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An attorney said it seemed like something out of “Star Wars.”
From a field office on 108th Street, FBI agents could press a button and activate a device that allowed them to listen inside two rooms at the Douglas County Jail in downtown Omaha.
These weren't just any rooms. They were the attorney-clergy privilege rooms, places where inmates are supposed to be able to meet in confidence with their attorneys or pastors.
The goal of the wire: to have cooperating inmate Richard “Ricky” Conway obtain information about reputed marijuana ringleader Shannon Williams and Williams' former attorney, the late Eric Whitner.
The “novel” investigative technique, as one attorney called it, was revealed this week in evidentiary hearings as Williams seeks to have a judge throw out the indictment against him.
The wire was the third way that the U.S. government tried to obtain evidence against Williams, a reputed gang leader once acquitted of murder.
The first two: Authorities outfitted Omaha attorney Terry Haddock and Williams' cellmate with recording devices. And they had Haddock provide Williams a cell phone at the jail, so they could record the inmate orchestrating the movement of hundreds of pounds of marijuana.
The recordings led to the indictment of Williams and 10 others in a multistate, multimillion-dollar marijuana ring.
The wiring of Haddock, first revealed in January, had defense attorneys complaining about whether the case amounted to an unconstitutional invasion of Williams' attorney-client privilege.
Then came word of the wiring of the jail's attorney-clergy rooms.
“Very disconcerting,” said Michael Tasset, Williams' attorney.
“Shocking,” said Omaha attorney D.C. “Woody” Bradford, who is representing one of Williams' co-defendants. “Just when you thought this case couldn't get any stranger.”
Federal agents and prosecutors were quick to defend the decision —
To read the full article see: FBI tries ‘shocking' technique - Omaha.com
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: omaha.com
Author: Todd Cooper
Contact: Contact Us - Omaha.com
Copyright: 2010 The Omaha World Herald.
Website:FBI tries ‘shocking' technique - Omaha.com
From a field office on 108th Street, FBI agents could press a button and activate a device that allowed them to listen inside two rooms at the Douglas County Jail in downtown Omaha.
These weren't just any rooms. They were the attorney-clergy privilege rooms, places where inmates are supposed to be able to meet in confidence with their attorneys or pastors.
The goal of the wire: to have cooperating inmate Richard “Ricky” Conway obtain information about reputed marijuana ringleader Shannon Williams and Williams' former attorney, the late Eric Whitner.
The “novel” investigative technique, as one attorney called it, was revealed this week in evidentiary hearings as Williams seeks to have a judge throw out the indictment against him.
The wire was the third way that the U.S. government tried to obtain evidence against Williams, a reputed gang leader once acquitted of murder.
The first two: Authorities outfitted Omaha attorney Terry Haddock and Williams' cellmate with recording devices. And they had Haddock provide Williams a cell phone at the jail, so they could record the inmate orchestrating the movement of hundreds of pounds of marijuana.
The recordings led to the indictment of Williams and 10 others in a multistate, multimillion-dollar marijuana ring.
The wiring of Haddock, first revealed in January, had defense attorneys complaining about whether the case amounted to an unconstitutional invasion of Williams' attorney-client privilege.
Then came word of the wiring of the jail's attorney-clergy rooms.
“Very disconcerting,” said Michael Tasset, Williams' attorney.
“Shocking,” said Omaha attorney D.C. “Woody” Bradford, who is representing one of Williams' co-defendants. “Just when you thought this case couldn't get any stranger.”
Federal agents and prosecutors were quick to defend the decision —
To read the full article see: FBI tries ‘shocking' technique - Omaha.com
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: omaha.com
Author: Todd Cooper
Contact: Contact Us - Omaha.com
Copyright: 2010 The Omaha World Herald.
Website:FBI tries ‘shocking' technique - Omaha.com
