Second Day: Jim Bell trial
The second day of the Jim Bell trial opened up with D.A. London making a
motion to tell the jury that Bell had owned firearms in the past although
he hasn't had any since the 1997 trial. According to London, the fact that
Bell had had a gun in the past was a reasonable basis for federal agents'
current fear of Bell.
Defense attorney Leen pointed out that free speech could be a cause for
fear in some people, but that nobody would reasonably constrain speech.
Leen said that firearms possession is constitutionally protected, and that
this was true for Bell up until 1997. The fact that he was exercising a
constitutionally-protected right could not be held against him.
London said that the weapons were seized in 1997. Bell designated a friend
to receive the firearms when the IRS returned them in 2000, which by definition
would mean that Bell was no longer in possession of them. Leen pointed
out that there was absolutely no evidence of current possession by Bell
or of Bell contacting his friend regarding the weapons. Bell had made no
attempt to acquire firearms.
London suggested that Bell should retract his essay Assassination Politics.
Bell protested the suggestion, and Judge Tanner threatened to either muzzle
Bell or move him downstairs to a viewing room. London claimed that AP alone
was a sufficient threat to the treasury agent witnesses.
The court ruled that London could introduce the firearm evidence.
The court then took up the matter of Bell's remaining subpoenas for Joanne
Mayita and Anne Marie Evans, both of the U.S. Attorneys Office. London
moved to quash the subpoenas. Leen pointed out that in-district subpoenas
don't need to go through the court. Miyeta was the prosecutor for Ryan
Lund's case. Bell believe Lund received consideration from the U.S. Attorney's
Office to intimidate Bell while they were both incarcerated at the Seatac
facility into signing a plea agreement in 1997. Evans was a prosecutor
in the 1997 Bell case, and Bell claims that she was aware of the Lund deal.
Tanner ruled to quash the subpoenas.
After this ruling, Bell twice banged the defense table with his hand. Tanner
warned that any subsequent display would mean removal, and ordered the downstairs
viewing room to be prepared. Shortly thereafter, Tanner told Bell to move
over one seat to the end of the table, leaving a chair between him and his
attorney. His attorney asked that Bell be cuffed with an ankle cuff instead
to the chair next to him so that Bell could still conference with him.
Leen pointed out that the jury would not be able to observe the cuff.
Leen requested limitation on testimony regarding Bell's prior legal possession
of firearms.
Leen also brought up the interlocutory issue again, mentioning that it was
now on the briefing calendar for the ninth.
The jury was brought in, and the first witness for the day, Robert William
East was sworn in. East had been Bell's friend for 15 years, and was the
person that the IRS released Jim's guns to. He testified that he picked
up the firearms from the IRS' downtown Portland office in 2000 and had stored
them with friends of his that Bell had no access to. The firearms included
2 SKSes, a Ruger Mini-14, and an S&W 629.
London introduced Exhibit 21, a set of lock picks. East testified that
he had loaned Bell a tension wrench and a pick. East and Bell had used
the set once to open a door at East's house, and then had never seen that
wrench and pick again. (There was no evidence presented that the wrench
and pick had been recovered from Bell's house in the 11/6/2000 raid.) East
said that he wasn't sure when this occurred, but it was sometime before
6/24/96, the date of an email in which he and Bell mentioned the set.
Leen objected based on relevancy. London pointed out that he was trying
to show that because Bell could pick a lock, he was a credible threat to
federal agents.
On cross-examination, Leen asked if Bell had written to him while Bell was
in prison. East said that Bell had, and that the letters contained requests
to look up people's names. East stated that he wadded up the letters and
threw them away without acting on them.
In additional testimony, East said that there had been no discussion of
lock picks since 1996.
On re-examination, London asked East if he and Bell had discussed Sarin.
He said that they had discussed methylphosphodiflouride and isopropyl alchohol
as precursors. London brought up the Tokyo subway incident again, implying
that Bell would use Sarin to gas federal agents. East replied that they
had only discussed it in relation to the Tokyo incident and that they had
researched it purely out of curiosity about current events.
The next witness was Christopher John Groener, who lives in Mike McNall's
former house. McNall is an IRS agent who Bell had been researching. Bell
visited Groener's house in October, looking for McNall.
