http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=01/05/13/1856213 FBI Database Problem Delays McVeigh's Death posted by cicero on Sunday May 13, @01:48PM from the blame-it-on-the-computer dept. The U.S. government has postponed Timothy McVeigh's scheduled death until June 11 because the FBI failed to turn over 3,000 pages of documents to McVeigh's defense lawyers. Details remain sketchy, but it appears as though the problem arose because of a disconnect between the existence of the documents in physical form and their corresponding entries in a database. In other words, the FBI never typed in summaries of those documents, so they didn't appear when operators did database searches. According to the FBI: "Over the course of the last several months, the FBI exercised due diligence to ensure that all records created as a result of the investigation were logged into and compared with each of 26 data bases which serve as a repository for information. During this process it was determined that some of the materials from various FBI field offices were not a part of the investigative database." (http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel01/defenbaugh.htm) On Thursday, the Justice Department sent a letter to McVeigh's attorneys saying that materials include "FBI reports of investigation ("302s" and "inserts") and physical evidence, such as photographs, written correspondence and tapes." (http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2001/May/214ag.htm) This marks at least the fifth time in recent years that the FBI has failed to disclose evidence in a major case, the Los Angeles Times reports. "The problem is that the FBI has a terrible record for turning over this kind of material," Herman Schwartz, an American University law professor who has studied the FBI, told the Times. (http://www.latimes.com/print/asection/20010512/t000039883.html) The Washington Post today notes that 46 of the FBI's 56 field offices did not turn over documents, and blames the problem on the agency's insular culture. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20334-2001May12.html) The Globe and Mail notes that "congressional hearings have also recently been told that the FBI concealed evidence that would have exonerated Joseph Salvati, who spent 30 years in prison for murder before being freed." (http://www.globeandmail.com/gam/International/20010512/UFBIINSB.html) Reaction on Capitol Hill veered between blaming the FBI employees and blaming technology. House Judiciary chairman James Sensenbrenner pointed out in a press release that he had anticipated such problems. He said: "Because of concern about the FBIs antiquated computer systems, three senior members of the House Judiciary Committee joined me on April 25, 2001, in writing Director Freeh about the Bureaus information technology problems. In that letter, we wrote The Committee is concerned that the FBI has information technology systems that are slow, unreliable, and obsolete - systems that are unable to address the Bureaus critical needs." Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Crime subcommittee, said: "The latest development in the McVeigh case only heightens the need for accurate and efficient record keeping. The FBI dealt with a situation of immense magnitude following the Oklahoma City bombing. A great amount of data was generated. As a result, a more sophisticated and updated computer system was necessary to process the information." But based on the scarce details made public so far, that wasn't the problem. The problem does not appear to be the sophistication of the FBI's computer system, but human error in that FBI agents did not enter documents into the database. This database snafu could have a tremendous impact on the future of the case. Until now, McVeigh has reportedly accepted his execution, even to the point of not pursuing appeals. Now, his defense attorneys say, he may consider "dropping his wish to die." (http://www.latimes.com/print/asection/20010512/t000039880.html) They've filed a new appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court based on this new evidence, which the Kansas City Star says includes "witness reports about other possible accomplices." (http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/home.pat,local/3accaa49.512,.html). If the Kansas City Star is correct, the new evidence is likely to give a boost to reports that McVeigh had collaborators, including some from within the white supremacist movement -- a theory that has not been widely reported inside the U.S., perhaps because it differs with the federal government's version of events that prosecutors told the jury. The U.K. Independent recently ran a compelling three-part series that says "new evidence reveals he was part of an undergound network of white supremacists." (http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=71520) --- [This article may be redistributed via email, Usenet, and mailing list digests as long as a link to http://www.cluebot.com/article.pl?sid=01/05/13/1856213 remains in the article text.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if it remains intact. 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