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