24 November 2001
Source: Digital files from Court Reporter Julaine V. Ryen, Western District
of Washington, Tacoma, WA. Telephone: (253) 593-6591
This is Day 1 of the testimony.
See other testimony: http://cryptome.org/usa-v-jdb-dt.htm
1
1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
2 AT TACOMA
3
4 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) Docket No. CR00-5731JET
) Court of Appeals No. 01-30303-00
5 Plaintiff, )
)
6 v. )
) Tacoma, Washington
7 JAMES DALTON BELL, ) April 3, 2001
)
8 Defendant. )
)
9
10 VOLUME 1
TRANSCRIPT OF TRIAL
11 BEFORE THE HONORABLE JACK E. TANNER
SENIOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE, and a Jury
12
13 APPEARANCES:
14 For the Plaintiff: ROBB LONDON
Assistant United States Attorney
15 601 Union Street, Suite 5100
Seattle, Washington 98101
16
For the Defendant: ROBERT M. LEEN
17 Attorney At Law
Two Union Square
18 601 Union Street, Suite 4610
Seattle, Washington 98101-3903
19
20
21 Court Reporter: Julaine V. Ryen
Post Office Box 885
22 Tacoma, Washington 98401-0885
(253) 593-6591
23
24
Proceedings recorded by mechanical stenography, transcript
25 produced by Reporter on computer.
2
1 I N D E X
Page
2
VOLUME 1 1 - 88
3
MOTIONS:
4
Motion to Quash Subpoena for Declan McCullagh .. 5
5
Defendant's Motion to Withdraw as Counsel ...... 7
6 Denied ............................... 8
7 Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Counts 4 & 5 ..... 10
Denied ............................... 11
8
Defendant's Motion for Exception to Sequestration
9 of Witnesses to Allow Defendant's Parents
to be Present ................................. 11
10 Denied ............................... 12
11 Defendant's Motion for Limited Attorney
Voir Dire of Jury ............................. 12
12 Denied ............................... 13
13 Discussion Regarding Serving of Supoenas ...... 13
14 Defendant's Motion for Withdrawal of Counsel ... 15
Denied ............................... 15
15
Plaintiff's Motion to Show Cause ............... 15
16
Defendant's Pro Se Motions .................... 17
17 Denied ............................... 18
18 Motion to Exclude Witnesses .................. 18
Granted .............................. 19
19
Defendant's Motion to have a Witness at Counsel
20 Table for Assistance ........................... 19
Denied ............................... 19
21
Defendant's Motion for Judge to Recuse Himself .. 20
22 Denied ............................... 21
23 Motion to Quash Subpoenas of Mr. Avenia and
Mr. Gombiner ................................... 22
24 Granted .............................. 22
25 Defendant's Motion to Allow Jurors to Take Notes 24
3
1 I N D E X
2 WITNESSES ON BEHALF OF PLAINTIFF:
3 STEVEN WALSH
Direct ....................... 26
4 Cross ........................ 34
5 DECLAN MCCULLAGH
Direct ....................... 43
6 Cross ........................ 50
Redirect ..................... 54
7 Recross ...................... 55
8 CINDY BROWN
Direct ....................... 55
9
Stipulation as to Exhibit 25 .................... 41
10
11
EXHIBITS Admitted
12
6 60
13 10 61
11 63
14 13 65
14 67
15 15 68
32 77
16 38 32
42 80
17 45 82
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
4
1 (Defendant present.)
2 MORNING SESSION
3 (Prospective jurors not present.)
4 THE CLERK: Cause No. CR2000-5731, United States of
5 America versus James Dalton Bell.
6 Will the attorneys please identify themselves and make their
7 appearances for the record.
8 MR. LONDON: Good morning, Your Honor. Robb London for
9 the United States of America. We're here for trial this
10 morning.
11 MR. LEEN: Good morning, Your Honor. Robert Leen
12 appearing on behalf of the defendant, James Bell.
13 THE COURT: Okay. Where are we? Motions?
14 MR. MICHELSON: Your Honor, Guy Michelson of Corr
15 Cronin and Tim Alger of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher on the motion to
16 quash the subpoena for Declan McCullagh.
17 THE COURT: Whose motion do we take up first?
18 MR. LONDON: Your Honor, my view is that because Mr.
19 Alger is from out of town and resolution of his and Mr.
20 McCullagh's issues could possibly spare them from having to
21 stick around longer than necessary, the motion to quash the
22 subpoena of Declan McCullagh should probably be taken up first.
23 THE COURT: All right, attorney come forward.
24 Okay.
25 MR. MICHELSON: Your Honor, again, my name is Guy
5
1 Michelson of Corr Cronin, and Tim Alger has been admitted pro
2 hac vice from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
3 THE COURT: All right.
4 MR. ALGER: Good morning, Your Honor. Thank you for
5 hearing me this morning.
6 Declan McCullagh has been called as a witness by the
7 prosecution in this case. Declan McCullagh is a reporter for
8 Wired News. He's written a number of stories about Mr. Bell in
9 this case and also the Cypherpunks phenomena, which the court
10 has become familiar with, I think, in this matter.
11 The prosecution hopes to inquire of Mr. McCullagh regarding
12 statements that Mr. Bell was quoted as saying in the articles.
13 Our concern is that the inquiry will go beyond the scope of the
14 published matters in the articles, and particularly on
15 cross-examination. So we believe under these circumstances
16 where there's a First Amendment privilege for unpublished
17 information, the subpoena should be quashed in its entirety;
18 that the government should at least meet the three-part test for
19 the First Amendment privilege before they put him on the stand.
20 And then even if there is an inquiry beyond the four corners of
21 the article, that there needs to be an inquiry on, at least, at
22 minimum, on a question-by-question basis for each of the stated
23 questions regarding unpublished information.
24 Under these circumstances where Mr. Declan McCullagh's First
25 Amendment rights are implicated, and then there's also the
6
1 potential for the defendant's fair trial rights to be implicated
2 if there's a limitation of examination on cross-examine, we
3 think it's more appropriate that the subpoena be quashed in its
4 entirety, Your Honor.
5 THE COURT: Mr. Leen.
6 MR. LEEN: Your Honor, our position is that if the
7 witness testifies, we will cross-examine. The court will rule
8 on the relevance or the appropriateness of the questions that we
9 ask.
10 THE COURT: Well, if I understand it, what we're
11 talking about is statements made by the defendant, alleged
12 statements made by the defendant, to the proposed witness,
13 period. That's it.
14 MR. LEEN: I think that we are allowed --
15 THE COURT: He either said them or he didn't.
16 MR. LEEN: That's true, but I think in
17 cross-examination we are allowed to put those statements within
18 the context of other things that he said which relate to those
19 statements.
20 THE COURT: It will be -- the cross-examination will be
21 limited to what he says on direct examination. Period.
22 MR. LEEN: I'm sorry?
23 THE COURT: I said, the cross-examination will be
24 limited to what the witness says, whatever he says, on direct
25 examination.
7
1 MR. LEEN: But we may ask him about what he says on
2 direct examination?
3 THE COURT: What he says on direct, yes.
4 MR. LEEN: May we ask him the circumstances under which
5 statements were made and other statements which relate to that
6 which aren't in -- which aren't testified to but are directly
7 related to them?
8 THE COURT: The cross-examination will be limited to
9 what this witness has -- the defendant has allegedly said to the
10 witness, period.
11 MR. LEEN: Yes, sir.
12 THE COURT: No further than that.
13 MR. ALGER: Thank you, Your Honor. We would like to
14 have the opportunity when Mr. McCullagh is called to interpose
15 an objection when appropriate if the inquiry goes beyond the
16 four points.
17 THE COURT: Talk to the government. It's the
18 government's witness.
19 MR. ALGER: Thank you, Your Honor.
20 THE COURT: Anything else?
21 MR. ALGER: No, Your Honor.
22 THE COURT: All right. Any other motions?
23 MR. LEEN: The defense has two motions, Your Honor.
24 The first is a motion for me to withdraw as counsel for the
25 defendant. I have filed a renewed motion to withdraw which
8
1 makes reference to a prior motion filed by the defendant for
2 substitute counsel and to discharge me. I believe that there
3 should be a colloquy to focus in on --
4 THE COURT: Haven't we gone through this once?
5 MR. LEEN: We have addressed the question previously,
6 yes.
7 THE COURT: What is -- is there something new that I
8 would reconsider my former decision not to let you withdraw?
9 If I understand it, if I understand it, I have said that you
10 --
11 THE DEFENDANT: I have something to say, sir.
12 THE COURT: To the defendant: You will address the
13 court when you are asked to, and at no other time. Do you
14 understand that? So we have no problems here understanding each
15 other.
16 THE DEFENDANT: Yes.
17 THE COURT: I think I said before that you will not be
18 removed. I think you're, what, the fifth lawyer that this
19 defendant has had?
20 MR. LEEN: I'm the first lawyer on this case, Your
21 Honor.
22 THE COURT: Well, about five lawyers gone through
23 here?
24 MR. LEEN: There have been several.
25 THE COURT: I'm not going to let you withdraw, but I
9
1 will tell the defendant he has a right to represent himself, but
2 it will not be in conjunction with you. You are in charge of
3 the case for the defendant. If he wishes to take over the case
4 himself, he's free to do so.
5 MR. LEEN: I just would point out, I don't think
6 there's been a colloquy between the court and the defendant as
7 to the nature -- or sufficient colloquy as to the nature of the
8 disagreement that he has with me as his counsel.
9 THE COURT: He doesn't trust you.
10 MR. LEEN: Among other things. He has great personal
11 animosity towards me.
12 THE COURT: Of course he does. After a review of the
13 record, I understand it. Based on nothing.
14 MR. LEEN: Related to that, will the court advise --
15 THE COURT: And it's a matter of record, up till now,
16 you have represented him very well. You can't ever change the
17 facts, though, of the case by the attorney.
18 MR. LEEN: Yes, Your Honor.
19 Will the court allow the defendant to ask questions of
20 witnesses?
21 THE COURT: I said, if he wants to take over and
22 question the witness, he has the whole case. In other words,
23 it's not going to be partial representation.
24 MR. LEEN: Yes, Your Honor.
25 THE COURT: When he decides.
10
1 MR. LEEN: Will you allow me to be on a standby basis
2 and allow the defendant to conduct his own defense if he wishes
3 to?
4 THE COURT: No. I haven't heard him say he wishes to
5 represent himself. And until he does, you are his attorney.
6 MR. LEEN: Yes, Your Honor.
7 I have a motion to dismiss counts 4 and 5 which was recently
8 filed. I don't know if the court has reviewed it.
9 THE COURT: Yes. It will be denied.
10 MR. LEEN: May I just get my pad? I think I have two
11 or three other things I wanted to raise.
12 THE COURT: The issue is, what was -- the issue was
13 about the distinction, across state lines --
14 MR. LEEN: Yes, sir.
15 THE COURT: -- and interstate commerce.
16 MR. LEEN: Yes. The 1996 statute requires proof that
17 the defendant crossed the state line. The amended statute in
18 2000 doesn't use that language. It says the defendant traveled
19 in interstate commerce.
20 THE COURT: Aren't there cases that say they are
21 interchangeable?
22 MR. LEEN: There's an Eighth Circuit case that says
23 that proof of one is proof of the other. But that is on a
24 review basis on appeal, at which time any sufficient evidence to
25 support any element of an offense is sufficient to -- for the
11
1 court to sustain a conviction.
2 In the first instance, the grand jury has indicted and has
3 not tracked the statute. And so that's the basis of the motion
4 to dismiss counts 4 and count 5.
5 THE COURT: The motion to dismiss count 4 and 5 will be
6 denied.
7 Any other?
8 MR. LEEN: Yes, Your Honor. The defendant's mother and
9 father have been subpoenaed by the government. According to Mr.
10 London, they are subpoenaed not as witnesses that the government
11 intends to call in its case in chief, but in potential rebuttal
12 if the defendant should testify to certain things, which I don't
13 expect that he would, if he did testify. I think it's important
14 that the defendant's mother and father be in attendance so that
15 he has some support, and I think it's important for them to
16 watch their son's trial proceedings. And so while I expect that
17 the rule of sequestration of witnesses will be asked for,
18 probably granted by the court, I would like to have an exception
19 made so that his mother and father can attend the trial.
20 THE COURT: What's the basis for the exception?
21 MR. LEEN: Because they really have nothing of a
22 substantive nature to testify to. The only circumstance under
23 which their testimony might be called is if the defendant were
24 to deny that email under his name found on the computer in the
25 home was authored by someone other than himself, and he will not
12
1 do that.
