http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,42962,00.html Bell Trial: Victim as Prosecutor by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com) 10:35 a.m. Apr. 10, 2001 PDT TACOMA, Washington -- The government's prosecution of an Internet essayist accused of stalking federal agents raises unusual ethical questions because the alleged victim is also the chief investigator, experts say. Jim Bell is charged with two counts of trying to intimidate Jeff Gordon, an agent in the Treasury Department's tax administration office. Gordon conducted repeated investigations of Bell, including the current one, and is the government's chief witness and courtroom technical expert. Legal ethicists say that Gordon's deep involvement in a case in which he claims he feared for his life -- and the fact that as a prosecution witness he was not sequestered -- is uncommon during criminal trials. "It sounds very odd to me," said Robert Drinan, a professor of law and ethics at Georgetown University. "It sounds awful." "It doesn't quite add up.... It reminds me of a police officer suing his superiors, and getting himself assigned to the case," Drinan said. [...]