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Death
threats cause Galati to quit case
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site | Jaballah | Khadr | Project
threadbare | Galati
| The
racist U.S. terrorists the U.S. gov't and media are not putting
on the prime time news
| The
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into force in 1982.
It was the so-called War on Drugs which allowed the police --
both local and RCMP -- to gain public support for violating the
Charter Rights of certain people. The RCMP had long been responsible
for gathering information on people and using this information
to barter with other organizations within Canada and internationally.
In 1984 CSIS was established but the RCMP maintained its own
secret police. Over the years the RCMP built up a booming business,
copyrighting emblems, insignias etc and contracting to perform
services such as information gathering, finding people, stinging
people and extracting confessions by using means which went beyond
what police services who contracted with them would accept. The
drug war helped fill jails and provided excuses for building
more jails. But the War on Terror? This has opened up a whole
new frontier. |
Terror
Thanks to the
Memory Hole for originally bringing this story to our attention.
Oklahoma
City bomber Timothy McVeigh was hurriedly executed despite a
legitimate request from defence counsel for time to review 4000
pages of disclosure information that was given late. This denied
the public the opportunity to know what was in those documents.
We can speculate that there was interesting material which might
shed light on how widespread is home grown American terrorism.
U.S. government domestic policies are increasingly eliminating
what used to be called "the middle class" -- professionals
and unionized workers who in the past have had their reasonable
expectations met and have provided reasonable responses to anti-democratic
measures. Those who remain are frightened of losing what they
have and so do not speak out for the rights of others. Those
others, who have been cast aside, form a fertile pool from which
angry, determined crack-pots can emerge. History shows us that
in times of domestic trouble, fascistic regimes call on these
dispossessed "serve the nation." Hitler, Mussolini,
Franco.
Why is America
not publicizing its home-grown haters? Is it perhaps because
Ashcroft and company see a possible future use for them?
Outside View: Who is William
Krar? By Jim Kessler
A UPI Outside View commentary
Published March 14, 2004
WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI)
-- Since his appointment as attorney general, John Ashcroft's
Washington office has issued 2,295 news releases. Not one of
them has mentioned the name William Joseph Krar.
Krar's attorney is saying it's
all a misunderstanding, and Krar himself is not talking, but
his arrest by federal law enforcement in the small town of Noonday,
Texas, last April may have stopped the most devastating terror
attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11.
Krar, who is affiliated with
several anti-government, white supremacist militia organizations,
was apprehended after mailing a package containing false U.N.
credentials, Defense Intelligence Agency IDs, phony birth certificates
and a forged federal concealed weapons permit to a co-conspirator
in New Jersey.
The package came with a note
that read, "We would hate to have this fall into the wrong
hands." It did. It was delivered to the incorrect address.
An alert citizen contacted
the FBI, which led to the arrest of Krar and the discovery of
a mind-numbing weapons cache: fully automatic machine guns, remote-controlled
explosive devices disguised as briefcases, 60 pipe bombs, nearly
500,000 rounds of ammunition and enough pure sodium cyanide "to
kill everyone inside a 30,000 square foot building," according
to federal authorities.
The arrest of Krar and two
associates was the talk of the town in little Noonday, Texas,
a sleepy community of about 500 people located 100 miles southeast
of Dallas. But outside of a few local news stories and a handful
of mentions in several national outlets, the William Krar arrest
is the proverbial tree that fell in the woods.
Even more astounding is the
stony silence from the Ashcroft Justice Department, which found
at least 2,295 occasions to toot its own horn that are apparently
more newsworthy than the Krar arrest.
"We don't spend a lot
of time thinking about how we announce our activities,"
a Justice Department spokesman told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Really? This is from a Justice
Department that averages two news releases every day and has
never been shy to march out every triumph over the arrest or
conviction of anyone remotely connected to overseas terror.
No, this Justice Department
is obsessed with thinking about how they announce their activities.
And that is what is so intriguing about this arrest and the conspicuous
lack of comment from Ashcroft.
It is, to quote another famous
crime fighter, reminiscent of "the curious incident of the
dog in the night-time." "The dog did nothing in the
night-time," said Inspector Gregory. "That was the
curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes.
Is there a double standard
at Justice between the public pronouncements over arrests that
fit our current stereotype of terrorists and those that don't?