2 THE COURT: But is there something in the rule that the
3 mother and father, sort of like the marital privilege, that
4 mother and father can't testify against the son?
5 MR. LEEN: No. A mother and father can testify against
6 an adult son; that's clear. However, I ask the court to
7 exercise its discretion, which I think you -- and the government
8 is allowed to have a representative in the court. They have
9 Special Agent Jeffrey Gordon, who is a -- not only the lead
10 investigator, but also the alleged victim of two counts in the
11 indictment -- three counts in the indictment. And so I just ask
12 that the parents be allowed to attend these proceedings for
13 their emotional well-being and that of the defendant.
14 THE COURT: No exception. If there's a motion to
15 exclude, they will be excluded.
16 MR. LEEN: Well, the defense will be making a motion to
17 exclude witnesses.
18 THE COURT: All right. Any other?
19 MR. LEEN: One second.
20 Your Honor, the defense has requested limited attorney voir
21 dire of the jurors as to primarily the defendant's First
22 Amendment rights. The government will be introducing some very
23 inflammatory writings that the defendant has posted on the
24 Internet, and I think that it would be appropriate for the
25 defense to be able to ask particularized questions either
13
1 individually or to the group. So I have submitted a motion for
2 limited attorney voir dire.
3 THE COURT: The court will handle the voir dire.
4 MR. LEEN: I have also submitted questions, Your
5 Honor. I don't know if you received those. Those were
6 submitted yesterday. I will submit them, another copy, to your
7 clerk.
8 THE COURT: Are you talking about the voir dire now?
9 MR. LEEN: Yes, Your Honor.
10 THE COURT: I have it.
11 MR. LEEN: Thank you.
12 The United States Marshal has indicated that -- the defense
13 has served subpoenas, I have served subpoenas -- I have asked
14 the marshal to serve subpoenas that were -- that the defendant
15 indicated were witnesses that he wanted to have in these
16 proceedings. Several of these subpoenas are for deputy United
17 States marshals. Three are for persons who live in Vancouver.
18 The defendant has -- would identify reasons why these witnesses
19 are important, and the marshal, however, has indicated that he
20 will not serve the subpoenas without a court order, nor will any
21 deputy United States marshal testify without a court order. So
22 we ask for the court at the time that the defense begins the
23 presentation of its case, or at such time as the court feels is
24 appropriate, we would like to have a ruling on whether the
25 defense subpoenas will be served.
14
1 THE COURT: Is there some reason that the defense
2 shouldn't show the relevancy of these witnesses before we have
3 people standing by or parading through here?
4 MR. LEEN: Well, they are in-district subpoenas, and
5 the rule doesn't require a showing of relevancy by the defendant
6 for the service of in-district subpoenas. However, a motion to
7 quash them would be filed and the court could inquire as to the
8 relevancy.
9 THE COURT: That's what we're doing now, aren't we?
10 MR. LEEN: I would ask that if we have to do that, that
11 the defendant be allowed to do that --
12 THE COURT: I also understand there are some public
13 defenders that have been subpoenaed.
14 MR. LEEN: Mr. Gombiner and Mr. Avenia, the former
15 counsel of Mr. Bell.
16 THE COURT: Well, here --
17 MR. LEEN: Excuse me. Mr. Gombiner was counsel for
18 Ryan Lund, who was a -- plays some minor role in this case in
19 terms of just his name and --
20 THE COURT: We are now talking about all of the
21 witnesses that you have mentioned that have been subpoenaed.
22 MR. LEEN: Yes, sir.
23 THE COURT: We haven't named them all by the
24 defendant. Well, before they are called or ordered by the court
25 to appear, I will expect a written reason why they are being
15
1 called.
2 MR. LEEN: Will I be allowed to submit that ex parte,
3 Your Honor?
4 THE COURT: Yes.
5 MR. LEEN: Finally, the defendant indicates that he has
6 a list of 25 reasons subsequent to this court's initial ruling
7 not permitting me to withdraw that he would like to identify to
8 the court, if the court would inquire. And if the court would,
9 I would ask that this be done outside the presence of the
10 government.
11 THE COURT: Any further motions for counsel withdrawn
12 are considered by this court a motion to delay and harass.
13 MR. LEEN: I have no further motions.
14 THE COURT: All right.
15 Government, any motions?
16 MR. LONDON: None.
17 THE COURT: Before we call the jury?
18 MR. LONDON: Your Honor, we have one outstanding
19 motion, which is the motion for an order to show cause. The
20 defendant was ordered by this court to provide the government
21 with handwriting exemplars. He was twice given the opportunity
22 at the FDIC to do it, and he twice refused. It was an express
23 refusal of an order of this court.
24 As a result, one piece of evidence that we had hoped to be
25 able to put on in this trial, which was handwriting expertise
16
1 evidence identifying handwriting, in particular a notebook as
2 his, we cannot do with the strength we had hoped to be able to
3 do. So we --
4 THE COURT: I didn't hear what you just -- you dropped
5 your voice and dropped your head, that last statement. What was
6 the last statement?
7 MR. LONDON: We were not able -- we will not, if we're
8 going to trial today, which it by all --
9 THE COURT: Oh, you are.
10 MR. LONDON: We are going to trial today.
11 THE COURT: Yes, you are.
12 MR. LONDON: So we are not in a position to be able to
13 put on a handwriting expert, which we had hoped to be able to
14 do, because the defendant did not furnish us with the
15 handwriting exemplars as ordered by this court to do so.
16 THE COURT: Well, can you -- isn't there some law, some
17 indication you can tell that to the jury, that he refused? Why
18 not?
19 MR. LONDON: Well, the evidentiary issue at trial, Your
20 Honor, is a separate one from the sanction issue for the
21 purposes of upholding the authority of the court and the rights
22 of the government to be able to prosecute the case in the proper
23 fashion.
24 THE COURT: But the end result by the refusal, it keeps
25 the information or the evidence from the jury. Isn't that
17
1 correct?
2 MR. LONDON: That's correct, Your Honor. But we're
3 actually asking for a sanction here.
4 THE COURT: What?
5 MR. LONDON: Your Honor, if the court finds that the
6 defendant is in contempt, then it has the effect of tolling the
7 computation of the time that he is spending in detention towards
8 counting toward the --
9 THE COURT: You're talking about after the fact,
10 though.
11 MR. LONDON: That's correct.
12 THE COURT: He hasn't been convicted of anything yet.
13 MR. LONDON: No, Your Honor, but we are asking for a
14 finding that he is in contempt.
15 THE COURT: Well, we're back; why can't you tell the
16 jury that?
17 MR. LONDON: All right, Your Honor. I would like to --
18 THE COURT: Why don't you look at that?
19 MR. LONDON: All right, I will, and I would like to be
20 able to reraise that issue at a later time.
21 Your Honor, the defendant has filed himself a number of
22 motions pro se that I don't know if we have rulings from the
23 court on yet . If there were minute orders or anything issued
24 today, we haven't seen them yet, but there's a whole catalog
25 which we have tried --
18
1 THE COURT: And they are all denied, for the record.
2 Anything else before the jury?
3 MR. LEEN: May I have one second, Your Honor?
4 THE COURT: Yes.
5 MR. LEEN: Your Honor, the defendant feels that it is
6 important that you know that his reason for refusing to give
7 handwriting exemplars had nothing to do with the fact that he
8 was aware that the government agents were asking for handwriting
9 exemplars. He thought that it was a -- he was told that it was
10 a legal visit, and he refused to come down because he was not
11 communicating with me at that time. So he denied a legal
12 visit. He did not -- he was not advised that this was a visit
13 for the express purpose of giving handwriting exemplars.
14 The court has ruled, but he feels that it's important that
15 you are aware of that fact.
16 THE COURT: The ruling still stands.
17 MR. LEEN: Yes, Your Honor.
18 THE COURT: All right. Anything else?
19 Ready for the jury?
20 All right, is there a motion to exclude witnesses? Mr.
21 Leen?
22 MR. LEEN: Yes, Your Honor, there is a motion to
23 exclude witnesses.
24 THE COURT: Mr. London?
25 MR. LONDON: Yes, Your Honor. We're in agreement with
19
1 that motion.
2 THE COURT: You wish to have who at counsel table?
3 MR. LONDON: One case agent, Your Honor.
4 THE COURT: All right.
5 MR. LEEN: Your Honor, may we --
6 THE COURT: All other witnesses -- pardon?
7 MR. LEEN: Your Honor, we wonder if we might have a
8 witness at counsel table, someone to assist us at counsel
9 table?
10 THE COURT: Is there anything in the Ninth Circuit that
11 would support that?
12 MR. LEEN: I don't think there's anything that says
13 that we couldn't.
14 THE COURT: The motion will be denied.
15 MR. LEEN: Well --
16 THE COURT: So far, Mr. Leen --
17 MR. LEEN: I'm not doing well.
18 THE COURT: You have adequately represented the
19 defendant so far.
20 MR. LEEN: Thank you, Your Honor.
21 THE DEFENDANT: Not by my opinion.
22 MR. LEEN: The defendant also says that there's a
23 conflict of interest, although I'm not exactly sure what he's
24 referring to. So could he address the court on that?
25 THE COURT: No. Go back and ask him.
20
1 MR. LEEN: Your Honor, the defendant believes that the
2 court has business interests with two individuals which would
3 cause you to have to disqualify yourself from proceeding in this
4 case. But I don't want to -- I don't even want to pursue it.
5 The defendant is insistent, however. So would the court allow
6 him to address the court?
7 THE COURT: Is this a motion under, I think, 455 or
8 143?
9 MR. LEEN: I don't know what section it's under, Your
10 Honor, but he feels the court has a business interest which
11 would preclude it from proceeding as -- presiding over a
12 proceeding in which he is the defendant, the defendant that is
13 on trial. He would like to address the court as to that.
14 THE COURT: No. Go back and ask him.
15 MR. LEEN: Well, he -- okay. He identified, he said,
16 Two Dogs -- this is an Indian -- and also Bob Sitiacum, another
17 Native American. He says that --
18 THE COURT: He's been dead for many, many years.
19 MR. LEEN: Well, I understand, Your Honor. The
20 defendant believes that for some reason that the court is
21 disqualified for having had prior clients before you sat on the
22 bench.
23 THE COURT: That had something to do with the
24 defendant?
25 MR. LEEN: That's what he's saying.
21
1 THE COURT: I had never heard of the defendant before
2 the case hit my desk.
3 THE DEFENDANT: You have now.
4 THE COURT: The next time you say something, sir,
5 uninvited, you either are going to be muzzled or you're going to
6 be sent downstairs to listen and hear these proceedings. Do you
7 understand that? So we don't have any understandings. You're
8 not going to get a mistrial. You can forget that.
9 THE DEFENDANT: Excuse me.
10 MR. LEEN: I don't know the basis of the motion. I
11 just know that that's what I was asked to communicate to the
12 court, and I have done it.
13 THE COURT: For the record, I have never seen or heard
14 of this defendant before this case hit this desk. There's
15 nothing that I have any knowledge of, any connection, either any
16 client or any personal knowledge of this defendant, of any kind
17 whatsoever. So that motion is denied.
18 MR. LEEN: One more, sir.
19 THE COURT: All right.
20 MR. LEEN: Your Honor, the defendant would -- is
21 insistent that the court would have to acknowledge that you have
22 had business relations with those two individuals.
23 THE COURT: I just said the motion, if it is a motion
24 to recuse, is denied.
25 MR. LEEN: Yes, sir.
22
1 THE COURT: Are we ready for the jury?
2 MR. LONDON: There's one other matter, Your Honor,
3 that's been brought to my attention. As the court is aware, Mr.
4 Avenia and Gombiner have moved to quash the subpoenas of them,
5 and Mr. Gombiner is present in court this morning and Mr. Avenia
6 is in trial next door, and I know they are anxious to have a
7 ruling before they are actually called to testify because it
8 could be quite disruptive, and so --
9 THE COURT: If either one of them have any further
10 information to add from what they've already said, I'm going to
11 quash the subpoenas to both of them.
12 MR. LEEN: I'm sorry, I didn't -- I was --
13 THE COURT: The motion to quash as to Mr. Avenia and
14 Mr. Gombiner are granted.
15 MR. LEEN: May I ask that that be subject to the
16 court's review of our ex parte reason why they were subpoenaed?
