OREGON STANDOFF FBI AGENT TRIAL:  "OFFICER 1" DESCRIBES KILLING LAVOY FINICUM-SHOT HIM IN BACK

                              "I felt at that point I had to use lethal force...."

The still anonymous Oregon State Police SWAT Trooper ("Officer 1") testifies at FBI Agent                                                           trial 7/30/2018 in Portland

"Officer 1" (also described in the past as "Trooper 1") took the stand at the trial of FBI Agent W. Joseph Astarita in Portland today.  "Officer 2" (he has been called "Trooper 2") also testified.

"Officer 1" described his involvement in the killing of LaVoy Finicum and had to face the cross examination from Astarita's legal team which contended that he was likely the person who fired the two shots that Astarita did as the prosecution asserts.

Agent Astarita is accused of lying about firing the two shots.

Authorities in Oregon have kept the name of Officer 1, a veteran Oregon State Police SWAT Trooper who now holds the rank of captain, secret ever since his involvement in the homicide of LaVoy Finicum on January 26, 2016.

The trooper (Officer 1) said he fired three shots at Finicum's truck as it approached the roadblock.  He said he was trying to slow the truck down or force it off the road.

Then the SWAT trooper said he heard noises as he moved in the direction of the FBI agent (John Neidert who did not follow his instructions to go the other side of the road and quickly dove as LaVoy Finicum's truck went into snow near him.   The trooper said he was trying to "rescue" Neidert.

It was at this point that the trooper (Officer 1) was startled by two noises (the shots of the defendant, W. Joseph Astarita?) on his right side.

The trooper then moved out from behind Finicum's truck where the FBI Agent Neidert was sensing movement at the drivers side of the truck.   Another OSP trooper who's name we know, Joey Pollard, was in the trees nearby yelling at LaVoy.    The OSP trooper said that Finicum was defiant and angered.

As he described it, the trooper saw LaVoy Finicum reach for his torso several times and he said that when LaVoy reached for the third time it looked like he was going into his jacket pocket and was going to pull out a pistol and fire on himself and Trooper Pollard.

Then "Officer 1" the OSP SWAT trooper fired two shots at LaVoy Finicum and hit him in the center of his back.

"Officer 2", who is an OSP trooper with the rank of sergeant, said he fired one shot that also hit Finicum in the back.   "Officer 2" made the first stop of LaVoy and radioed ahead to "Officer 2" and the roadblock about LaVoy saying 'you will have to shoot me' as he continued on to meet Sheriff Glenn Palmer at a public meeting in Grant County.


Then "Officer 2" raced down the road at 70 miles per hour reaching the roadblock in time to get off a shot at Finicum.

Trooper Pollard, the third trooper at the scene of the shooting, drove both "Officer 1" and his fellow trooper now called "Officer 2"  home in the days after the shooting and it would be five days before investigators started to ask the troopers about what happened when LaVoy Finicum was killed.

On the stand, the trooper who killed Finicum testified that once it was all over he had self-doubts because of the unaccounted for round that hit the roof of the truck.

But once he knew there were 24 rounds of 29 left in his rifle with his memory of firing five that day, he told the Oregon investigators probing the killing of LaVoy Finicum:

"The FBI has a big effing problem, and this is serious"

"Officer 1" demonstrated in the courtroom how he loaded 29 rounds into his AR-15 rifle that day as part of his courtroom testimony.

After his testimony the killer of  LaVoy Finicum left the courtroom accompanied by two federal government investigators.

Something to think about.    Why are we having the OSP SWAT Troopers formerly called "Troopers 1 and 2" now being called "Officer 1 and Officer 2"?    An attempt to soften their image away from any militaristic or violent connotations of being called a "Trooper" like "Storm Trooper" or "Starship Trooper" etc. etc?

Meanwhile, trial observer Kelli Stewart noted in her video today that the 91 year-old US District Judge Robert E. Jones can be funny and likeable at times, but he is pale and falling asleep during the trial.

Maxine Bernstein in her reporting for "OregonLive" today tweeted that Judge Jones is rejecting the defense lawyers motion for him to follow his own pretrial order regarding the use of color coded figures from an expert witness for the prosecution.

Will any conviction in this trial be challenged on grounds of what I just mentioned in the last two paragraphs?

Kelli Stewart believes that Astarita will not be convicted of anything in the trial itself because reasonable doubt has been put in the minds of the jurors.

Speaking to a radio host in Utah yesterday at the lunch break LaVoy's widow Jeanette Finicum said she sees people trying to cover their tracks and justify the killing of LaVoy in the courtroom.

(Also, Maxine Bernstein of "OregonLive" tweeted last night about new previously unknown video from the dashcam of a state police truck that was used at the trial yesterday.   No details on what the video shows)

Links below...…


Kelli Stewart Video Report 7/30/2018


Maxine Bernstein Story "OregonLive" 7/30/2018

(UPDATED AND EXPANDED, EDITED LATE MONDAY JULY 30th)