It is a question deserving of an answer. As for William Krar
and his associates, who knows what they were planning? Perhaps
they were going to blow up the United Nations or release sodium
cyanide poison in the Pentagon. Perhaps they were ultimately
going to do nothing -- just stockpile weapons of mass destruction
and pass coded communiqués to each other bemoaning the
Zionist occupation of the United States.
We don't know because William
Krar is not talking. And neither is the Justice Department.
--
(Jim Kessler is president of
the Washington-based consulting firm Definition Strategies. He
can be reached at jkessler@defstrat.com.)
--
Sentencing
set in weapons case: East Texas couple had stockpiled chemical,
illegal arms
Associated Press, March 13, 2004
Sentencing for a couple who
stockpiled an arsenal of illegal and chemical weapons in an East
Texas storage facility has been set for May 4, court officials
said Friday.
William Krar, 62, and his common-law
wife Judith Bruey, 54, are scheduled to be sentenced in U.S.
District Judge Leonard Davis' court in Tyler.
In November, Krar pleaded guilty
to one count of possessing a dangerous chemical weapon. Krar
faces up to life in prison, but officials close to the case say
that he's expected to get less than 20 years under federal sentencing
guidelines.
Bruey pleaded guilty to conspiracy
to possess illegal weapons and faces up to five years in prison.
The couple remained jailed
in Texas.
In April 2003, federal agents
raided several storage units the couple had rented in the town
of Noonday, just south of Tyler.
Agents found nearly half a
million rounds of ammunition, pipe bombs, machine guns, silencers
and remote-controlled bombs disguised as briefcases. Pamphlets
on how to make chemical weapons and anti-Semitic, anti-black
and anti-government books were also found.
Beside containers of hydrochloric,
nitric and acetic acids, agents found more than 800 grams of
almost pure sodium cyanide, which can only be acquired legally
for specific agricultural or military purposes.
If the ingredients were mixed,
they could create a bomb powerful enough to kill everyone inside
a 30,000-square-foot building, federal authorities said.
The findings led to one of
the most extensive investigations of domestic terrorism since
the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
CBS 11 Investigates
Poison Gas Plot
Nov 26, 2003, 3:30 pm US/Central CBS
11, Dallas/Fort Worth By Robert Riggs With Investigative Producer
Todd Bensman
Federal authorities this year
mounted one of the most extensive investigations of domestic
terrorism since the Oklahoma City bombing, CBS 11 has learned.
Three people linked to white
supremacist and anti-government groups are in custody. At least
one weapon of mass destruction - a sodium cyanide bomb capable
of delivering a deadly gas cloud - has been seized in the Tyler
area.
Investigators have seized at
least 100 other bombs, bomb components, machine guns, 500,000
rounds of ammunition and chemical agents. But the government
also found some chilling personal documents indicating that unknown
co-conspirators may still be free to carry out what appeared
to be an advanced plot. And, authorities familiar with the case
say more potentially deadly cyanide bombs may be in circulation.
Since arresting the three people
in May, federal agents have served hundreds of subpoenas across
the country in a domestic terror investigation that made it onto
President Bush's daily intelligence briefings and set off national
security alarms among the country's most senior counter-terror
officials.
William J. Krar, originally
from New Hampshire, last week pleaded guilty in Tyler federal
court to possession of a chemical weapon near the East Texas
town of Noonday. He faces up to ten years in prison. His common-law
wife, Judith Bruey, pleaded guilty to lesser weapons charges
and faces up to five years in prison.
Also arrested this past Spring
was Newark, New Jersey resident Edward Feltus. The New Jersey
Militia member has pleaded guilty to attempting to purchase fake
United Nations and Department of Defense identity cards from
Krar.
All three have steadfastly
maintained their silence, even though talking could reduce their
prison sentences, and the investigation has stalled for now.
Evidence seized and the fact that none of the defendants will
talk has given rise to speculation that unknown conspirators
may be still be involved in a broader plot to use Krar's home-built
chemical weapons, government officials say.
"One would certainly have
to question why an individual would feel compelled to stockpile
sodium cyanide, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, acetic acid,
unless they had some bad intent," said Assistant U.S. Attorney
Wes Rivers, who is prosecuting the case. "They certainly
had the capacity to be extremely dangerous."
Terrorism investigators suspect
that Krar, who has paid no federal income taxes since 1988, made
his living as a traveling arms salesman who pedaled illicit bomb
components and other weapons to violent underground anti-government
groups across the country.
