From : ur-valhalla!world.std.com!snet (Glenda M Stocks)
Subj : (fwd) New Charges of OKC Cover-up
Date : Tue, 14 Nov 1995 10:09:42 -0500


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THE NEW AMERICAN -- November 27, 1995
Copyright 1995 -- American Opinion Publishing, Incorporated
P.O. Box 8040, Appleton, WI  54913
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ARTICLE: Front Page
TITLE: New Charges of OKC Cover-up
SUBTITLE: A dismissed grand juror has spoken up about federal
interference
AUTHOR: William F. Jasper
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A dismissed federal grand juror has accused federal prosecutors of
cover-up in the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing, claiming
that an effort was made by the prosecution to conceal the identity of
the elusive "John Doe No. 2" suspect. In a letter dated October 24th,
U.S. District Judge David L. Russell dismissed Hoppy Eric Heidelberg
from the federal grand jury and warned him, "Your obligation of
secrecy continues. Any disclosure of matters that occurred before the
grand jury constitutes a contempt of court."

Heidelberg, a prominent thoroughbred horse breeder from Blanchard,
Oklahoma, objected. In an interview that appeared in The Daily
Oklahoman on October 27th, he said, "You don't fire a man for trying
to do his job. You fire him for not doing his jo. This is the exact
opposite of what needs to be done...."

Heidelberg's whistleblowing first came to light a couple weeks before
his dismissal with an article in the November issue of Media Bypass
magazine. The article quoted an unnamed grand juror (Heidelberg) as
claiming prosecutorial misconduct during the inquest that resulted in
the August 10th indictments of Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, and
Michael Fortier in the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history.
Transcripts of the taped telephone conversations between the juror and
Media Bypass reporter Lawrence Myers were provided by the magazine to
McVeigh's defense team, which in turn released excerpts of the
transcripts in a pleading filed on October 13th. Contending that
"grand jury secrecy was repeatedly breached, that outside influences
corrupted the process, and that the independence of the grand jury was
destroyed," McVeigh's attorneys demanded an evidentiary hearing and
called for the indictments to be dropped.

Protecting Suspects

Legal experts consulted by The New American were divided as to the
probability of a court accepting the defense's arguments that the
indictments are fatally flawed, but all agreed that a court ruling
against the prosecution would not prevent another grand jury from
indicting the defendants. As for Heidelberg, he has repeatedly stated
that he believes the indictments are valid and that the prosecution
proved its case against McVeigh and Nichols. His objections stem
mainly from what he believes are attempts by the prosecution to limit
the indictments to McVeigh and Nichols.

Heidelberg complained about these concerns in a letter he sent to
Judge Russell in early October. "The families of the victims deserve
to know who all was involved in the bombing, and there appears to be
an attempt to protect the identity of certain suspects, namely John
Doe II," he wrote.

In the transcripts released by the defense team, the anonymous juror
(Heidelberg) was even more explicit about his concerns of a government
cover-up. Regarding JohnDoe No. 2, the subject of one of the most
massive manhunts in history, he is quoted as saying, "John Doe 2 is
the $64,000 question all the way around.... He's the only person ...
that is obviously significant that was ignored.  He's obviously
significant." Heidelberg reportedly stated, "I'm satisfied that I know
the government knows who he is."

Even more startling, however, is the following statement made by the
then-grand juror to Myers: "Well, he was either a government agent or
government informant. Either way ... they had prior knowledge to the
bombing, and that's what they can't afford ... to have come out."

As reported in The New American of September 4th ("Searching for John
Doe No. 2") and October 16th ("Startling OKC Developments"), since
mid-June the Justice Department has been sending intentionally
confusing signals about John Doe No. 2, simultaneously indicating both
that it is still pursuing the fugitive and that he may have been a
false lead from the beginning. An apparent Justice Department
disinformation ploy that has been replayed repeatedly in much of the
media has it that the now-famous John Doe No. 2 composite drawings
were the result of "misidentification and confusion" on the part of
the Ryder employees who rented a truck to McVeigh.

But the story that the "most wanted" John Doe was actually an innocent
Army private, Todd Bunting from Ft. Riley, Kansas who had also rented
a Ryder truck from the same store and had been mistakenly associated
with McVeigh, didn't fly with some members of the grand jury.
According to Heidelberg, he was not the only member of the grand jury
who found the tale incredible. He said it was "stupid to dream up that
thing, but it just didn't hold water long at all ... it was a boat
with a hole in the bottom...."