17 THE COURT: All I have is what I have before me.
18 MR. LEEN: Well, I will explain why the defendant wants
19 the subpoenas, Your Honor.
20 Mr. Bell believes that there was an agreement between the
21 government, some government agent, and Ryan Lund, who was a
22 defendant before Judge Burgess, involving a quid pro quo to Mr.
23 Lund, and if Mr. Lund would beat up Mr. Bell when he was housed
24 in the Federal Detention Center the last time he was prosecuted,
25 and that Mr. Gombiner, as the attorney for Mr. Lund, would be
23
1 aware of that illegal agreement between the government and Mr.
2 Lund and wants to question him about that.
3 THE COURT: The motions by Mr. Avenia and Mr. Gombiner
4 are granted. They are released. They are free to go.
5 MR. LEEN: Yes, sir.
6 THE COURT: Anything else?
7 MR. MICHELSON: Your Honor, Guy Michelson again.
8 Mr. McCullagh, I guess, will be testifying this afternoon.
9 Tim Alger will be here for that. Does the court have any
10 problem if I leave prior to that testimony? He's been admitted
11 pro hac vice.
12 THE COURT: No.
13 MR. MICHELSON: Thank you.
14 THE COURT: Anything else?
15 All right. We will be in recess pending the jury
16 selection. Court's in recess.
17 (Recessed at 10:25 a.m.)
18 * * * * *
19 (Jury selection not ordered.)
20 * * * * *
21 (Jury excused for lunch break.)
22 * * * * *
23 THE COURT: If I didn't grant the request to have all
24 witnesses be outside, I do now. But each party is going to have
25 to be responsible for your witnesses because the court doesn't
24
1 know who they are. So they will all be excluded. Okay?
2 Any -- yes?
3 MR. LEEN: Yes, Your Honor, two matters. First, the
4 defense would request that the jurors be permitted to take
5 notes.
6 THE COURT: I don't -- I don't know of any rule that
7 says they can't.
8 MR. LEEN: It's discretionary with --
9 THE COURT: I don't intend to call it to their
10 attention. If they want to take notes, they can.
11 MR. LEEN: Well, it's discretionary with the court, and
12 if they do take notes there's a procedure that has to be
13 followed. The notes have to stay in the courtroom and they are
14 told they are destroyed at the end of the proceedings.
15 THE COURT: Well, we will find out when we get there.
16 MR. LEEN: Second, I didn't bring it up before. I had
17 forgotten, I apologize. But the defendant did file a notice of
18 interlocutory appeal. His position is the court has no
19 jurisdiction to proceed.
20 THE COURT: I haven't heard anything from the Ninth
21 Circuit. So we will proceed.
22 MR. LEEN: Finally, the defendant had heard the court
23 tell the jurors in voir dire that the prosecution, plaintiff,
24 would make a case, make an opening statement, and then the
25 defendant could make an opening statement. He has construed
25
1 that to mean that he is allowed to give an opening statement
2 himself. And so....
3 THE COURT: I will repeat. If the defendant wishes to
4 represent himself, he's going to represent himself. I'm not
5 going to have dual representation here.
6 MR. LEEN: I just wanted to bring that up outside the
7 jury's presence.
8 THE COURT: I don't know how to make it any plainer.
9 He's free to accept -- I caution him not to represent himself.
10 As far as I'm concerned, Mr. Leen, you're perfectly competent to
11 represent this defendant.
12 MR. LEEN: I don't know quite how to take that, Your
13 Honor, but thank you.
14 THE COURT: Or, I will say, any other defendant.
15 MR. LEEN: Thank you.
16 THE COURT: We are in recess. 1:30.
17 (Recessed at 12:10 p.m.)
18 AFTERNOON SESSION
19 (Jury not present.)
20 THE CLERK: Court is again in session following a
21 recess.
22 Good afternoon, Your Honor.
23 THE COURT: Anything to take up before the opening
24 statement by the government?
25 MR. LONDON: Not from us, Your Honor.
26
1 MR. LEEN: Nothing, Your Honor. Just the question
2 about the notes, that I didn't know if you wanted to resolve if
3 the jurors were allowed to take notes.
4 They do. Fine. Thank you.
5 THE COURT: Bring the jury.
6 MR. LEEN: I will be making an opening statement, Your
7 Honor.
8 MR. LONDON: May we use the system on opening? We have
9 just two or three images we would like to project.
10 (Jury present; 1:36 p.m.)
11 THE COURT: All right. All the members of the jury are
12 present.
13 Opening statement, government.
14 * * * * *
15 (Opening statements not ordered.)
16 * * * * *.
17 THE COURT: All right. First witness.
18 MR. LONDON: Steven Walsh.
19 STEVEN WALSH, PLAINTIFF'S WITNESS, SWORN
20 THE CLERK: Please state your full name and spell your
21 last name.
22 THE WITNESS: Steven Walsh. W-a-l-s-h.
23 DIRECT EXAMINATION
24 BY MR. LONDON:
25 Q. Mr. Walsh, can you begin by just telling us for what agency
27
1 you are employed?
2 A. I'm currently -- excuse me. I'm currently employed by the
3 United States Department of Treasury Inspector General for the
4 Tax Administration.
5 Q. And were you employed by the Treasury Department back in
6 1996 and 1997?
7 A. Technically, no, because the agency came into existence in
8 --
9 MR. LEEN: Objection, Your Honor. He's answered the
10 question. He's now answering another question that hasn't been
11 asked.
12 Q. (By Mr. London) All right. Who employed you in 1996?
13 A. The IRS, Office of Regional Inspector, Internal Security
14 Division.
15 Q. All right. And were you working for them in 1997 as well?
16 A. That's correct.
17 Q. All right. Did you have occasion back in 1996 and 1997 to
18 have any kind of official contact with the defendant in this
19 case, James Bell?
20 A. Yes, I did.
21 Q. How did that come about?
22 A. I was asked to assume an undercover role, to come up into
23 the Portland area -- or Portland, Oregon/Washington area and
24 make contact with Mr. Bell.
25 Q. Where?
28
1 A. In Portland and/or Vancouver.
2 Q. In what context?
3 A. Mr. Bell had published some information on a -- on an inte-
4 -- on an email account, I believe it was a news group, where he
5 had offered a program called Operation Locate IRS. The
6 information that we had obtained, it appeared Mr. Bell was
7 publishing home addresses of IRS employees on the, on the email
8 Internet account.
9 Q. So what were you asked to do? What was the assignment that
10 you were given in connection with finding out about this?
11 A. The assignment was to try to determine what Mr. Bell's
12 intent was with this information and why was he publishing it
13 out on the Internet.
14 Q. And what did you do in order to determine the answers to
15 those questions?
16 A. I -- I attended a meeting of the Multnomah County Common Law
17 Court that had been publishing that they were trying IRS
18 employees for various crimes.
19 Q. And did you reveal your identity as a federal agent?
20 A. No, I did not.
21 Q. So you were there in what capacity?
22 A. An undercover role.
23 Q. Did you join the common law court?
24 A. I attended and I -- and I became a member. Now, what
25 joining is, I don't know what that entails. But, yes, I did
29
1 attend many meetings of the common law court.
2 Q. Were you ever -- did you ever function in the capacity of a
3 juror or vote on cases?
4 A. Yes, I did.
5 Q. Now, can you tell the jury, please, a little bit about the
6 kind of trials that the com- -- that the common law court held?
7 A. The first one that I attended was in January of '97. It, it
8 was a, an individual that was suing the IRS as he had felt that
9 the IRS had wronged him. The IRS had -- excuse me. I have a
10 cold here, obviously. I apologize for that. The IRS, he felt,
11 had taken his money illegally, and he was trying to get that
12 money back.
13 Q. Now, in the context of any of these trials or when you were
14 attending the common law court, did you ever hear Mr. Bell
15 discuss Operation Locate IRS?
16 A. I don't believe he used that word. He used a term, a
17 mechanics-type thing of helping the common law court to enforce
18 its judgments.
19 Q. And what did he say in that regard?
20 A. Words to the effect that, you know, he had a mechanic, a
21 mechanism that would help the common law court enforce its
22 judgment.
23 Q. What was that mechanism?
24 A. I believe it was Assassination Politics.
25 Q. Did he also talk about home address information?
30
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. What did he say about that?
3 A. He felt that -- he asked if the IRS employees that were
4 being sued had been noticed of the pending court action and
5 where they had been noticed, and he proposed serving the IRS
6 employees at their home as it would be much more effective.
7 Q. I'm sorry, what's the last word?
8 A. Effective.
9 Q. Effective.
10 Now, did Mr. Bell ever give you anything?
11 A. Yes, he did.
12 Q. What did he give you?
13 A. He gave me a disk that was titled "Assassination Politics."
14 Q. All right. There's a series of binders on the rack next to
15 you. If you could look at the binder that would include Exhibit
16 40, and please look at that exhibit and then tell the jury if
17 you can identify it.
18 A. Yes. I do have the exhibit.
19 Q. Do you recognize that exhibit?
20 A. Yes, I do.
21 Q. What is it?
22 A. That's a -- excuse me. That's a disk I received from Mr.
23 Bell on the 30th of January 1997. It has handwritten notations
24 in pencil, "AP: A solution to the common law court enforcement
25 problem." Several lines down it has Jimbell@Pacifier.com, and I
31
1 have written in it in my handwriting, "Received from Jim Bell
2 1/30/97," and my initials.
3 Q. Did you ever have an occasion to put that diskette into a
4 computer and see what was on it?
5 A. Yes, I did.
6 Q. And what was on it?
7 A. There's an essay in there entitled "Assassination Politics."
8 MR. LONDON: All right. We offer Exhibit 40.
9 MR. LEEN: No objection.
10 THE COURT: 40 is admitted.
11 (Exhibit No. 40 was admitted.)
12 Q. (By Mr. London) All right. I would like to ask you now if
13 you would look at Exhibit 38.
14 A. Okay, I have it.
15 Q. And what is Exhibit 38?
16 A. This is a video cassette tape that I, I received from
17 Charles Stewart.
18 Q. Who is Charles Stewart?
19 A. Charles Stewart at the time was the chief justice of the
20 common law court.
21 Q. And was it the practice of Mr. Stewart or the common law
22 court to make videotape recordings of the meetings of the common
23 law court?
24 A. Of the first two, yes. When we attended there, they had a
25 camera set up in the back that, when I asked Mr. Stewart what
32
1 the purpose of it was, they wanted to videotape the proceedings,
2 and they had an intention of broadcasting it --
3 MR. LEEN: Objection, Your Honor. Hearsay.
4 MR. LONDON: I think the question has been answered. I
5 will move on.
6 Q. (By Mr. London) Have you had a chance to look at the
7 videotape that is Exhibit 38?
8 A. Yes, I have.
9 Q. And can you tell us what it is? What it purports to show?
10 A. It purports to show the meetings of the common law court at
11 the trial of the IRS employees.
12 Q. All right. Were you present at the January 30th, 1997,
13 meeting that is represented on that tape?
14 A. Yes, I was.
15 MR. LONDON: All right. I offer Exhibit 38.
16 MR. LEEN: No objection.
17 THE COURT: It's admitted.
18 (Exhibit No. 38 was admitted.)
19 MR. LONDON: We would like to publish that exhibit and
20 play it for the jury. Do we have permission to do that, Your
21 Honor?
22 THE COURT: How long is it?
23 MR. LONDON: It's very brief.
24 THE COURT: All right, go ahead.
25 (Exhibit No. 38 was played for the jury.)
33
1 Q. (By Mr. London) Would you please look at Exhibit 25.
2 MR. LEEN: I'm sorry, I didn't hear what number?
3 MR. LONDON: 25.
4 MR. LEEN: Thank you.
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. (By Mr. London) Do you recognize that exhibit?
7 A. I don't believe so. Is this the cassette tape?
8 MR. LEEN: Objection, Your Honor. I object to the
9 question by the juror -- I mean by the witness.
10 THE COURT: Where are we?
11 MR. LONDON: I'm asking the witness if he can tell us
12 what Exhibit 25 is.
13 A. It's a cassette tape. It has a stickum on it that reads,
14 "MCCLC," and it's written 10-23-96.
15 Q. (By Mr. London) Have you listened to that tape?
16 A. Yes. Not this tape, but a copy of this tape.
17 Q. And have you had a chance to look at Exhibit 26?
18 A. Yes, I have.
19 Q. What is Exhibit 26?
20 A. That's a transcript of a portion of the meeting where it
21 appears Mr. Bell is speaking at the, at the meeting.