Sources familiar with the investigation
say authorities especially fear that Krar may have manufactured
more than one sodium cyanide bomb and sold them. After a traffic
stop earlier this year while Krar was traveling through Tennessee,
state troopers seized sodium cyanide among other weapons, one
government source confirmed.
During the same stop, troopers
found notes in Krar's car.
One of the notes titled "Trip"
recommends, "You will need cash, pre-charged phone card,
spare gas can and all planning in place."
Another note titled "Procedure"
appears to represent instructions for carrying out some kind
of covert operation. It lists code words for cities where meetings
can take place at motels. Other codes appear to be warnings about
how close police might be to catching the plotters. "Lots
of light storms are predicted," for instance, means "Move
fast before they look any harder. We have a limited window remaining."
The same note goes on to recommend
ways to divert pursuers and suggests, "We want all looking
in the wrong direction."
Since the attacks of September
11, 2001, counter-terrorism agencies have been consumed by national
efforts to ferret out U.S.-based foreign terrorist cells whose
members hail from the Middle East. Federal investigators were
not looking for white supremacist groups when they stumbled across
Krar by accident.
He drew the FBI's attention
when he sent a package of counterfeit ID's for the United Nations
and Defense Intelligence Agency to Feltus' New Jersey home earlier
this year. The package was mistakenly delivered to a Staten Island
man, who opened it and called police.
A note found inside and signed
by Krar stated, "Hope this package gets to you O.K. We would
hate to have this fall into the wrong hands."
The discovery led to surveillance
operations in and around Tyler, and then search warrants that
turned up the Sodium cyanide bomb and other illegal weapons at
locations controlled by Krar.
Little is known about Krar
and Bruey.
Two years ago, the couple quietly
set up business as a gun parts manufacturer at a remote storage
locker in Noonday, Texas. Krar apparently has similarly operated
his businesses under the radar for years in other states before
coming to Texas. As he did in Tyler, Krar rented local post office
boxes and storage units.
In one affidavit for a search
warrant, an FBI agent noted that Krar was "actively involved
in the militia movementa good source of covert weaponry for white
supremacist and anti-government militia groups in New Hampshire."
Until now, the little town
just south of Tyler was best known locally for the sweet onions
grown there.
Teresa Staples, who owns the
storage facility, said Krar pretended to buy and sell army surplus
goods at flea markets. Only later, when FBI agents swarmed the
place, did she learn that the surplus goods hid dangerous chemicals
and weapons.
"Why did they pick such
a small storage facility? Why did they pick this town, because
I know they're from up north," she said. "How did they
find us?"
This was not the first time
that Krar has drawn the attention of federal investigators. In
1995, the ATF investigated Krar and another man on weapons charges.
The other suspect told authorities at the time that he and Krar
shared an abiding hatred of the federal government and had been
planning to bomb government facilities, court records show. But
the suspect later recanted the story about plotting terror attacks
with Krar. Krar denied the allegation and was not arrested, according
to records.
According to a more recent
FBI affidavit, on the day of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Krar
raised suspicion at a New Hampshire storage unit he was renting.
An employee called the FBI that day and reported that Krar was
"wicked anti-American."
While authorities work for
a new break in the case, some counter-terrorism experts question
whether the government might be overlooking dangers closer to
home while fighting the War on Terror in the Middle East.
The Southern Poverty Law Center,
which monitors domestic hate groups, says the number of openly
violent groups dropped from more than 1,000 to about 100 after
the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing because of negative public sentiment.
Groups that call East Texas home include the Ku Klux Klan, the
Aryan Nations and Christian Identity.
In 1997, the Dallas FBI broke
up a terror plot by members of the Ku Klux Klan to blow up a
Wise County power plant.
Former Dallas FBI Special Agent
in Charge Danny Coulson was involved in the nation's first stand-offs
with domestic anti-government groups and mounted some of the
first intensive domestic terror investigations. He cautioned
that authorities should take care not to forget about domestic
groups while concentrating on foreign ones.
"It's scary when you look
at their capabilities," he said. "Look at the vulnerabilities
of our society. We don't have to concern ourselves only with
foreign terrorists, but we need to concern ourselves with domestic
terrorists too. And these guys are very dangerous."