"It was a bombshell in my opinion," said Heidelberg. "That's what ...
got my attention. They went to a hell of a lot of trouble to try and
make John Doe No. 2 go away." The obviously bogus story was also a
bombshell to a great many other observers whowere not privy to all of
the evidence and testimony presented to the grand jury, but who had
intelligently followed the investigation.

Obstructing and Intimidating

According to the tape transcripts, Heidelberg accused the federal
prosecutors of stymieing jury requests to subpoena witnesses,
thwarting attempts of jurors to ask questions of witnesses, and
engaging in "intimidation." If members of the jury had questions for
any witness, the witness was sent out of the room and the jurors were
then required to ask their question of the prosecutor, who would fetch
the witness and ask the question in his own words.

Heidelberg told The New American that the prosecutor would usually let
it be known by his body language, facial expressions, and tone of
voice that the jurors' questions were "unwelcome." In one instance,
FBI agents were sent to Heidelberg's home to confiscate his juror
notes. Another time, when he returned from lunch to the locked jury
room, he found his notes were "missing." The only ones with access to
the room were the federal prosecutors.

According to some of the legal experts we contacted, these
allegations, if true, constitute serious misconduct by the
prosecution. The function of the grand jury, Professor Randall Coyne
of the University of Oklahoma College of Law reminded us, "is that of
a buffer between the government and the people. The prosecutor's role
is to provide a guiding hand to the grand jury, not a steel fist that
forces the jurors to do the prosecution's will. It's part of our
system of checks and balances."

Traditionally, Coyne pointed out, grand juries have been accorded
"considerable powers and wide latitude to subpoena, investigate, and
question." While not familiar with all of the particulars of
Heidelberg's allegations, Coyne opined, "If it is true that the
prosecution deliberately thwarted legitimate inquiry by the grand jury
into the matters before them, then that's a serious charge."

Professor David Miller of the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento,
California concurred. Certainly the tradition of the grand jury has
been as an independent body, the primary purpose of which is to
function as a protection against an overzealous prosecutor and abuse
of power by the executive branch," he told The New American.  Miller,
a former federal prosecutor, says, "Regrettably, both prosecutors and
grand jurors have lost sight of this function of the grand jury, and
where the jurors are not properly instructed by the judge and are
unaware of their responsibilities and powers, they can be overawed and
intimidated by an aggressive, professional prosecutor."

Conscientious Challenge

In spite of Judge Russell's threat of prison and fines, Heidelberg has
continued to speak out. However, in the interest of avoiding
unnecessary contempt of court charges, he has been forced to greatly
limit his discussion of matters pertaining to the grand jury. When
asked by Forrest Sawyer of ABC's Good Morning, America what it was
that he was concerned about, he replied, "I just want to know who all
was involved. I'm not satisfied that the two people indicted were all
the people who were involved." Sawyer asked if the grand jury had not
been allowed to investigate "in a proper fashion?" "Well," he
answered, "it's my impression that that's what a grand jury
investigation is -- an investigation -- and in an investigation, by
definition, you don't know your destination, it's just whatever you
discover, and we didn't discover much."

Regarding Heidelberg's concern over the John Doe No. 2 cover-up,
Sawyer added more brush to the Todd Bunting camouflage, commenting
that "the FBI has said that they believe that's an innocent
serviceman." Asked if he were concerned about possible contempt of
court charges, he responded, "Well, certainly, I mean, I'd be foolish
if I weren't concerned. But sometimes there's a price that has to be
paid to get at the truth."

Heidelberg appears to be willing to pay the price, but is what he's
after really the "truth," or just his own pet obsession, as some
allege? Fair question. Patrick Briley an Oklahoma City investigator
who has turned up many important witnesses and leads in this case and
who puts considerable stock in Heidelberg's credibility, informed The
New American that a conscious campaign appears to be underway in some
media organizations to portray Heidelberg as a "paranoid, anti-
government, right-wing extremist." Our investigation has turned up no
evidence to support those characterizations. In fact, quite the
opposite; he appears to be a very credible, well-respected, civic-
minded member of the community.