22 Q. All right. And have you had an opportunity to determine
23 whether the transcript is an accurate transcript of the matter
24 that is recorded on Exhibit 25?
25 A. Yes, I have.
34
1 MR. LONDON: No further questions of this witness.
2 THE COURT: Cross-examination.
3 MR. LEEN: Your Honor, I ask for all Jencks material.
4 THE COURT: Cross-examination.
5 MR. LEEN: Your Honor, I ask for Jencks material on
6 this witness. I don't believe I've received it.
7 MR. LONDON: I believe we turned over whatever Jencks
8 material there would be for this witness. We're not in
9 possession of any witness statements for him. We turned over an
10 open-file discovery in this case.
11 THE COURT: Proceed.
12 CROSS-EXAMINATION
13 BY MR. LEEN:
14 Q. Agent Walsh, did you prepare a report in connection with
15 your attendance at the Multnomah County Common Law Court?
16 A. No, I did not.
17 Q. How many meetings did you attend?
18 A. I attended from January through approximately May of '97.
19 Q. So did they meet monthly, bimonthly, biweekly?
20 A. Sometimes they met weekly, sometimes biweekly, and sometimes
21 they met monthly.
22 Q. How many times did Mr. Bell attend?
23 A. I believe Mr. Bell was at three of the meetings I attended.
24 Q. And how many of the meetings did you attend? Did you keep
25 track?
35
1 A. We have them recorded, but I don't know off the top of my
2 head the exact number of the meetings of the common law court.
3 Q. A couple of dozen?
4 A. I would say at least a couple dozen.
5 Q. All right. Now, you say in 1996 and 1997 you made contact
6 with Mr. Bell in an undercover role.
7 A. That's not correct.
8 Q. I'm sorry, when did you make an undercover contact with Mr.
9 Bell?
10 A. I believe the first contact was January of '97.
11 Q. And who asked you to do this?
12 A. It was my agency's request of me to assume the undercover
13 assignment.
14 Q. Were you assigned by some supervisor?
15 A. I was approached by -- I don't know if it was my supervisor
16 that was passing the message on, but the supervisor that
17 probably handled the Oregon office.
18 Q. Now, does the -- do IRS special agents attend domestic
19 political activities?
20 A. I wouldn't -- I don't know how to answer that, sir.
21 Q. Well, have you ever been engaged in domestic spying or
22 domestic undercover goals for political groups in the United
23 States?
24 A. No.
25 Q. This is the first time?
36
1 A. This was not a first time of doing that, sir, no.
2 Q. Well, my question is, you don't -- is it your belief that
3 the Multnomah County Common Law Court was engaged in political
4 activity?
5 A. We didn't know what the intent of the meeting, sir, was
6 until we got there.
7 Q. Well, you've been at -- you went to a couple of dozen, you
8 say.
9 A. That's correct.
10 Q. Did they ever have weapons? Did they discuss assassinating
11 any particular individual?
12 A. Yes, they did have weapons.
13 Q. Okay. Who had weapons, sir?
14 A. We know at least Mr. James Beakley had a weapon who attended
15 one of the meetings.
16 Q. Did Mr. Bell ever have a weapon?
17 A. Not that I'm aware of.
18 Q. Did you have a weapon when you were there?
19 A. Yes, I did.
20 Q. You served as a juror for this common law court.
21 A. That's correct.
22 Q. Did you sign documents as a juror?
23 A. I believe, yes, I did.
24 Q. Did you have to? Were you forced to?
25 A. No.
37
1 Q. Why did you do that, then?
2 A. To maintain my role as an undercover.
3 Q. Were you allowed to dissent from a vote?
4 A. I believe so.
5 Q. Did you ever dissent from any vote?
6 A. No.
7 Q. Do you know the names of the individuals who were placed on
8 trial by the Multnomah County Common Law Court?
9 A. Not all of them, but several of them off the top of my head,
10 yes.
11 Q. Any public officials?
12 A. Yes. IRS employees.
13 Q. How about Janet Reno?
14 A. She was charged initially, and I believe they dismissed
15 against her.
16 Q. So she was acquitted?
17 A. No, she was dismissed.
18 Q. She wasn't found guilty.
19 A. That's correct.
20 MR. LEEN: May I step away from the lectern for a
21 second, Your Honor?
22 THE COURT: Go ahead.
23 Q. (By Mr. Leen) Agent Walsh, did you ever contact Mr. Bell
24 outside the Multnomah County Common Law Court or outside that
25 situation, either telephonically or individually, in some other
38
1 location?
2 A. Yes, I did.
3 Q. Did you ask him to sell you something that was illegal?
4 A. No.
5 Q. Did you ever ask him to make you some kind of transmitter?
6 A. No.
7 MR. LEEN: One second.
8 THE COURT: Any other questions of this witness?
9 MR. LEEN: Yes, Your Honor.
10 Q. (By Mr. Leen) Did you ever ask Mr. Bell about radio
11 transmitters for FM stations?
12 A. I don't recall if I did.
13 Q. Is it possible that you did?
14 A. I don't know under what pre- -- under what context I would
15 have asked him about that.
16 Q. Did you ever meet with him in Vancouver?
17 A. Yes, I did.
18 Q. And what was the purpose of meeting with him in Vancouver?
19 A. To -- I believe we had -- I made contact with him there at a
20 meeting to find out his reactions to some of the events that had
21 recently taken place.
22 Q. Meeting of what?
23 A. I'm sorry?
24 Q. You mean the Multnomah County Common Law Court was meeting
25 in Washington?
39
1 A. No, that's incorrect.
2 Q. Well, what kind of meeting would cause -- did you meet with
3 him in Vancouver, Washington?
4 A. I believe the meeting he was attending was the Libertarian
5 meeting.
6 Q. So you were also engaged in monitoring Libertarian meetings?
7 A. That's incorrect.
8 Q. Well, did you go to a Libertarian meeting?
9 A. I went to the location to meet with Mr. Bell.
10 Q. And was there a Libertarian meeting going on?
11 A. I don't know what the contents of it -- I asked Mr. Bell to
12 step out and talk to me privately.
13 Q. And what was the purpose of that?
14 A. To get his reaction to some of the recent events that had
15 taken place.
16 Q. Recent events that had taken place where?
17 A. A combination of the -- I believe a search warrant had been
18 executed at his location, and I believe there was another search
19 warrant that had been executed at another location of an
20 individual.
21 Q. And when was this?
22 A. Several days prior, a week prior.
23 Q. I mean, can you give us a month and a year?
24 A. It would have been -- this would have been May of '97, I
25 believe, I met with Mr. Bell. It would have been just prior to
40
1 that.
2 Q. Did you ever make telephone calls to Mr. Bell?
3 A. Yes, I did.
4 Q. On how many occasions?
5 A. I believe we had nine telephonic, either contacts or
6 attempted contacts.
7 Q. And during what period of time was that?
8 A. Again, between January and May of '97.
9 MR. LEEN: No further questions.
10 THE COURT: Redirect.
11 MR. LONDON: None, Your Honor.
12 THE COURT: You may be excused.
13 (Witness excused.)
14 THE COURT: Let's take a 15-minute recess.
15 The jury is cautioned, please do not discuss the case among
16 yourselves or with anyone else. Take a 15-minute recess.
17 (Jury excused.)
18 THE COURT: Anything to take up?
19 MR. LEEN: No, Your Honor.
20 MR. LONDON: No, Your Honor.
21 THE COURT: Fifteen minutes.
22 (Recessed at 2:55 p.m.)
23 (Jury not present; 3:23 p.m.)
24 THE COURT: Anything to take up before the jury?
25 Okay, bring the jury.
41
1 Is your next witness here, Mr. London?
2 MR. LONDON: We're going to stipulate to the next three
3 witnesses.
4 THE CLERK: They are going to have a stipulation.
5 MR. LONDON: We are going to ask to distribute the
6 transcript of the tape and --
7 THE CLERK: Are these for the jury?
8 MR. LONDON: It will be for the jury, and then we will
9 collect them back.
10 THE CLERK: You can distribute them to the jury.
11 MR. LONDON: Is that how it goes?
12 (Jury present.)
13 THE COURT: The jury has returned.
14 Next witness.
15 MR. LONDON: Your Honor, the next three witnesses were
16 to be chain-of-custody witnesses for Exhibit 25, but the parties
17 have agreed to the stipulation, which is that the jury can be
18 told that Exhibit 25, the tape that they heard Mr. Walsh refer
19 to, was found during the execution of the search warrant of the
20 home of a member of the Multnomah County Common Law Court and
21 that it can be played and that a transcript of it can be
22 distributed to aid the jury in listening to the exhibit.
23 So at this time we would like permission to distribute the
24 transcript, and we offer Exhibit 25.
25 MR. LEEN: No objection.
42
1 THE COURT: Is this a stipulation or agreement?
2 MR. LEEN: Yes, Your Honor.
3 THE COURT: All right.
4 Does the jury consider as evidence what they hear on the
5 tape or what they do on the transcript?
6 MR. LEEN: What they hear on the tape, Your Honor.
7 THE COURT: All right. Ladies and gentlemen of the
8 jury, what you are about to hear is a transcript of a statement,
9 but what you hear on the tape you consider as evidence, not what
10 you have in front of you. What you have in front of you is for
11 the purpose of you following along -- you know, following the
12 dot in the singing -- but it is not evidence. It is what you
13 hear on the tape that you are to consider as evidence in the
14 case.
15 Go ahead.
16 (Exhibit No. 25 was played for the jury.)
17 THE COURT: All right, pass your transcripts back to
18 the right.
19 MR. LEEN: Your Honor, we're going to call the next
20 witness actually out of order. We call Declan McCullagh.
21 THE COURT: Do you have a witness, counsel, or not?
22 MR. LONDON: Yes, Your Honor. His attorney just went
23 to get him. I apologize. I think the fact that we were able to
24 avoid three witnesses having to testify put us in a slight
25 change.
43
1 DECLAN MCCULLAGH, PLAINTIFF'S WITNESS, SWORN
2 THE CLERK: Please state your full name and spell your
3 last name.
4 THE WITNESS: My name is Declan McCullagh. The last
5 name is spelled M-c-C-u-l-l-a-g-h.
6 DIRECT EXAMINATION
7 BY MR. LONDON:
8 Q. Mr. McCullagh, can you begin by telling the jury how you are
9 employed presently?
10 A. Certainly. My job is the Washington Bureau Chief for Wired
11 News.
12 Q. And were you -- I take it you function as a reporter, is
13 that correct?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Were you employed in that capacity back on April 14th of
16 2000?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. And are you the author of an article that appeared in Wired
19 News on April 14th, 2000, that discussed or involved James
20 Dalton Bell, the defendant here today?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Can you please turn to the binder to your right that would
23 include Exhibit No. 100. And can you open to that exhibit and
24 tell us if you recognize what that is?
25 A. Could you repeat the question?
44
1 Q. Yes. Could you look at Exhibit 100, and can you tell the
2 members of the jury if you recognize what that is?
3 A. It appears to be a copy of an article I wrote.
4 Q. All right. Now --
5 MR. LONDON: We offer 100, Your Honor.
6 MR. LEEN: Objection, Your Honor. Newspaper article.
7 Hearsay.
8 MR. LONDON: It contains an admission by the defendant.
9 THE COURT: Did he write it?
10 MR. LEEN: This witness wrote it.
11 THE COURT: Are you offering the whole exhibit or are
12 you offering excerpts?
13 MR. LONDON: Well, all right, Your Honor. Fair
14 enough.
15 Q. (By Mr. London) Let me ask you this, Mr. McCullagh. There
16 are quotations in that article attributed to Mr. Bell, correct?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. All right. And can you tell the members of the jury if
19 those quotations accurately reflect what Mr. Bell told you in an
20 interview that was done in preparation for that article?
21 A. I don't recall.
22 Q. So, I'm sorry, is it your testimony that you publish things
23 without verifying the accuracy or checking your notes to see if
24 in fact it reflects what someone has told you in an interview?
25 A. No.
45
1 Q. All right. Where it says that McCullagh stated in the
2 article that Bell plans to exact revenge on the system that
3 imprisoned him, did Mr. Bell tell you something to that effect?
4 A. Where in the article, please?
5 Q. In Exhibit 100.
6 A. What paragraph?
7 Do you mean the second paragraph?
8 Q. Correct. "... he plans to exact revenge on the system that
9 imprisoned him."