(MMIII, Viacom Internet
Services Inc. , All Rights Reserved)
TYLER MAN,
COMPANION PLEAD GUILTY IN FED COURT
By: ANNE WRIGHT, Staff Writer,
November 13, 2003 Tyler Morning Telegraph
A Tyler man linked to anti-government
and white supremacist groups pleaded guilty Thursday to possessing
the chemical weapon sodium cyanide, and his female companion
admitted to possessing a cache of illegal weapons.
In a plea bargain between his
attorney and the government, William Krar, 62, admitted in Tyler
federal court to possession of sodium cyanide and other chemicals
for the purpose of creating a dangerous weapon.
FBI agents, tipped off last
year by a cross-country mailout, raided a Noonday storage facility,
where they found the chemicals and numerous firearms, as well
as literature detailing the use of sodium cyanide to make a chemical
weapon.
The literature described the
making of highly toxic, poisonous cyanide gas, Assistant U.S.
Attorney Wes Rivers said in court. Other materials found in the
warehouse depicted white supremacist and militant beliefs, authorities
said.
Krar faces 108 to 135 months
in prison, according to federal sentencing guidelines and a plea
bargain between Rivers and the defendant's attorney, Tonda Curry.
"You understand, you will
probably go to prison for around 10 years," U.S. Magistrate
Judge Judith Guthrie told Krar, as he nodded in acknowledgement.
"I hope after you serve
your time and are back in society, you'll find peace to be here,"
Judge Guthrie said.
Krar and co-defendant Judith
Bruey, 54, who faces up to five years in federal prison, will
be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis after pre-sentence
investigations by the U.S. probation office.
Ms. Bruey, also of Tyler, pleaded
to information and waived indictment for conspiracy to possess
machine guns, firearms not registered by the government and a
9 mm semi-automatic gun with an obliterated serial number, and
the interstate transport of those weapons, as well as silencers
for them. The defendant also agreed to give up 78 firearms and
ammunition to the government.
Attorney Johnny Ward, sitting
in for Ms. Bruey's court-appointed lawyer Eric Albritton, told
the judge his client was told she faced 57 to 60 months in prison
and is prepared for sentencing. When asked by Rivers, Ms. Bruey
said she had intended "to accomplish the same purpose in
the conspiracy" as Krar. She told Judge Guthrie that Krar
never coerced her into conspiring with him.
"I hope that when this
part of your life is over, the rest of your life is more productive
and law-abiding," Judge Guthrie told Ms. Bruey.
A third co-defendant, Edward
Feltus, 56, of New Jersey previously pleaded guilty to aiding
and abetting the transportation of false documents and also awaits
sentencing. A batch of false documents Krar mailed to Feltus
alerted federal agents who began investigating the trio last
year.
The package contained false
identification documents, including North Dakota and Vermont
birth certificates, a Social Security card, a Defense Intelligence
Agency ID and a United Nations Multinational Force ID card.
Federal agents intercepted
the package after it accidentally ended up at a household in
Staten Island, N.Y.
On Thursday, Matthew Orwig,
U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, complimented the FBI;
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the
Army Criminal Investigation Division and the Defense Department
Criminal Investigative Service.
"We live in a safer world
because of the efforts of these agencies," Orwig said.
Anne Wright covers Smith County
government and courts. She can be reached at 903.596.6284. e-mail:
news@tylerpaper.com
©Tyler Morning Telegraph
2003
Tyler resident
admits having chemical weapons
Associated Press, in Fort
Worth Star-Telegram [Link ] Posted on Thu, Nov. 13, 2003
TYLER, Texas - A 62-year-old
Tyler man pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of possessing
a dangerous chemical weapon after investigators discovered the
components needed to make lethal cyanide gas at a storage facility
he rented.
William J. Krar was charged
with possessing sodium cyanide, a toxic chemical. Investigators
also found strong acids in Krar's storage facility, which, when
mixed with sodium cyanide, form extremely lethal cyanide gas,
the U.S. Attorney's office said in a release.
Krar's co-defendant, Judith
L. Bruey, 54, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess illegal
weapons.
Prosecutors said they found
a large quantity of sodium cyanide and hydrochloric, nitric and
acetic acids in the storage room Krar shared with Bruey.
