Monday, August 6, 2018

OREGON STANDOFF FBI AGENT TRIAL:  JURORS SHOWN LAVOY FINICUM'S TRUCK, SOME LOOK AT BULLET HOLE


"The only thing I'd want to do is climb the ladder and look at the top of the truck"



Juror in FBI Agent W. Joseph Astarita's lying trial as quoted by Maxine Bernstein of "OregonLive"


Today five jurors took a look at what's been called "Impact W", the bullet hole at the top of LaVoy Finicum's truck.

The truck was presented as an exhibit by federal prosecutors as they neared the end of their case in the trial of FBI Hostage Rescue Team Agent W. Joseph Astarita, accused of one count of making a false statement and two of obstruction of justice.

Jurors were offered the chance to look at the truck and five decided to climb a ladder to look at the bullet hole.

Expert prosecution witness Michael Haag explained his methodology for determining the path of the bullet, believed to have been fired by Agent Astarita moments before an Oregon State Police trooper fired the bullets that killed Oregon Standoff protester LaVoy Finicum.

A 3-D animation reconstruction was presented by prosecution witness Toby Terpstra.  It showed the bullet trajectory and the location of both Astarita and the OSP trooper (Casey Codding) who fired  shots before and after the ones believed fired by Agent Astarita.   Codding's shots in Finicum's back are considered the ones that killed him.

An orange cone illustrating the bullet's trajectory was over the location where Astarita was beside a state police truck.

The defense contested the accuracy of Terpstra's testimony and his credentials and used a toy Red Dodge Ram truck to illustrate its contention that the truck sank deeper into the snow by the time investigators took measurements at the scene.

The prosecution has rested its case with the defense set to begin its case tomorrow.

The defense team is led by Washington DC lawyer Rob Cary who successfully defended a United States Senator (Ted Stevens) from federal corruption charges.

Links below.....




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