10 A. What is your question?
11 Q. Did Mr. Bell tell that to you?
12 A. I don't recall.
13 MR. LONDON: Your Honor, I want to declare the witness
14 to be a hostile witness.
15 THE COURT: Ask the question again.
16 Q. (By Mr. London) Please turn to Exhibit 229. It will
17 probably be in a different binder.
18 A. I have it.
19 Q. All right. Turn to the second page of that article, and
20 could you look at the fourth paragraph down, the one that
21 begins, "Bell says that he's put" Assassination Politics on
22 hold.
23 A. I see it.
24 Q. All right. And where it says that he acknowledges that he
25 has shown up at the homes of suspected BATF agents. Do you see
46
1 that there?
2 A. I do see that, yes.
3 Q. And has done DMV searches on their names.
4 A. I see that there, sir.
5 Q. All right. Does that reflect something that Mr. Bell
6 actually told you?
7 A. I don't recall him saying that. I don't put things in
8 articles unless people tell me things, but I do not have an
9 independent recollection at this point that that's particularly
10 explicitly what he said.
11 MR. LONDON: Your Honor, we offer 229.
12 MR. LEEN: Objection, Your Honor.
13 THE COURT: Will the jury please go to the jury room
14 for a moment.
15 (Jury excused; 3:36 p.m.)
16 THE COURT: Let me see it.
17 Where are you referring to, counsel?
18 MR. LONDON: In Exhibit 229, Your Honor, there are
19 really two statements that I have -- that I wish to elicit from
20 this foundation testimony.
21 THE COURT: Where are they?
22 MR. LONDON: The very last paragraph on the first page,
23 "For Bell, that meant spending the last six months compiling
24 personal information ..." The last paragraph on the first
25 page.
47
1 And then the fourth paragraph on next page. The witness has
2 already testified to that one. I can ask him --
3 THE COURT: Well, he already testified to which one?
4 MR. LONDON: The second one. If I can ask him about
5 the first one, the one on the first page, then I --
6 THE COURT: Well, the first one is not in quotes.
7 MR. LONDON: Well, it's a statement attributed to --
8 THE COURT: It's not in quotes.
9 MR. LONDON: Correct.
10 THE COURT: Right?
11 MR. LONDON: Right.
12 THE COURT: So what in quotes are you asking him?
13 MR. LONDON: Well, I'm asking him if the statement --
14 and it's not in quotes, but the first one, where it says, "that
15 meant spending the last six months compiling personal
16 information," if that reflects a statement that was made by the
17 defendant to Mr. McCullagh.
18 THE COURT: Didn't he answer that he doesn't recall?
19 MR. LONDON: Not as to that one, Your Honor. I haven't
20 asked him about that one yet.
21 THE COURT: Okay. So what other one is in dispute?
22 MR. LONDON: Just that one. That's the only one I have
23 to ask him about in this exhibit.
24 THE COURT: That's the only one you still have to ask
25 him, right?
48
1 MR. LONDON: Yes. I'm going to ask him if that
2 attributed statement accurately reflects what Mr. Bell told him
3 at the time. If I can ask him that, then I will not seek to
4 offer the entire exhibit.
5 THE COURT: Let's ask him now out of the presence of
6 the jury. Ask him the question.
7 Q. (By Mr. London) Mr. McCullagh, that statement at the bottom
8 of the first page, "For Bell, that meant spending the last six
9 months compiling personal information about IRS and Bureau of"
10 ATF agents, does that accurately reflect something that Mr. Bell
11 would have said to you in the interview?
12 A. I don't recall him explicitly saying that.
13 Q. But is your answer the same, that it is your practice to
14 accurately attribute statements to people based on what they
15 tell you?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. All right.
18 MR. LONDON: That's all I want to seek from him.
19 THE COURT: All right. Bring the jury.
20 (Jury present; 3:40 p.m.)
21 THE COURT: Jury has returned.
22 What's the question, counsel?
23 Q. (By Mr. London) Mr. McCullagh, returning to Exhibit 229,
24 and turning your attention to the last paragraph on the first
25 page, the one that says, "For Bell, that meant spending the last
49
1 six months compiling personal information about IRS and Bureau
2 of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents, a move that appears to
3 have led to the six-hour search of his home in Vancouver,
4 Washington." Does that paragraph accurately reflect a statement
5 made to you by Mr. Bell in the course of an interview?
6 A. I don't recall that, sir.
7 Q. All right. But is your answer the same as before, that it
8 is your practice ordinarily to accurately state in your articles
9 what someone you have recently interviewed has told you?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. All right. Turning your attention to Exhibit 100. That's
12 the April 14th, 2000, article that you published. There is a
13 statement, I turn your attention to the second full paragraph of
14 the article, in quotes, "'If they continue to work for the
15 government, they deserve it. My suggestion to these people is
16 to quit now and hope for mercy,'" comma, quote, "the 41-year-old
17 Washington state native said in a telephone interview this
18 week..."
19 Did you write that quote?
20 A. Yes, I wrote that quote.
21 Q. And was that quote based on a statement that Mr. Bell made
22 to you in a telephone interview?
23 A. I don't recall if that was the exact statement he gave me.
24 Q. All right. So, once again, though, is it your practice to
25 accurately attribute things in quotations based on your best
50
1 memory of what someone has said to you?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. All right.
4 MR. LONDON: Nothing further, Your Honor.
5 THE COURT: Cross-examination.
6 MR. LEEN: Thank you, Your Honor.
7 CROSS-EXAMINATION
8 BY MR. LEEN:
9 Q. Mr. McCullagh, have you also spoken to Agent Jeffrey Gordon?
10 A. Sir, I most respectfully decline to answer that question.
11 I'm citing my First Amendment privileges as a journalist.
12 Q. Referring your attention to the April 14th, 2000,
13 interview. Do you have that? I think that was No. 100.
14 A. I have it in front of me, yes.
15 Q. On the second page, 2 of 4, the third paragraph down, it
16 says, "IRS inspector Jeff Gordon, who now regularly monitors the
17 cyberpunks mailing list, took it personally ..."
18 How did you become aware of that information, sir? Did
19 someone tell you that?
20 A. If you look at that paragraph carefully, you'll see that
21 there are two links. These are web links. You can click on
22 them. They are also called hyperlinks. The second one uses --
23 that is linked to the word "likening."
24 Q. Yes, sir.
25 A. Goes to what I recall is an affidavit submitted by Jeff
51
1 Gordon, who is, of course, here in this room today. And so that
2 is based on the affidavit that is part of the public record.
3 Q. All right. And that's where you derived that piece of
4 information?
5 A. I don't recall. I presume so.
6 Q. Referring to Exhibit, I believe it was, 229, the November 11
7 article.
8 A. I have it in front of me.
9 Q. Referring on the first page to the third paragraph, starting
10 with the quotation, "'They're basically trying to harass me,'"
11 close quote, "Bell said in a telephone interview." In an
12 article that you write, if you put something in quotes, should
13 the reader rely on the fact that you, to the best of your
14 ability, are putting down exactly what the person said?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Did Mr. Bell tell you that he felt he was being harassed by
17 the government?
18 A. From this article, it certainly looks that way, yes. I
19 believe that is what the article says.
20 Q. On the second page of that same article, page 229 -- and
21 this is an article dated November 11th, 2000. On the second and
22 third paragraph from the end.
23 A. I see it.
24 Q. It says, in quotes, "'I am thinking very strongly of
25 picketing (IRS Agent) Jeff Gordon's house. I don't intend to
52
1 violate any laws when I do that. It's conceivable that they
2 won't appreciate my picketing their house,'" close quote, "Bell
3 says."
4 Again, I ask you, you put those statements attributed to Mr.
5 Bell in quotes. To the best of your ability, was that an exact
6 quote?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. An exact statement that Mr. Bell made?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. All right. The next paragraph is in quotes, also. It says,
11 "'I wasn't [at] all that happy before, but I'm hopping mad,'"
12 and then it trails off, dot dot dot. "'If you think this is
13 going to stop me, baloney,' he says. 'Needless to say I'm
14 feeling very hostile. But I don't intend to violate
15 black-letter Oregon law.'"
16 Again, that paragraph was in quotes. The fact that that
17 part of the article was in quotes, again, was that your best
18 ability to convey to the reader what you were told by Mr. Bell?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. All right. Had Mr. Bell complained to you that he was
21 compiling evidence of illegal government surveillance against
22 him at other times that you interviewed him?
23 A. Sir, that is outside the scope of the article, and I must
24 respectfully decline to answer that question based on my First
25 Amendment privilege as a journalist.
53
1 Q. Did you write an article on November 21st, "Cyber-Terrorist
2 Jailed Again"?
3 A. I believe I may have. I don't know if that's the date. I
4 don't have that article in front of me, nor was I required to
5 bring it.
6 Q. Do you -- do you recall writing in such an article, "Bell
7 claimed he was compiling evidence of a government conspiracy to
8 conduct illegal surveillance against him and unlawfully bug his
9 home." Quote, "'One guess is that I was getting a little too
10 close to these people,'" close quote, "Bell said."
11 A. I have not had a chance to review that article. I do not
12 have it in front of me, nor do I recall that.
13 Q. Do you recall Bell also saying, "The double standard" --
14 quote, "'The double standard here is simply incredible,'" close
15 quote. Quote, "'They simply don't like the idea that Jim Bell
16 can simply look through a few databases, find one of their
17 people and publish the name on the Internet. They hate that.'"
18 Do you recall writing that or something like that in one of
19 your articles on November 21st?
20 A. I don't recall the defendant using those exact words. If
21 it's in my article, I presume it's as accurate as I could make
22 it.
23 Q. Are you a member of the Cypherpunks mail list?
24 A. Sir, again, that is outside the scope of this article. My
25 membership is outside the scope of this article, or lack of
54
1 membership, and I must respectfully decline to answer that
2 question, citing my First Amendment privilege as a journalist.
3 MR. LEEN: One moment.
4 Q. (By Mr. Leen) Are you aware of the person named Eric Hughes
5 who wrote the Cypherpunks Manifesto?
6 THE COURT: You're way outside the direct, counsel.
7 MR. LEEN: No further questions, Your Honor. Thank
8 you.
9 THE COURT: Any redirect?
10 MR. LONDON: Very briefly. One question.
11 REDIRECT EXAMINATION
12 BY MR. LONDON:
13 Q. I neglected to ask you this, but again, in Exhibit 100, on
14 page 2 of 4, if you would turn your attention to the very next
15 to the last paragraph.
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. "Bell repeatedly claims that he won't break the law
18 himself." Quote, "'I'm" not going to kill them off,' he said.
19 'Other people are going to do that. I'm going to promote a
20 system.'"
21 Does that quotation accurately reflect what Mr. Bell told
22 you?
23 A. I do not recall.
24 MR. LONDON: Thank you, Your Honor.
25 THE COURT: Redirect -- recross, I'm sorry.
55
1 MR. LEEN: Thank you, Your Honor.
2 RECROSS-EXAMINATION
3 BY MR. LEEN:
4 Q. Mr. McCullagh, the same article. Do you recall writing in
5 that article that in reference to that system Mr. Bell was
6 talking about, that Laissez Faire City Times has published a
7 copy of the essay and called it "a thought experiment on one of
8 the consequences of the digital society"?
9 THE COURT: You're outside the redirect, counsel.
10 MR. LEEN: Thank you, Your Honor. No further
11 questions.
12 THE COURT: The witness may be excused.
13 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
14 (Witness excused.)
15 THE COURT: Next witness.
16 MR. LONDON: We call Cindy Brown, Your Honor.
17 Counsel for Mr. McCullagh has asked me to state for the
18 record the government has no objection to Mr. McCullagh
19 attending the trial now that his testimony is complete.
20 THE COURT: Next witness.
21 CINDY BROWN, PLAINTIFF'S WITNESS, SWORN
22 DIRECT EXAMINATION
23 BY MR. LONDON:
24 Q. Good afternoon, Ms. Brown.
25 Can you begin by telling us your name, and spell your last
56
1 name, please, for the court reporter.
2 A. Cindy Brown. B-r-o-w-n.
3 Q. And in 1997, how were you employed?
4 A. I was the inspector for the Internal Security Division of
5 IRS.
6 Q. And were you present at the scene of the execution of the
7 search warrant of the defendant in this case, Jim Bell's
8 residence, at 7214 Corregidor, Vancouver, Washington, on
9 April 1st, 1997?
10 A. Yes, I was.
11 Q. In what capacity were you there at the execution of the
12 search warrant?
