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A Utah lawyer is asking that a federal magistrate be appointed to oversee the FBI's compliance with court orders in his lawsuit seeking records on the Oklahoma City bombing.
In a memorandum filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, attorney Jesse Trentadue claims the FBI failed to carry out a thorough and objective investigation of a witness tampering allegation in the case as ordered.
Trentadue requested that Judge Clark Waddoups, who is presiding over the case, appoint Magistrate Dustin Pead as a special master to investigate whether the witness was coerced into backing out of testifying, as well as ensure that the bureau complies with orders related to his records request made under the Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Trentadue filed suit against the FBI in 2008 claiming the bureau had failed to conduct a search reasonably calculated to locate all records in the bureau's possession. The FBI says it conducted an "exhaustive" search for the requested documents and videos.
The tampering claim came up during a bench trial on the suit in July after Trentadue learned that a witness, John Matthews, who he describes as a former undercover operative for the government, had decided not to testify. According to court documents, Matthews planned to testify that he believed the FBI was monitoring bomber Timothy McVeigh in the run up to the 1995 detonation at the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City — information that Trentadue believes the agency wants to suppress because it failed to stop the attack.
Waddoups set a hearing for Thursday on the tampering allegation and ordered the FBI to submit a report on any communications between the bureau and Matthews. As of last Thursday, the report had not been filed and the judge said the hearing this week will be devoted to whether the bureau should be held in contempt and whether a special master should be appointed.
On Friday, Department of Justice attorneys filed the report and a request that Thursday's hearing be canceled. They say Matthews initiated four phone calls to the FBI's Salt Lake City office saying he did not want to testify and that an agent merely confirmed that he was not required to do so unless subpoenaed.
Waddoups denied the request to cancel the hearing on Monday.
Trentadue believes the records he is seeking contain information related to the death of his brother in a federal prison in Oklahoma City a few months after the April 19, 1995, bombing that killed 168 people.
The death of Kenneth Trentadue was ruled a suicide, but his family believes he was mistaken for a bombing conspirator and killed in an interrogation that got out of hand. Federal officials deny the allegation.
Waddoups has taken the issue of whether the FBI did a reasonable search under consideration and a ruling is pending.