US Judge Orders Documents Sealed in Case Against FBI Agent
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge says government documents from a case against an FBI agent will remain sealed to protect the identities of other law enforcement officers involved in a deadly confrontation with one of the people who occupied a remote Oregon wildlife refuge last year.
Government attorneys in Oregon requested the move Tuesday in their case against FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita. Astarita has pleaded not guilty to lying about shooting at a key figure in last year's armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge. Robert "LaVoy" Finicum was a spokesman for the group that took over the refuge to oppose federal control of land in the Western U.S.
Oregon State Police fatally shot Finicum when he got out of a vehicle on Jan. 26, 2016 and reached toward a handgun. Investigators also found FBI agents at the scene failed to disclose they had also fired rounds that missed.