13 A. I was there to search and was the seizing agent for the
14 evidence.
15 Q. All right. Can you please open -- there's a series of
16 binders to your right. I'm going to ask you to just look at the
17 binders by number now. Turn to the binder that would contain
18 Exhibit 44.
19 A. Okay.
20 Q. All right. I'm going to ask you if you can look at Exhibit
21 44, and if you can identify it, and tell the jury what it is?
22 A. It's a computer CPU that was seized during the execution of
23 that search warrant.
24 Q. In fact, is that -- in the binder which you have, there is a
25 photograph, correct?
57
1 A. Correct.
2 Q. So it's your testimony that that's a photograph of the
3 computer that was seized?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. Is that the computer that was known or identified, labeled
6 by you as K-1?
7 A. Yes, it is.
8 Q. All right. Now, did you -- were you present after the
9 seizure of that computer when the computer there, identified as
10 K-1, was downloaded?
11 A. Yes, I was.
12 Q. All right. And what can you tell us about the process that
13 was used to download this computer which you witnessed?
14 A. I was working with the ATF SCERS agent who handles this
15 technical aspect of downloading computers, and he used the hard
16 drive from that computer and downloaded that information. I
17 think it's what's called a bit stream. It's a bit-by-bit copy
18 of the hard drive onto another format, and then from there, data
19 or emails or what have you was pulled down from that image,
20 mirror image, of the hard drive.
21 Q. Now, when you talk about the downloading, were you present
22 while emails were actually downloaded --
23 A. Yes, I was.
24 Q. -- and then printed out into hard copy form?
25 A. Yes, I was.
58
1 Q. And can you testify and assure the jury that to the best of
2 your knowledge that the emails that were printed out were not
3 altered in any way or the contents wasn't altered in any way
4 from the form they would have had on the computer as left there
5 in their last form by whoever did it?
6 A. No, they were not.
7 Q. All right. Can you please turn to Exhibit 1.
8 THE COURT: Counsel, let me make a suggestion to you.
9 You use the word in computer life, download. Maybe some of the
10 jurors don't know. Why don't you ask the witness what she means
11 by that.
12 MR. LONDON: True enough. Thank you, Your Honor.
13 Actually, I will.
14 Q. (By Mr. London) Ms. Brown, that is a good point in the
15 sense that not all of us are all that familiar today with
16 computers. But what does the term "download" mean?
17 A. To me it means we basically looked up information on the
18 computer, just like accessing a file, and then we printed that
19 file. And that's what I meant by downloading.
20 Q. All right. Now, does a file correspond to a particular
21 document that's been written on the computer?
22 A. Correct.
23 Q. By downloading, you're talking about printing that document
24 out?
25 A. Correct.
59
1 Q. Okay. So please turn to Exhibit 1.
2 A. Okay.
3 Q. All right. Can you tell -- can you look at that and tell us
4 if you recognize it?
5 A. Yes, I do.
6 Q. What is that?
7 A. It's a letter, appears, addressed to Green Panthers, Terry
8 Mitchell, and at the bottom it has my initials and date, and
9 then the path, the computer path. When you print out a document
10 or print out documents, they were in subdirectories of other
11 directories on the computer. So I have the path, and then my
12 initials and date on the document.
13 Q. All right. And please turn to Exhibit 6.
14 A. Okay.
15 Q. Can you tell us what that is?
16 A. That is another document that we printed from the hard
17 drive. Again, it has my initials and date on it, and it appears
18 to be names and addresses.
19 Q. Names and addresses of what? Do you recognize any of those
20 names or any of those addresses?
21 A. Yes, I do. The address -- most of the addresses --
22 MR. LEEN: Objection, Your Honor. I think -- I
23 object. The witness is calling for conclusion. She didn't
24 prepare this document. In the sense that she --
25 THE COURT: I thought the question was, do you
60
1 recognize something?
2 MR. LEEN: All right. Okay. I withdraw my objection.
3 THE COURT: What's the question again?
4 Q. (By Mr. London) There's a list of names on this document
5 which you mentioned. I asked you if you recognize any of the
6 names on this exhibit.
7 A. Yes, I do.
8 Q. Okay. Specifically, which names do you recognize and how do
9 you recognize them?
10 A. I recognize Oscar Johnson, who is a federal protective
11 service officer at the Portland Federal Building. And the
12 address on all these, 1220 Southwest Third Avenue, or Southwest
13 Third, is the location of the Federal Building in Portland,
14 Oregon. Michael John Maney, who is a criminal investigator for
15 IRS. Debbie Jo Meyer, criminal investigator for IRS. Mike
16 Schulz, who was in the exam division. So just on this first
17 page, I recognize at least those.
18 MR. LONDON: I offer Exhibit 6.
19 MR. LEEN: Your Honor, I object as to relevance, and
20 also that it's stale information.
21 THE COURT: 6 is admitted.
22 (Exhibit No. 6 was admitted.)
23 Q. (By Mr. London) Would you turn to Exhibit 10, please.
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Do you recognize 10?
61
1 A. Yes, I do.
2 Q. What is 10?
3 A. 10 is an email to Stanton McCandlish from Jim Bell, and the
4 subject is regarding Assassination Politics. And it has my
5 initials and date on it.
6 Q. Will you turn to the second page of 10.
7 A. Okay.
8 Q. Strike that.
9 A. Okay.
10 Q. Can you please --
11 MR. LONDON: I'm going to offer 10 at this time. I'm
12 not going to ask the witness to read from 10.
13 MR. LEEN: Your Honor, 10 is dated October 24th, 1995.
14 We object. It's not relevant to these procedures.
15 MR. LONDON: It's relevant, Your Honor, because there's
16 a statement in there that makes it quite clear that -- well,
17 Your Honor, without saying what the statement is, it goes to
18 knowledge, motive, plan, and intent in terms of the activity
19 involved.
20 THE COURT: 10 is admitted.
21 (Exhibit No. 10 was admitted.)
22 Q. (By Mr. London) All right. Can you turn to page 2 of 10.
23 A. Page 2 of Exhibit 10?
24 Q. Of Exhibit 10, correct.
25 A. Okay.
62
1 Q. The third full paragraph down.
2 A. Okay.
3 Q. The sentence that begins, "If my estimates are correct."
4 Can you read that, please?
5 A. Yes, I can.
6 MR. LEEN: Objection, Your Honor. The document speaks
7 for itself.
8 THE COURT: She may read it.
9 A. "If my estimates are correct, for each person actually
10 killed, at least 20 will resign, or a half million people, which
11 will constitute the vast majority of most threatening government
12 agencies."
13 Q. (By Mr. Leen) The next sentence, please.
14 A. "Once the tax collectors resign, everyone else will be on
15 their way out anyway."
16 Q. All right. And just skipping ahead, one more full
17 paragraph, to the paragraph that begins, "However, there is an
18 alternative:" Can you just simply read the next.
19 A. "This system could become the enforcement system for
20 'common-law' or 'constitutional' courts, _currently_ being set
21 up all over the country as a bulwark against an
22 overly-aggressive government."
23 Q. Please turn to 11, Exhibit 11.
24 A. Okay.
25 Q. All right. Do you recognize Exhibit 11?
63
1 A. Yes, I do.
2 Q. What is it?
3 A. It's another email from Jim Bell to Rich Graves. Subject is
4 regarding sarin and regarding when they come -- when they came
5 for the Jews, and again it was printed out. I have my initials
6 and date in the corner.
7 Q. All right. Can you --
8 MR. LONDON: I offer Exhibit 11.
9 MR. LEEN: Objection, Your Honor. Irrelevant, stale.
10 It's dated January 12th, 1996. It's free speech. It also is
11 highly prejudicial.
12 MR. LONDON: Your Honor, one of the elements that the
13 government has to prove in this case is that the victims of the
14 stalking behavior were reasonably in fear for their safety.
15 THE COURT: 11 is admitted.
16 MR. LONDON: Thank you.
17 (Exhibit No. 11 was admitted.)
18 MR. LONDON: Your Honor, would the witness please --
19 Q. (By Mr. London) Ms. Brown, would you please turn your
20 attention to the very last paragraph on the first page of this
21 two-page email.
22 A. Uh-huh. Read it?
23 Q. "Sarin is not the type of weapon," can you read that,
24 please?
25 A. "Sarin is not the type" --
64
1 MR. LEEN: I'm sorry --
2 A. -- "of weapon that can be made in the home."
3 THE COURT: Just a minute. Just a minute.
4 MR. LEEN: I'm sorry, I lost track of where we were.
5 What page are we on, counsel?
6 MR. LONDON: We're on the very first page of a two-page
7 exhibit, Exhibit 11.
8 MR. LEEN: Okay.
9 THE COURT: Go ahead.
10 MR. LEEN: I apologize.
11 Q. (By Mr. London) First of all, before I ask you to read
12 that, you will notice that there's some little caret marks to
13 the left of some text but not to the left of other text on the
14 emails. What do caret marks denote?
15 A. Caret marks denote the order of which the emails -- these
16 are emails where they were sent from one person and then the
17 person responds and then they respond again, and the portions
18 with the most carets are the oldest part of the email. The
19 portion without any carets at all are -- is the current text of
20 the email.
21 Q. All right. Now, if there's no caret next to text, who does
22 it indicate was the author of that text?
23 A. Jim Bell.
24 Q. All right. Now, at the bottom of page 1 there is text with
25 a caret next to it, correct? What does that say?
65
1 A. That says, "Sarin is not the type of weapon that can be made
2 in the home."
3 Q. All right. Please continue to the top of the next page
4 where now there is no caret.
5 A. "Speak for yourself! I've made it in my home! (Of course,
6 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry from MIT (1980) I have the
7 background to do it. Didn't do it for any malicious purpose
8 (this was years ago), but 'just for fun.'"
9 Q. All right. Please turn to Exhibit 13.
10 A. Okay.
11 Q. Do you recognize Exhibit 13?
12 A. Yes, I do.
13 Q. What is it?
14 A. It's an email from Jim Bell to dlv. It's an email address
15 regarding: Online Zakat Payment: Religious tithe. It has my
16 initials and date on the bottom, the date it was printed.
17 MR. LONDON: I offer 13.
18 MR. LEEN: Objection, Your Honor. This was dated
19 February 20th, 1996. It's stale information. It's not relevant
20 to charges in 2000.
21 MR. LONDON: The same response to the objection.
22 THE COURT: 13 is admitted.
23 (Exhibit No. 13 was admitted.)
24 Q. (By Mr. London) Please turn to the paragraph, about the
25 second or third down, without the carets, "The first thing to
66
1 remember is:" Can you please read that?
2 A. Okay. "The first thing to remember is: Never make a
3 chemist angry at you. A crooked person sued my company a dozen
4 years ago, and his lawyer was in on the scam... Said lawyer
5 found a quart of 'mercaptan' (the chemical producing the stench
6 found in natural gas, in parts-per-million quantities) sprayed
7 inside his locked, alarmed building. The place was unoccupiable
8 for three weeks; the disgusting odor saturated the carpet, the
9 plasterboard, the furniture, the files, the law books..."
10 Q. Okay. And the next paragraph.
11 A. "With my chemical background, they all knew who did it, but
12 they had no idea" it was done -- or "how it was done and they
13 didn't have a bit of evidence. Lawyer dropped case a week
14 later."
15 Q. Would you please turn to Exhibit 14.
16 A. Okay.
17 Q. Do you recognize that exhibit?
18 A. Yes, I do.
19 Q. And what is it?
20 A. It's an email to Blanc from Jim Bell. My initials and date
21 are again on the corner, and this email is dated May 5th, 1996.
22 MR. LONDON: I offer 15.
23 THE COURT: 14?
24 MR. LONDON: I'm sorry, 14.
25 MR. LEEN: Your Honor, objection. This is dated May
67
1 5th, 1996. It's not relevant to these charges. It's highly
2 prejudicial.
3 THE COURT: 14 is admitted.
4 (Exhibit No. 14 was admitted.)
5 Q. (By Mr. London) Can you please read the very last
6 paragraph, and tell the jury, first, whether, according to the
7 carets, that would be attributable to Mr. Bell or to his
8 correspondent?
9 A. This would be attributable to Mr. Bell. There are no
10 carets. "Let's turn this around, shall we? I have a theory
11 that within the next few years, one of the biggest users of
12 these off-shore accounts will be government employees who see
13 their worlds crashing down around them, and they want to be able
14 to escape the country with their loot. Maybe the most useful
15 task we could accomplish would be to identify them for later
16 targeting."
