FBI agent found not guilty of lying about gunshots

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Steven Dubois, Associated Press
Updated 6:47 pm CDT, Friday, August 10, 2018



FILE - In this Jan. 5, 2016 file photo, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, center, a rancher from Arizona, talks to reporters at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Ore. A jury is deliberating whether an FBI agent lied about firing shots at Finicum, a militia leader who participated in the armed takeover of the Oregon wildlife refuge. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports prosecutors and defense lawyers for W. Joseph Astarita made closing arguments and that a jury of three women and nine men began deliberating Thursday afternoon, Aug. 9, 2018.


PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A jury found an FBI agent not guilty Friday of obstructing an investigation into who fired two errant shots at a key figure in a group that seized an Oregon wildlife refuge in 2016.

W. Joseph Astarita, 41, displayed a slight smile when the jury returned its verdict after less than a day of deliberations. He left the courthouse without comment.

Astarita was charged with making false statements and obstruction of justice after telling investigators he did not fire the shots that missed Robert "LaVoy" Finicum.

His attorneys, Robert Cary and David Angeli, stressed to jurors that no eyewitnesses saw Astarita fire his weapon, and there was no ballistic evidence linking a bullet to his rifle.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/FBI-agent-found-not-guilty-of-lying-about-gunshots-13147848.php

[Recursion]

1. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if the shots were actually fired by his "brethren"

Not one bit.