OREGON STANDOFF: DAY ONE OF FBI AGENT LYING TRIAL IN CONNECTION WITH LAVOY FINICUM MURDER

The first day of the trial for FBI Hostage Rescue Team agent W. Joseph Astarita is set for tomorrow (Tuesday July 24th) in Portland.

He is now charged with three counts related to lying about shots he fired at a roadblock as the truck driven by LaVoy Finicum, spokesman for the Oregon Standoff protest, swerved to avoid it.

Senior US District Judge Robert E. Jones threw out two of the five charges last week.

Astarita remains accused of one count of obstruction of justice and two of making a false statement (correction to previous post).

One last minute change in tomorrow's schedule.  Jury selection originally set for 9 am has been moved back to 1 pm.     Of 300 potential jurors summoned, 118 are expected in court tomorrow.

Part of the upcoming trial will be anonymous testimony by three Oregon State Police troopers including the killer-killers of LaVoy Finicum known as "Trooper 1", "Trooper 2" and "Trooper 3".

The other FBI agents who were with Astarita will also testify without their names being revealed.

The government claims its too dangerous to reveal their names.

There are countless police shooting incidents where the names are revealed.  I can't think of any other shooting incidents involving law enforcement in this country where names are kept secret.

The FBI agent (W. Joseph Astarita) is only charged with lying, not with attempted murder as he was shooting at Finicum's truck containing four people.  Its believed that Ryan Bundy, treated for a shrapnel wound revealed in an x-ray after the shooting, was injured by one of Astarita's bullets.

Federal prosecutors and Ryan Bundy could not agree on terms for surgery to remove his shrapnel for the investigation claiming Bundy made outrageous demands.