17 Q. I'm sorry, to identify them what?
18 A. For later targeting.
19 Q. Please turn to 15.
20 A. Okay.
21 Q. Do you recognize that?
22 A. Yes, I do.
23 Q. What is 15?
24 A. It's an email to nwlibertarians from Jim Bell, dated May
25 3rd, 1996. And again my initials and date are in the corner.
68
1 MR. LONDON: We offer 15.
2 MR. LEEN: Objection for the grounds previously stated
3 for the other emails, Your Honor.
4 MR. LONDON: The same response.
5 THE COURT: It will be admitted.
6 (Exhibit No. 15 was admitted.)
7 Q. (By Mr. London) Please turn to the second sentence of the
8 first paragraph and read that for the jury.
9 A. "I propose that the name and address of every IRS employee
10 in the state of Oregon be identified and located and published."
11 Q. Can you please read --
12 MR. LEEN: Objection, Your Honor. I'd ask that they
13 read the full paragraph at this time so it will be complete.
14 THE COURT: Well, you can read it.
15 MR. LEEN: I believe that the rule says it has to be
16 entered at this time, not during cross.
17 THE COURT: Oh, you can read it.
18 MR. LEEN: All right.
19 Q. (By Mr. London) Please read the next paragraph.
20 A. Okay. "This project would fire up the imaginations of the
21 public, who would begin to see that libertarians really care for
22 their rights, and also would recognize that governments are
23 fundamentally weak if their agents are identifiable and
24 locatable. It would also act somewhat as a deterrent to those
25 same statist agents: These people don't know exactly what we
69
1 intend to do with this information, or what we (or others) may
2 decide to do in the future. They can well imagine a breakdown
3 in order sufficient to allow people armed with such a database
4 to.... well, you get the idea. (Their imaginations will be
5 their worst enemy.) We needn't concern ourselves with these
6 future issues. It is very likely that these people will be far
7 more pliable and less abusive in the future if they are
8 well-known."
9 Q. Will you please turn --
10 THE COURT: Just a moment, counsel.
11 Is there anything else now that has been unread in 15?
12 MR. LONDON: There are another two paragraphs that are
13 unread and -- or three paragraphs, and then there's a portion of
14 the first paragraph.
15 THE COURT: Do you want them read?
16 MR. LEEN: Yes, Your Honor.
17 THE COURT: All right, read them.
18 A. Okay. Starting from the beginning or --
19 Q. (By Mr. London) Starting from the beginning.
20 A. Okay. The first part of the first paragraph that was not
21 read was, "I want to propose a project that the LPO (Libertarian
22 Party of Oregon) and Oregon libertarians can do, to really help
23 push freedom and shake up the statists." And then we read from
24 there.
25 Q. Right.
70
1 A. The next picks up, that "We should take advantage of the
2 advent of computers and databases to do this. I already have a
3 fresh copy of the Oregon state DMV database, and as I understand
4 it, each registered political party in Oregon is entitled to
5 get, free, a copy of the voter's registration database from
6 every county. The combination of these two databases, plus the
7 more common two-disk CDROM telephone directories of the US,
8 should make it relatively easy to find somebody once a name is
9 identified.
10 "The recent noting of the license plate number at that IRS
11 raid in Clackamas, plus the common practice of naming IRS agents
12 in newspaper articles and television news reports, should allow
13 us a good start. (See, for example, the article on page" blank
14 "of today's Oregonian.) There are other tactics to get names,
15 which I won't go into in this note. Ultimately, I think it is
16 likely that we will get the vast majority of such names, and the
17 results can be publicized.
18 "In fact, I think we have a moral responsibility to do
19 this."
20 MR. LONDON: I believe that completes the reading of
21 all previously unread portions.
22 THE COURT: Next.
23 Q. (By Mr. London) Will you please turn to Exhibit 18.
24 A. Okay.
25 Q. Do you recognize 18?
71
1 A. Yes, I do.
2 Q. What is 18?
3 A. It's an email from Jim Bell to NWLibs, dated May 23rd,
4 1996. Again, my initials and date are on the bottom corner.
5 MR. LONDON: I offer 18.
6 MR. LEEN: Your Honor, same objection. I also would
7 point out these are part of the prosecution in 1997.
8 THE COURT: Overruled. They will be admitted. 18 is
9 admitted.
10 (Exhibit No. 18 was admitted.)
11 Q. (By Mr. London) Would you please read the next to the last
12 paragraph?
13 A. "My use of the term 'a bit'" -- again, this is coming from
14 Jim Bell. "My use of the term 'a bit hardball' is intended to
15 reflect how these employees will view other people learning
16 their addresses, not necessarily hardball by our standards.
17 Remember, these people are used to the idea that they are
18 anonymous and should stay that way for their health. Their
19 discovery that they are being catalogued and indexed may have a
20 substantial effect on them. That, indeed, is the goal."
21 MR. LEEN: I object, Your Honor, unless the next
22 paragraph is read under the rules of completeness.
23 MR. LONDON: No objection.
24 THE COURT: Read the next paragraph.
25 A. "This isn't just for fun. The way these people treat
72
1 citizens might be substantially improved as a result, and during
2 a societal crisis they might be induced to flee rather than stay
3 and fight. So ironically, listing them may actually save
4 lives."
5 Q. Please turn to 27.
6 A. 27?
7 Q. Yes.
8 A. Okay.
9 Q. Do you recognize 27?
10 A. Yes, I do.
11 Q. What is 27?
12 A. It's a document that was seized during the search warrant.
13 It's a yellow -- from a yellow small note pad. It has my
14 initials and date on the back of it.
15 Should I describe it?
16 Q. There's a reference in there to Lynn Rose. Can you please
17 tell us who Lynn Rose is?
18 A. Lynn Rose is an IRS special agent.
19 MR. LONDON: And I offer 27.
20 MR. LEEN: Object, Your Honor. This is part and parcel
21 of the 1997 prosecution. It's not relevant to these
22 proceedings.
23 THE COURT: Was it seized in the search?
24 MR. LONDON: It was.
25 THE COURT: It will be admitted.
73
1 (Exhibit No. 27 was admitted.)
2 Q. (By Mr. London) All right. Can you please read, as best
3 you can, the text of this handwritten note?
4 A. It's "Lynn Rose, IR Agent." There's a big black blot on
5 it. "Found! Give info to Jeff Weakley, PO Box 962, Boring
6 Oregon 97009.
7 "Hm 255-2527 255.
8 "Day 668-4941."
9 Q. Do you know who Jeff Weakley is?
10 A. He was a member of the common law courts, I believe.
11 Q. Can you please turn to Exhibit 30.
12 A. Excuse me, which one?
13 Q. 30.
14 A. 30. Okay.
15 Q. Can you tell us if you recognize that?
16 A. This was another document that was seized during the search
17 warrant. I have my initials and date on the back of it. It
18 looks like it was an email to Jim Bell from Dick Lancial.
19 Q. And there are a number of names listed in there. Can you
20 recognize any of the names of individuals?
21 A. Yes, I recognize many of them.
22 MR. LEEN: Objection, Your Honor, to any testimony
23 about a document that wasn't authored by Mr. Bell but by someone
24 else. It's hearsay.
25 THE COURT: All right. I will sustain that objection.
74
1 Q. (By Mr. London) What -- if you look at that exhibit, what
2 does Mr. Lancial appear to be asking Mr. Bell to do?
3 A. He introduces himself as part of the Multnomah County Common
4 Law Court and he gives names of IRS employees.
5 MR. LEEN: Objection. Hearsay.
6 THE COURT: Sustain the objection.
7 MR. LEEN: Move to strike, Your Honor.
8 MR. LONDON: It's not offered for the truth of the
9 matter asserted therein --
10 THE COURT: Sustain the objection.
11 Q. (By Mr. London) The names that you recognize on that
12 document --
13 A. Um-hmm.
14 Q. How do you recognize them?
15 A. They are IRS employees.
16 Q. Who is Dick Lancial?
17 MR. LEEN: Objection, Your Honor.
18 THE COURT: She may answer that.
19 A. Dick Lancial was part of the common law court of Multnomah
20 County.
21 Q. (By Mr. London) What is the subject matter of this email
22 exchange?
23 A. It's the collection of names and addresses of IRS
24 employees.
25 MR. LEEN: Objection. That's not what the document
75
1 says.
2 THE COURT: Pardon?
3 MR. LEEN: It's not what the document says.
4 Q. (By Mr. London) Just what the subject line of the email
5 is.
6 A. "Names and addresses of IRS thugs."
7 MR. LONDON: I offer 30.
8 MR. LEEN: Objection, Your Honor. This document was
9 not written by the defendant. It's hearsay.
10 MR. LONDON: It has relevance --
11 THE COURT: Is the document subject to editing?
12 MR. LEEN: Yes. The only --
13 THE COURT: As far as it identifies IRS employees, I'm
14 going to admit it. She says she recognizes them as -- the
15 witness, as IRS. But what they say, I will sustain your
16 objection as hearsay.
17 MR. LEEN: Also, I just add that it was -- the date of
18 the email is October 25th, 1996. So I raise the other objection
19 -- the similar objections I've raised with other email as this
20 was prior to the first prosecution.
21 THE COURT: Same ruling.
22 MR. LEEN: Yes, sir.
23 THE COURT: As to identification of IRS employees, it
24 may stand.
25 MR. LEEN: Yes, sir.
76
1 Q. (By Mr. London) Can you turn to the second full paragraph,
2 "If you wouldn't mind running." Can you read that, please?
3 A. Second paragraph?
4 Q. This is now, presumably, from Lancial to Bell.
5 A. "If you wouldn't mind running the following names for me,
6 I'd be much obliged.... so far as I know, they are all with the
7 IRS."
8 MR. LEEN: Objection, Your Honor. That was -- the
9 court denied the admission of that. It contains hearsay.
10 THE COURT: She's identified, I assume, those people
11 who were mentioned as being IRS agents.
12 MR. LEEN: Yes, sir.
13 THE COURT: Isn't that just a repetition of that?
14 MR. LEEN: It's hearsay, Your Honor.
15 THE COURT: Next question.
16 Q. (By Mr. London) Please turn to Exhibit 33.
17 A. Okay.
18 Q. Do you recognize 33?
19 A. Yes, I do. It's an email from Jim Bell to John Salter,
20 dated October 30th, 1996, and this was one we printed from the
21 hard drive on 1/19. It has my initials and date down at the
22 bottom.
23 Q. And the subject line on this one, and I'm going to have to
24 ask you to spell out that chemical term for the court reporter
25 because I know that will be impossible otherwise.
77
1 A. The subject line?
2 Q. Yes, subject line.
3 A. Regarding?
4 Q. Fourth line in the header.
5 A. "Re: hello ellen," e-l-l-e-n.
6 Q. I'm sorry, I was in 32. Are you in 32?
7 A. Oh, it's Exhibit 33. I'm sorry. It didn't make any sense.
8 Okay, 32. And this is an email to un- -- n-c-l-e-a-l-0,
9 from Jim Bell, dated October 27th, 1996. My initials and date
10 are at the bottom.
11 Q. And subject line?
12 A. Okay. Regarding, "Help, I need some info on," the spelling
13 is q-u-i-n-u-c-l-i-d-i-n-y-l. The second word is
14 b-e-n-z-i-l-a-t-e.
15 Q. So, do you know what that is?
16 A. It looks to me it's a chemical of some sort.
17 MR. LONDON: I offer 32.
18 MR. LEEN: Objection, Your Honor. This is October 27,
19 1996, so I raise the objections I raised before.
20 THE COURT: Is it from the defendant?
21 MR. LEEN: The testimony is it is from his hard drive.
22 And it's from him to --
23 THE COURT: From Mr. Bell's hard drive?
24 MR. LEEN: Yes, it's from him to someone else.
25 THE COURT: It will stand. It will be admitted.
78
1 (Exhibit No. 32 was admitted.)
2 Q. (By Mr. London) All right. Can you please read the second
3 paragraph, the one without the carets, that would be
4 attributable to Mr. Bell.
5 A. Okay. "My work has been primarily electronics and
6 computers, not programming, so my post-degree experience is
7 limited. However, I did synthesize a couple of grams of Sarin
8 about ten years ago. Except for a tiny bit of chest-tightness
9 (the first symptom for exposure by air), I was unaffected."
10 THE COURT: Counsel, why don't you have the witness
11 explain to the jury what carets are.