Investigators also found numerous
illegal firearms, literature detailing the use of sodium cyanide
to make a chemical weapon and literature depicting white supremacist
and militant beliefs, the Tyler Morning Telegraph reported in
its Friday editions.
Investigators found the chemicals
and other materials in April while investigating Krar on an unrelated
incident in which a package he mailed to an address in New Jersey
was accidentally delivered to a residence in Staten Island, N.Y.,
in January 2002. The package contained false identification documents
and was reported to authorities.
Krar faces nine to 11 years
in prison and a $250,000 fine. Bruey faces a maximum of five
years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
FBI Reveals
Guns, Chemicals, Fake ID's
Tyler Morning Telegraph
/April 14, 2003 By Angela Macias
A Tyler man accused of selling
false identification cards and keeping suspicious materials in
a local storage facility will remain in jail pending his trial.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Harry
McKee ordered William J. Krar, 62, to be detained after hearing
testimony from an FBI agent regarding the defendant's questionable
activities, including the alleged sale of fake United Nations
Multinational Force Observer and Defense Intelligence Agency
identification cards.
Last week's search of a Noonday
storage facility frequented by Krar unearthed multiple containers
of chemicals and prompted local officials to contact agents in
Washington, D.C.
Authorities believe they found
nitric acid in the storage unit. A package labeled sodium cyanide
and several other chemicals could not be positively identified,
said FBI Special Agent Bart LaRocca. Sodium cyanide could be
mixed with acid to produce a deadly gas, he said.
Ten containers were taken back
to Washington for further examination and won't be confirmed
until later this week, he said.
Machine guns, more than 100,000
rounds of ammunition, pipe bomb materials, binary explosives
and reading materials, including "The Turner Diaries,"
"Anarchist Cookbook" and articles from white supremacist
groups, were also found in the storage unit, LaRocca said.
A search of a U-Haul truck
found at Krar's home on Oak Spring Road also led authorities
to more guns, a silencer, powder sodium cyanide and blank identification
forms. Despite finding the unusual items, agents don't believe
Krar was planning to commit terrorism, LaRocca said.
"I have no specifics of
a plot," he said.
Defense attorney Greg Waldron
attempted to show the weapons and military-related materials
were used in Krar's business.
Krar runs IDC America, which
makes gun parts and sells weapons. Although agents monitoring
a mailbox rented by Krar's employee found legitimate business
transactions being made, the defendant hasn't reported an income
to the Internal Revenue Service since 1988, LaRocca said.
Authorities began watching
the Tyler mailbox used by Krar after a package allegedly intended
for a New Jersey militia member landed in other person's hands.
A parcel containing bogus birth
certificates, a social security card, United Nations Multina-tional
Force Observer and Defense Intelligence Agency identification
cards were delivered to the wrong person, who notified police,
LaRocca said.
Enclosed with the items was
a letter allegedly from Krar, which read, "hope this package
gets to you okay, we would hate to have this fall into the wrong
hands," according to court documents.
The militia member told authorities
he sent photos of himself to Krar. Krar then created the false
documents for the militia member, an affidavit states.
Authorities seized a computer
they believe Krar used to created the fake forms of identification.
They are analyzing the hardware, LaRocca said.
Suspicious activity involving
Krar has been noticed by officers around the country.
A Tennessee state trooper found
atropine injections, a nerve gas antidote, on Krar when the defendant
was arrested in January.
Marijuana, various weapons,
a false birth certificate and credit card issued to "William
Franco" also were found in his rental car. Notes detailing
what authorities believed could be a covert operation were also
discovered, according to court documents.
Krar told authorities the notes
were to help his girlfriend escape her ex-husband. He also dismissed
the fake certificate, saying it was made as a joke.
The credit card was issued
under his mother's last name, because Krar didn't want salesmen
to harass him, court documents state.
A fire in a New Hampshire storage
locker led officers to Krar, who had weapons and ammunition stored
there, court documents state.
An employee with another New
Hampshire storage facility Krar stored items in described him
as "wicked anti-American," an affidavit states.
"She said Krar used to
say things to her such as the United States government was corrupt
and he hated the United States government and all of the cops,"
court documents state.
Before Krar moved to Texas,
federal agents in New Hampshire noticed known militia members
frequenting his business.
