The government had six preemptory challenges, and the defense had 10
>    challenges. After the challenges, 12 jurors plus one alternate were
>    randomly selected out of the remaining people.
>
>    The trial resumed around 1:30 pm PT. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robb
>    London gave the opening statement for the government, telling a
>    chronological story of Bell's alleged activities, starting with his
>    involvement with a "common law court" about five years ago. London
>    said Bell was unhappy with government agencies, and offered the
>    "court" a solution to the problem of enforcing their judgements
>    against federal officials. That solution? Assassination Politics, a
>    scheme involving digital cash, the Internet, and anonymity that Bell
>    spent years discussing in various online fora. (The common law court
>    was a centerpiece of the government's earlier prosecution of Bell;
>    they seem to be recycling this charge.)
>
>    London recounted how Bell allegedly researched information on federal
>    agents Mike McNall and Jeff Gordon. He said Bell kept notes -- a
>    "diary" -- of his research. This mirrors the government's original
>    complaint.
>
>    London brought up the cypherpunks -- a mailing list devoted to
>    privacy, anonymity, and politics -- in his opening statement. He
>    mentioned John Young, who runs cryptome.org and has been called as a
>    prosecution witness. This gets a bit muddled, but London reportedly
>    was talking about Young's public hypothesis last year that a certain
>    fellow may be a CIA agent in Bend, Oregon -- which prompted Bell to
>    conduct a subsequent investigation.
>
>    My understanding of London's opening statement was that the Feds
>    bugged Bell's car with a GPS receiver that constantly transmitted his
>    location to the Feds. Treasury agent Gordon reportedly has a nice
>    setup: He gets alerted (pager? I don't know) whenever Bell strayed
>    more than three miles from his home. Presumably we'll see these GPS
>    location records introduced into evidence. London appeared to use this
>    GPS information (this is my understanding of the written notes) to
>    overlay on an aerial photograph and show Bell allegedly trespassed 75
>    yards onto someone's property.
>
>    Leen's opening statement took another direction: "A fine line between
>    stalking and investigation."
>
>    He distanced himself personally from Assassination Politics and said
>    it was "scary," but it was an example of free speech in action. He
>    said that even if Bell was somewhat loony -- my paraphrase -- "he had
>    the right to investigate" what he believed to be a government
>    conspiracy against him. Leen said the "common law court" -- the
>    members apparently talked a lot but never took any action -- was an
>    example of free political speech.
>
>    He said that law enforcement agents were paranoid, and had an
>    us-vs-them mentality. If anyone else was being (allegedly) stalked,
>    Leen said, they'd go down to the local sheriff and ask for a
>    restraining order. But an IRS agent gets to make a federal case out of
>    it.
>
>    Leen talked at some length -- more than London -- about the
>    cypherpunks, discussing their philosophy, saying they were concerned
>    about privacy and anonymity. He reportedly brought up the name of
>    cypherpunk co-founder Tim May.
>
>    The government's first witness was an undercover federal agent named
>    Walsh who wore a bodywire and infiltrated the "common law court" that
>    Bell occasionally attended. London played a 30-second videotape of
>    Bell at one meeting, presumably obtained through a hidden camera Walsh
>    carried. Walsh said that at one meeting, Bell offered him a floppy
>    disk with (presumably a text file) of Assassination Politics on it.
>    Walsh said that Bell was at three meetings of the "court" while Walsh
>    had attended "a couple of dozen." Walsh reportedly participated fully
>    in these events, voting to convict his colleagues -- federal employees
>    -- of crimes in absentia.
>
>    A surprise was that the Libertarian Party of Washington state came up.
>    Walsh reportedly said he met Bell at or immediately after a LP
>    meeting. This could raise questions about the IRS and other federal
>    agencies infiltrating and spying on U.S. political parties.
>
>    The trial is expected to resume at 9:30 am Wednesday. Tanner has
>    reportedly said he wants to finish the entire trial by Friday.
>
>---
>
>    Assassination Politics:
>    http://www.zolatimes.com/v2.26/jimbell.htm
>
>    Government's original complaint:
>    http://cryptome.org/jdb111700.htm
>
>    Bell's own filings:
>    http://cryptome.org/jdb032801.htm#filings
>
>    More on first day of trial:
>    http://www.politechbot.com/p-01883.html
>
>
>
>
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