12 MR. LONDON: Well, Your Honor, I did ask her to explain
13 carets, and I think that she did indicate, at least that in an
14 email correspondence, carets, or the absence of carets, are used
15 to denote one person talking and then another person talking,
16 and where there's an absence of carets --
17 THE COURT: Why don't you have the witness explain it.
18 MR. LONDON: All right.
19 Q. (By Mr. London) Well, let me ask you, Ms. Brown. In email
20 correspondence, what is the significance of carets?
21 A. It denotes the order in which the emails were received back
22 and forth. When you have two people emailing each other or
23 forwarding an email from someone else, the oldest portion of
24 that email will have the most carets. In this one in
25 particular, there is a portion of it that would have three
79
1 carets, so that would be probably the original message -- part
2 of the original message. The current, in this message, where
3 Jim Bell is sending a message, the portions of the email that
4 have no carets would be the current portion of that email, would
5 be him responding to someone else.
6 THE COURT: Ma'am, when you refer to carets, are you
7 talking about the vegetable or jewelry?
8 THE WITNESS: They are just like little "greater than"
9 symbols.
10 THE COURT: Not jewelry.
11 THE WITNESS: Right. Right. They look like the
12 greater than. All right, yeah.
13 THE COURT: Okay.
14 MR. LONDON: Your Honor, and I don't intend to belabor
15 these exhibits, and I only have one more after this, but I would
16 like to publish this one since it has been admitted. It does
17 have an example of carets, and the jury can see what we're
18 talking about.
19 THE COURT: How long is it?
20 MR. LONDON: It's just a page, Your Honor. In fact, it
21 can go right up on the screen.
22 THE COURT: All right, put it up on the screen. Then
23 the witness can explain it.
24 THE WITNESS: Okay. So you see from "My work" down,
25 that two paragraphs there have no carets. That would be a
80
1 portion of the current email that Jim Bell was writing. The
2 portion above it has a single caret, so that would be the next
3 most recent portion of that email.
4 Then you have, farther down we have two and three carets.
5 Those would have been -- get older as the number of carets
6 increases, the oldest being the three carets, "We have reached
7 consensus that LD50 is around 3 mg/kg," and so on.
8 Q. (By Mr. London) Can you please turn to Exhibit 42.
9 A. 42. Okay.
10 Q. Can you tell the jury if you recognize Exhibit 42, and how
11 and why, if you do?
12 A. Yes. It's an email from Jim Bell to swils, dated January
13 31, 1997. And this is again printed out from the out box of his
14 hard drive. My initials and date are at the bottom.
15 Q. And does this exhibit discuss Assassination Politics?
16 A. Yes, it does.
17 MR. LONDON: I offer Exhibit 42.
18 MR. LEEN: Same objection, Your Honor. This is dated
19 January 31st, 1997, and precedes the prior prosecution.
20 THE COURT: It will be admitted.
21 (Exhibit No. 42 was admitted.)
22 Q. (By Mr. London) Would you please read the second
23 paragraph.
24 A. "It's an essay," and this is with no carets, so this would
25 be from Jim Bell.
81
1 "It's an essay that I've been circulating on USEnet and
2 various Internet lists and FIDOnet echoes for more than the last
3 year. While it wasn't originally intended to be used as an
4 enforcement device for commonlaw verdicts, it would be
5 relatively straightforward to fund rewards based on jury
6 verdicts. This would allow totally-anonymous enforcement,
7 avoiding most clashes with the status-quo legal system."
8 Q. Please read the next paragraph.
9 A. "Keep in mind that in a smoothly-functioning commonlaw-court
10 system, the vast majority of offenses will be dealt with purely
11 with fines; very few people would actually get killed," on those
12 people -- "and those people would be the ones" who was really
13 seriously offenders -- excuse me -- "who were really serious
14 offenders or repeat offenders, and didn't pay their fines, etc."
15 Q. Finally, would you please turn to Exhibit 45.
16 A. 45?
17 Q. Yes.
18 A. Okay.
19 Q. Would you tell us what that is?
20 A. It is a diskette that was seized during the search warrant.
21 It has a sticky note on it, "NAMES + INFO, IRS - CID, ASST.
22 U.S.ATTYS. FED.JUDGES," and "W.P.5.0 DOS."
23 Q. Where it says IRS-CID, what is CID?
24 A. Criminal Investigation Division.
25 Q. And F-E-D, would that, to you, be short for federal?
82
1 A. Uh-huh. Yes.
2 MR. LONDON: I offer 45.
3 MR. LEEN: May I voir dire, Your Honor?
4 THE COURT: Go ahead.
5 MR. LEEN: What search was this recovered from?
6 A. This was from the search warrant in 1997.
7 MR. LEEN: Your Honor, I object on the grounds that
8 this is the 1997 search. Also, it's highly prejudicial and it's
9 outside the scope of this particular charge and it inserts
10 inflammatory material into the proceeding.
11 THE COURT: Overruled. It will be admitted. 45 is
12 admitted.
13 (Exhibit No. 45 was admitted.)
14 Q. (By Mr. London) Are you aware of the fact that the
15 defendant pled guilty to obstruction charges in connection with
16 some of this kind of material?
17 A. Yes, I am.
18 MR. LONDON: Your Honor, at this point we offer Exhibit
19 51, which is a certified copy of the transcript of his plea
20 colloquy with Judge Burgess in 1997.
21 MR. LEEN: Defense objects, Your Honor. It's not
22 relevant to these proceedings, his guilty plea, and what he
23 agreed -- and what he pled guilty to.
24 THE COURT: I will take it up. I will reserve on 45.
25 MR. LEEN: 51, Your Honor.
83
1 THE WITNESS: 51.
2 THE COURT: 51. I'm sorry.
3 MR. LONDON: Yes, it was 51.
4 THE COURT: Any further questions of this witness?
5 MR. LONDON: No, Your Honor.
6 THE COURT: Cross-examination?
7 MR. LEEN: No questions.
8 THE COURT: This witness may be excused.
9 (Witness excused.)
10 THE COURT: Since we're close to 4:30, we might as well
11 give the jury that extra five minutes.
12 What time tomorrow?
13 THE CLERK: 9:30.
14 THE COURT: 9:30 tomorrow morning.
15 Please do not discuss the case over the evening recess,
16 among yourselves, or with anyone else.
17 And a word of caution. You are not going to find this on
18 your screens at home. So please don't try to recapitulate what
19 you have heard here today. You won't find it.
20 Please be back in the jury room at 9:30.
21 (Jury excused; 4:25 p.m.)
22 THE COURT: To the government: Exhibit 51.
23 MR. LONDON: Yes.
24 THE COURT: What's the purpose? This is the proceeding
25 before Judge Burgess.
84
1 MR. LONDON: Yes, Your Honor. It was the plea colloquy
2 with Judge Burgess where Judge Burgess, in taking the
3 defendant's guilty plea for obstruction charges in 1997, went
4 through the conduct that was charged at the time and received an
5 admission and acknowledgment specifically from the defendant
6 acknowledging that Operation Locate IRS and the mercaptan
7 attack, that all of this had been done for the purpose of
8 harassing or intimidating or interfering with Internal Revenue
9 officers.
10 And, of course, our theory of this case is that his search
11 for home address information and his showing up at people's
12 houses was for that purpose, not as Mr. Leed said in his opening
13 statement, for the purpose of showing that surveillance can be
14 done both ways. Mr. Bell has a long-standing history of
15 deciding that he can intimidate federal agents or officials or
16 government people by this kind of conduct. Judge Burgess made
17 him admit it as part of the plea colloquy there as an admission
18 and statement and acknowledgment by him that he does it for that
19 very purpose. So I think it's relevant and exactly on point for
20 the purpose of proving our theory of the case.
21 THE COURT: Mr. Leen.
22 MR. LEEN: Your Honor, the defense position is, is that
23 this is really being used as 404(b) evidence of a prior crime,
24 and the prior crime is -- like this particular prior crime, I
25 submit that it's highly prejudicial because what the jury then
85
1 will do is they will be convicting him again for what he
2 admitted in the 1997 guilty plea. If the government is allowed
3 to --
4 THE COURT: What's your understanding of the
5 requirements of 404(b)?
6 MR. LEEN: As to prior crime to show intent? It has
7 to --
8 THE COURT: Identification.
9 MR. LEEN: Well, intent -- identification, intent,
10 common scheme or plan, but if it's being used to show intent, it
11 has to be signature crime, like -- sort of like the Long
12 Ranger's silver bullet or Zorro's Z. It has to be like the same
13 type of thing if it is going to be used for intent.
14 THE COURT: Well --
15 MR. LEEN: This doesn't meet that test.
16 THE COURT: Is there any suggestion that the defendant
17 is not the person that's in 51?
18 MR. LEEN: No. He's the person.
19 THE COURT: 51, is it?
20 MR. LEEN: Yes, Your Honor.
21 THE COURT: Or 52? 51. The same person?
22 MR. LEEN: He is the same person.
23 THE COURT: When's the time?
24 MR. LEEN: 1997. I can look at the date.
25 THE COURT: When's the time of the indictment?
86
1 MR. LONDON: He was charged in 1997.
2 MR. LEEN: It's dated July 18th, 1997.
3 THE COURT: Well, when is the -- this shows February
4 1998.
5 MR. LEEN: No, the transcript is a transcript that took
6 place on July 18th, 1997. The plea agreement was entered into
7 and signed --
8 THE COURT: Well --
9 MR. LEEN: -- that same July.
10 THE COURT: Mr. Leen, I have before me "Transcript of
11 Sentencing."
12 MR. LEEN: Yes, Your Honor.
13 THE COURT: Before the Honorable Franklin D. Burgess,
14 United States District Judge, and it has it stamped up here,
15 from the clerk's office, of February -- Debbie, can you see it?
16 What is that?
17 THE CLERK: February 9th.
18 THE COURT: February 9th, 1998.
19 MR. LEEN: Well, I have -- it says "Transcript of
20 Sentencing," but what I'm reading is a guilty plea. So it's
21 misidentified, Your Honor, in the copies that are given to the
22 defense here in this book. We have Exhibit 51 --
23 THE COURT: Well, did or did not the defendant, Mr.
24 Bell, say, in the sentencing before Judge Burgess, what the
25 government is alleging?
87
1 MR. LEEN: He said in his guilty plea, he said that,
2 yes, sir.
3 MR. LONDON: It actually was -- this was the change of
4 plea hearing, and the court reporter inadvertently typed
5 sentencing on the cover sheet.
6 MR. LEEN: Yes, he did say what the government has
7 alleged. At least that's --
8 THE COURT: Did he say that?
9 MR. LEEN: I wasn't there, but the court reporter --
10 this is a certified transcript. I have no reason to believe
11 it's not correct.
12 THE COURT: What I'm trying to find out, you've offered
13 51. Is what you are saying now, that this defendant has
14 admitted by his various statements before Judge Burgess?
15 MR. LONDON: Your Honor, what I'm saying is that in his
16 plea hearing in front of Judge Burgess he acknowledged
17 specifically that he engages in this kind of conduct for the
18 purpose of intimidating or harassing IRS agents and officers.
19 THE COURT: Well, is that consistent with what you are
20 saying in -- reflected in Exhibit 51?
21 MR. LONDON: Yes, it is.
22 THE COURT: Is what I'm asking.
23 MR. LONDON: It is, and --
24 THE COURT: Do you object to that or except to that or
25 deny that?
88
1 MR. LEEN: We agree that that's what he said. We
2 object to the admission of the document.
3 THE COURT: 51 will be admitted. Do it in front of the
4 jury first thing.
5 Okay.
6 Anything else to take up before sentencing? Before
7 sentencing -- before recess?
8 MR. LEEN: No, Your Honor.
9 THE COURT: Let me suggest something, too. If anybody
10 -- both parties -- anybody runs in inadvertently to a member of
11 the jury, please do not even say good morning, goodbye, good
12 evening, or anything else. Don't say anything to them.
13 MR. LONDON: Yes, Your Honor.
14 THE COURT: Then we won't have any problem.
15 Hopefully.
16 Okay?
17 MR. LEEN: Yes, sir.
18 THE COURT: Avoid -- tell all your witnesses to avoid
19 that jury at any cost. Okay?
20 See you tomorrow morning at 9:30.
21 (Recessed at 4:33 p.m.)
22
C E R T I F I C A T E
23 I certify that the foregoing is a correct transcript from
the record of proceedings in the above-entitled matter.
24
________________________________ October 15, 2001
25 JULAINE V. RYEN Date
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