LaRocca said Krar was holding
militia meetings there. But on cross-examination, LaRocca said
Krar's relations with militia member may be related to business
since they are usually associated with the purchase of weapons.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Wes
Rivers said he would present Krar's case to a grand jury in May.
|
 Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
Truth suppress'd, whether
by courts or crooks, will find an avenue to be told. Sheila Steele, injusticebusters.com
If you hold the mouth
of Truth, It will burst out its rib-cage. Somali proverb
Publisher : Sheila
Steele
Got something
to say about this or any other stories on this site? Go to injusticebustersblog Participate!
- injusticebusters
court advice :
- How to walk yourself through the justice system
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- Why you should dump your preliminary hearing (written July 1998 and still valid)
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- Sermonette:
The
Naked Truth -- (You
will find links to many more sermonettes in the sidebar on this
page
Another target
of Dueck's malice: Wilf Hathway
Our activism
contributed greatly to the good vibes which happened around the civil
trial.
Index
to the stories on this website
This is not
regularly updated so if you are looking for a particular story
and you have a name or keyword, please use the site search engine(at
the bottom of the page) which IS regularly updated
Index to Saskatoon Police stories
This is a pretty good scrapbook
for the 1998-2002 period.
- Stephen Williams
- Juliet
O'Neill
- Terry
Arnold
- RCMP
Scenario stings
-
The Terrible Story behind the Atif
Rafay and Sebastian Burns convictions
Timeline of the Burns-Rafay
case
Initially created by Sara
Jean Green, The Seattle Times, May 27, 2004
1994
July 13: Sebastian Burns calls Bellevue police
at 2 a.m. Atif Rafay's parents, Tariq and Sultana, are found
dead in separate rooms; his sister, Basma Rafay, is critically
injured and dies later that morning.
July 14: Deaths ruled homicides; Rafays were
bludgeoned to death. Bellevue police identify Atif Rafay and
Burns as "persons of interest."
July 15: Burns and Rafay, both Canadian citizens,
take a bus to Canada on same day as funeral services for the
Rafay family.
1995
January: Police say Burns and Rafay are suspects
in the slayings.
April 11: Royal Canadian Mounted Police undercover
detective contacts Burns outside North Vancouver barbershop.
July 11: DNA obtained from Burns; police won't
say how.
July 19: RCMP undercover officers meet Rafay.
July 31: Rafay and Burns arrested at their
rental home in Vancouver suburb; each is charged in King County
with three counts of aggravated first-degree murder.
1996
January: Extradition arguments are heard in
Supreme Court of British Columbia.
Feb. 2: B.C. judge rules there's sufficient
evidence to extradite Burns and Rafay. Defense attorneys later
petition B.C.'s Court of Appeal, seeking judicial review.
July 12: Canadian Justice Minister Allan Rock
orders extradition of Rafay and Burns without asking for assurance
that the two will be spared the death penalty.
1997
May 12: A three-judge panel of the B.C. appeals
court begins hearings on defendants' petition seeking review
of the extradition order.
June 29: The Court of Appeal rules it is unconstitutional
to surrender a Canadian citizen to stand trial in another country
where he could face the death penalty.
Dec. 4: The Supreme Court of Canada agrees
to hear arguments in the Burns and Rafay extradition case.
1998
October: Supreme Court hearings are delayed
after Amnesty International intervenes in the case, arguing the
men's rights under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms would
be violated if they were put to death in Washington.
1999
March: Supreme Court of Canada begins extradition hearings.
Justices are unable to decide whether defendants should be sent
back to Washington state.
2000
May 23: Second round of extradition hearings
opens before the Supreme Court of Canada.
2001
Feb. 15: Supreme Court of Canada unanimously
rules that Rafay and Burns can't be extradited to the United
States without a guarantee they won't be executed.
March 9: King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng
announces he won't seek the death penalty.
March 29: Rafay and Burns are brought back to
Washington and booked into King County Jail.
April 6: Each defendant pleads not guilty to
three counts of aggravated first-degree murder.
2002
April 8: Superior Court Judge Charles Mertel
dismisses Rafay's public defenders, Gary Davis and Jim Koenig;
moves trial date from May 2002 to March 2003.
Aug. 10: Guards report seeing public defender
Theresa Olson having sex with Burns in jail conference room.
Aug. 14: Judge Mertel dismisses Olson from
the case.
Aug. 20: Mertel dismisses Olson's co-counsel,
Neil Fox; orders new attorneys be appointed for Burns.