As owner of the Oklahoma Stallion Station and as a founder of, and the
current president of, the Oklahoma Thoroughbred Breeders Association,
Hoppy Heidelberg is well known in this cowboy state.  Charles Wooden,
executive director of the Oklahoma Horseman's Association, is but one
of many who speak of Heidelberg with the highest praise. "I have found
Hoppy to be a person who is strong in his convictions. Some may
consider that a liability, but I consider it an asset," he told The
New American. "I have always found Hoppy to be honest, forthright,
outspoken, and frank.... He's not one to be impressed with one's
position, fame, or wealth; the guy who sweeps the barn is as important
to him as the bigshots who own the racetrack."

Professor Coyne, who does not know the former "disgruntled" juror
personally, takes issue with those who are too ready to dismiss the
man as an "eccentric" or a "troublemaker." "I don't see Mr. Heidelberg
as a troublemaker or a wacko; from what I've seen he appears to be a
rational man and a conscientious citizen [who is] trying to carry out
his sworn duty."

State Effort

Even though he has been dismissed as a juror, Heidelberg may yet see a
grand jury carry out the kind of thorough investigation he had hoped
to participate in. Two days after Heidelberg was booted off the
federal grand jury, Oklahoma State Representative Charles Key
announced the formal initiation of a petition process to convene a
county grand jury. The process requires the gathering of 1,000 valid
signatures of Oklahoma County voters in a 45-day period. "We are
confident that we will obtain the required signatures well short of
that time," Key told The New American. Key has strongly advocated a
state investigation of the bombing and was the target of attacks by
Governor Keating and others for his earlier proposals in the
legislature to that effect.

In his press statement on October 26th to launch the grand jury
petition, Key did not mince words:

"Since the beginning of my own investigation into the April 19th
tragedy, I have been warned, even ridiculed, for taking an activit
approach. The good-ole-boys think I should have turned my back and
looked the other way. And certainly, there are many among us who owe
their business and political longevity to the blinders they put on
every day. In fact, you can even make it all the way to our state's
highest office and still be blind as a bat."

Representative Key warned that "criminal obstruction of justice
charges could be levied against any person or persons who have
destroyed documents related to this mass murder investigation, as well
as those who have tried to, in any way, impede the bombing
investigation." If and when the county grand jury is convened it will
surely subpoena witnesses and evidence that were not brought forward
by the federal grand jury, including the many credible witnesses who
have produced compelling testimony on the identity of John Doe No. 2.

Grave Charges

Joining Key at the grand jury petition press conference was Glenn
Wilburn, grandfather of Chase and Colton Smith, two toddlers who were
killed in the Murrah Federal Building blast. "Since April 19th,"
Wilburn stated, "I have observed the most obvious and blatant attempt
by the justice system, specifically the U.S.  Attorney's office and
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to deceive not only the public
but the grand jurors as to the truth of the events and perpetrators
regarding the bombing."

"The first and perhaps most important aspect" of the bombing, Wilburn
asserted, pertains to the "prior knowledge of the ATF and the FBI as
to the high degree of danger that existed that day." That danger, he
charged "was amplified by the sting' operation conducted
unsuccessfully the night before. Lester Martz, Special Agent in Charge
of the Dallas ATF office, has confirmed the existence of a sting'
operation that night."

Moreover, said Wilburn, "We have witnesses that confirm that a bomb
squad was working the Murrah Building and the federal courthouse
building between 7:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m." on the morning of April
19th, a half hour to an hour-and-a-half before theexplosion. In
addition, "Fire Department personnel have confirmed for us that they
were warned on the Friday before the bombing of a possible terrorist
act.' We now have learned from Chief Hansen that all communications
tapes have been destroyed from that Friday before the bombing through
the morning of the bombing."

The New American has been checking into Wilburn's accusations. They
are grave charges indeed, and could mean that very serious criminal
charges could be brought against various public officials if proven
true. Wilburn has shared a considerable amount of evidence and
witnesses with The New American which appear to substantiate his
statements. We are continuing to evaluate additional corroborative
evidence and witnesses and are encouraged by sources close to the
official investigation who confirm that we are on the right track.

END

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THE NEW AMERICAN -- November 27, 1995
Copyright 1995 -- American Opinion Publishing, Incorporated
P.O. Box 8040, Appleton, WI  54913
SUBSCRIPTIONS: $39.00/year (26 issues)
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