Third Day: Jim Bell trial
Rabatin (the computer forensics specialist) took the stand again.
He verified that more documents were pulled from Bell's computer:
1) Message to Ray Dillinger, 10/19/2000, "Judges Needed Killing". Rabatin
read an excerpt where Bell suggested a "chemical solution" whereby PCBs
could be used to contaminate vehicles seized by government agencies, turning
them from $10,000 assets into $100,000 liabilities.
2) The now oft-cited "Say Goodnight to Joshua" message of 10/24/2000.
3) Message to Jim East (friend of Bell's who testified on Wednesday) on
10/24/2000, regarding Bell's investigation of addresses of a Jeffrey Gordon
in Eagle Creek, OR, and Mike McNall. An excerpt read by Rabatin: "The
new renter acted like he knew Mike McNall."
4) Message on 10/25/2000 to John Branton at the Vancouver Columbian, Re:
Harry Browne in Portland. Bell writes that he talked to Gordon and McNall.
Bell states that Lund got 10 years off sentence in exchange for assistance
in intimidating Bell into signing the original guilty plea agreement.
5) Message to cypherpunks, 10/25, "CIA in Oregon."
6) Message on 10/26 to Branton, regarding Bell's search through the Oregon
DMV database for a possible CIA operative.
7) Message to Bob Johnson on 10/26, with a reference to outing feds.
8) Message to cypherpunks, 10/27, regarding the CIA and Intellink in Oregon.
9) Another message to cypherpunks on the same date, same subject
10) Message to Branton, 10/28, regarding "outing" of "CIA agent" Mueller
in Bend.
11) Message (to Branton?), saying that the Mueller in Bend did not have
the same birthday as previously thought.
12) Message to cypherpunks, 10/30, Re: Parties, urging people to make
various public databases easily available.
13) Message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and [EMAIL PROTECTED], with cc:
to Declan McCullagh, John Branton, and John Painter. Bell states that he's
still interested in uncovering the truth concerning McNall and Lund. He
asks the recipients to call the ATF office where he believes that McNall
works. As part of the deal that Bell believes that Lund got for cooperation,
Bell notes that Lund got 27 months instead of 10-12 years for possession
of an illegal firearm and methamphetamines.
14) Message to John Young, 11/2, describing his upcoming trip to Bend
to check out the address of Mueller.
15) Message to Blanc Weber, 11/3, similar to the previous message to John
Young.
16) Message to cypherpunks, 11/4, Re: CIA in Oregon and Intellink" describing
the Mueller home in Bend, Oregon, and listing license plate numbers on cars
he found there.
During the above testimony, the prosecution displayed the email messages
on a monitor that was located about 20 feet from the jury box. The jurors
leaned over, squinting to see the messages. Although there had been two
days of testimony where images had been displayed on this monitor, it wasn't
until the third day that the judge asked if the jurors had difficulty seeing
the messages. Almost all raised their hands. The judge then encourage
the jurors to stand up and move around to get a better look at the monitor,
which they did for a couple of exhibits. After that, none of the jurors
made significant physical effort to examine the exhibits.
London asked Rabatin: "How do you know authorship [of these emails]?" Rabatin
responded that the email programs are set up for multiple users. However,
he generally only looked at emails that were obviously either authored
by or sent to Jim Bell. Rabatin noted that other family members used email
on the same computer that Jim did, and that Rabatin had only made a cursory
review of their accounts.
In cross-examination, Rabatin stated that he had only found email on one
computer, although three computers were seized in the November 6 raid.
(Obviously, the two computers that were seized but obviously not used by
Bell were sitting in the courtroom and had not yet been returned to the
family.) In addition, Rabatin had failed to check the date and time on
Bell's computer, but believed them to be generally accurate.
The prosecution next called Barbara Gordon, wife of a Jeffrey Gordon. She
pointed out her husband in the courtroom, a youngish, bearded working-class
casually dressed man. She verified that the information that Bell had gathered
from public databases referred to her and her husband.
She testified that she had never received the October explanation of benefits
from her insurance carrier, and stated that she and her husband were so
busy that at times they did not pick up their mail for a couple of days
at a time from the mailbox at the curb.
In cross-examination, Leen asked her where she had heard of Jim Bell. She
was unaware of Bell until Jeff Gordon had approached her. Asked if she
knew of any thefts or trespass, she said that she did not.
The next witness was Robert Dutra, Detention Enforcement Officer with the
U.S. Marshall's Service.