Aug. 27: Jeff Robinson and Song Richardson,
from the law firm Schroeter, Goldmark and Bender, are appointed
to represent Burns.
2003
April 22: Pretrial hearings begin into the admissibility
of evidence collected by Canadian police.
Sept. 30: Mertel rejects defense motion to suppress
evidence gathered by Canadian officials.
Oct. 10: Jury selection begins.
Nov. 24: Opening statements begin.
2004
May 21: Jurors begin deliberations.
May 26: Burns and Rafay are found guilty on
three counts each of aggravated first-degree murder. No sentencing
date has been set.
October 22: Both receive three
life consecutive sentences
Supreme Court Decision regarding extradition |
Richard
Leo: Expert on identifying
coerced confessions: the judge would not allow his expert testimony
at the Rafay/Burns trial.
Even the prosecutors did not
have unedited tapes. Yet they were willing to proceed with the
edited cherry-picked package which contained only incriminating
evidence until defence fought for full disclosure in December,
2001
Coercion/Confession
Strategy excerpts: Detailed analysis of the "Big Boss"
entrapment method
Chronological
Master List of Significant Entries (page two)
Chronological
Master List of Significant Entries (page three)
Related stories:
Publication
bans no longer automatic to protect police dirty tricks |
The interrogation room (Reid
Technique) | Monique
Turenne | John Chalmers
| Jean Paul Aubee |
Wilf Hathway | Gary Steinke, the RCMP who maliciously
framed Jason Dix gets promoted Blog
this
Scrapbook on
Atif Rafay and and Sebastian Burns: Older reports | The sentencing (Oct 22, 2004) | Theresa
Olson | Australia
emulating RCMP dirty tricks?
injusticebusters
commentary: Police who abuse their authority and
break the law must be vigorously scrutinized by the media; that
is our only protection from becoming a police state
Defence committee for Rafay and Burns: Recently added on this site: Background
on false confessions (from link "False confessions")
On Trial Diary : Haslett
and Shinkaruk search the boys' cells while they are in court
(see also story below) A
thorough report of the trial along with video and pictures
|
-
-
- 2005: In
the United States the proven wrongful convictions just keep coming
at us!
Canadians who have
been wrongfully convicted because of improper investigations
combined with zealous Crown
Supreme
Court orders new trial and quashes conviction in two more cases
with improper disclosure issues
A round-up of wrongful convictions in Canada
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Revitalizing the
archives
From 1998 until
2002, injusticebusters was in the throes of identity crisis.
What was it? What were we doing? We grappled with editorial policy
at the same time we were learning the nuts and bolts of building
and posting a website. Once we had a secure, paid site I had
full editorial control, although I talked regularly to Richard
Klassen who was forced to move his family several times and did
not always have access to the internet. Rick's pages: one | two
We posted our
earliest and later actions.
Early versions
of the site can be found on the Wayback Machine.
I began following
other threads to stories of police and prosecutorial misconduct
and the site's character took on another facet: a newsclipping
scrapbook where stories could live longer than they would in
print form. I also began picking up other stories of wrongfully
convicted people. It was an explosion. By 2003 there were over
700 pages. I also had contact with several other people (Don Smith, Leon Walchuk, Monique Turenne, the Vopnis) and kept these stories
going.
It was the
story of the Ross children's treatment at the hands of the Saskatchewan
government which grabbed the attention of The
Fifth Estate.
The civil claim (The $10M Lawsuit as we called it) was only mentioned
briefly at the end of their show which aired in November, 2000.
When Richard
Klassen began to make progress in bringing his civil claim to
court, the government and police defendants alleged he was breaking
the rules of court by publishing discovery material on the internet.
- MacNeil clinic (the document which started it all)
- The Thompson Papers
- Carol
Bunko-Ruys reports
This claim
was absolutely false. However, rather than risk being thrown
out of his civil claim, Klassen undertook before Judge Mona Dovall
to sever all ties with the website.
The court fights:
- Les
Perreaux report
- QB271
These pages have links which
lead to other pages from that era. Now that some of the dust has settled,
I have been going back through the material we had posted in
the early days. In the spirit of keeping the scrapbook alive,
I have been reformatting and placing links. The original material
remains intact. I hope the information, which chronicles our
struggle is useful to you.
The identity
crisis is over. We know who we are --Sheila Steele, March
28, 2005
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