{"id":77968,"date":"2017-07-16T09:26:08","date_gmt":"2017-07-16T13:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=77968"},"modified":"2017-07-16T09:58:04","modified_gmt":"2017-07-16T13:58:04","slug":"fbi-agent-indicted-in-killing-of-lavoy-finicum-hires-high-profile-dc-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=77968","title":{"rendered":"FBI Agent Indicted In Killing of Lavoy Finicum, Hires High-Profile DC Lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Conrad Wilson
\nOPB.org<\/p>\n

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Photo: Robert M.\u00a0Cary<\/p><\/div>\n

The FBI agent indicted for allegedly lying about a pivotal moment during the 2016 Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation has hired a high-profile Washington D.C.-based attorney to defend\u00a0him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Indicted FBI Hostage Rescue Team member W. Joseph Astarita<\/a>\u00a0has retained Robert Cary, who is well known in the nation\u2019s capital for his defense of former Alaska Sen. Ted\u00a0Stevens.<\/p>\n

In 2008, the Department of Justice indicted the Republican senator on corruption charges. Years later, the case was dismissed and found to be an example of gross prosecutorial\u00a0misconduct.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf what happened to Sen. Ted Stevens, a powerful Senator \u2026 a few blocks from the Supreme Court of the United States, a few blocks from the United States Capitol \u2013 if it can happen to him, it can happen to anybody,\u201d Cary said in a 2015 speech to an American Bar Association gathering.<\/p>\n

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Cary will serve as co-counsel in the Astarita case with Portland based attorneys David Angeli and Tyler Francis, according to\u00a0Angeli.<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors have accused Astarita of lying to investigators about firing his gun during a traffic stop that left Malhuer occupation leader Robert \u201cLaVoy\u201d Finicum\u00a0dead.<\/p>\n

Though neither of Astarita\u2019s shots hit Finicum, prosecutors have charged the FBI agent with several felonies for allegedly failing to disclose them. Those charges include making false statements and obstruction of\u00a0justice.<\/p>\n

The FBI said Astarita is in working an \u201cadministrative capacity\u201d with the agency, but has declined to discuss any additional details about the\u00a0case.<\/p>\n

In the Stevens case, Cary initially lost at\u00a0trial.<\/p>\n

Stevens was indicted on corruption charges less than 100 days before the 2008 election, and a jury found him guilty on all seven\u00a0counts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real work,\u201d Cary said during the 2015 ABA speech, \u201cbegan after the trial was\u00a0over.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was during the appeals process that prosecutors began to disclose information that ultimately resulted in then U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder dismissing the case before\u00a0sentencing.<\/p>\n

Stevens and other attorneys successfully argued that crucial facts of the case \u2014 such as the timing of testimony and inconsistent statements from a key witness \u2014 were hidden from the defense team during\u00a0trial.<\/p>\n

The American Lawyer, a monthly law journal, said the work Cary\u2019s firm \u2014 Williams & Connolly\u2019s \u2014 did on the Stevens case was \u201cone of the best criminal defense performances in memory, resulting in a heightened scrutiny of prosecutors that will affect the Justice Department for years to\u00a0come.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\nhttp:\/\/www.opb.org\/news\/article\/indicted-fbi-agent-hires-dc-attorney-who-defended-senator\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}