FC: Day #1: U.S. v. Jim Bell report from federal court in Tacoma

Tue Apr 3 21:12:18 PDT 2001

http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=01/04/04/0358253

U.S. v. Jim Bell Trial, Day #1
By Declan McCullagh (declan at 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

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