The frameup of Edgar Steele continues, the government has not released 3rd tape

[Bigjon]

Edgar Steele Defense Fund statement regarding audio recordings (http://militantlibertarian.org/2011/03/04/edgar-steele-defense-fund-statement-regarding-audio-recordings/)

Posted: March 4th, 2011 by Militant Libertarian

from Free Edgar Steele

In an effort to find justice and because we eschew oppression, we now have the absolute proof that the US Government, for whatever reason, has fabricated its case against Edgar J. Steele, a First Amendment Idaho Lawyer. Steele has been defending the falsely accused; many for free. If we do not turn this around now, this trend will impact our children and grandchildren.

In spite of the efforts of Edgar Steele’s new defense attorney, Robert T. McAllister, of Colorado, to get some time to prepare a defense, Judge B. Lynn Winmill of the Idaho Federal District Court is insisting that the Steele Case, based on false charges of murder-for-hire of his wife, Cyndi Steele, go to a jury trial in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho next Monday, March 7, 2011. Cyndi Steele was the victim of a real attempted murder-by-pipe-bomb last June. She has looked at the Government’s evidence and proclaimed that her husband is innocent and sees that the entire Government case is fabricated. New evidence, just discovered, reveals that the Government recordings of Mr. Steele’s voice supposedly hiring a hitman, were fabricated. Even though this is fraud, there is a question whether the judge will permit a defense expert to testify in order to prove it!

The reason for this message is because Edgar J. Steele is facing the trial of his life. At age 65, any sentence is a death sentence. He and his wife Cyndi have three adult children and one grandchild who love him very much and he loves them. Most important, though, is that Edgar J. Steele in innocent.


Former Chief Criminal Prosecuting Attorney in both N. District of Illinois and Colorado turned defense attorney McAllister began his representation of Edgar Steele on February 7, 2011, so he has been involved as the attorney for Edgar for less than a month. The Government, as is their regular practice, is withholding critical evidence which, by law, should have been shown to the defendant months ago; this is a law violation by the Government. There is no one to prosecute when the Government breaks the law (see the 201 cases of innocent people falsely charged in USA Today article of September 23, 2010 by Brad Heath). We saw the US Government withholding evidence in the David Hinkson case in 2005, resulting in a 43-year prison sentence, an LDS person who is meek and mild, a scientist and inventor who literally never harmed anyone in his life and never had so much as a parking ticket before he was attacked by the US Government.

Well, they’re at it again; the US Government fraud on the innocent is in full swing, like a shark feeding frenzy. The FBI and US Attorney’s Office in Idaho are seeking to bring down another innocent person, Edgar Steele, and send him to prison, because he is an advocate for the US Constitution and individual rights.

What is interesting is that, in the Edgar Steele case, the Government is following the same pattern it used in the David Hinkson case (which pattern reads like the KGB play book of dirty tricks against anyone who does not buy into the politically correct agenda). As it turns out, in thousands of other cases, the Government has manufactured evidence by using the FBI to create a crime.

Though we have absolute proof that the audio tapes presented by the Government as evidence in the Edgar Steele is a fraud, specific things need to happen in order for Edgar J. Steele to receive the justice: 1) the judge must allow the defense to present to the jury evidence that the tapes were fabricated; and 2) the jury must have the opportunity to see the US Government has fabricated this case against Edgar J. Steele.

Our own freedom is at stake, for if they can fabricate a case out of whole cloth against the Edgar Steeles of this world, they can do it to you and me and our loved ones; it will only be a matter of time.

[Bigjon]

Edgar Steele Gets Continuance, Change of Venue (http://militantlibertarian.org/2011/03/11/edgar-steele-gets-continuance-change-of-venue/)

Posted: March 11th, 2011 by Militant Libertarian

from Free Edgar Steele

THE EDGAR STEELE DEFENSE FUND, an Idaho non-profit corporation, apologizes if our attention has been diverted to defense strategy issues, but there are a number of extremely important points that we have been working on, investing long hours. On Monday, March 7th, the trial of Edgar J. Steele was continued to April 26, 2011 to allow parties time to exchange expert information regarding government audio recordings of June 9 and 10, 2010.

Those recordings allegedly portray Steele discussing a plan to murder his wife and mother-in-law. Venue for the trial also was changed to Boise, Idaho. The report of Dr. George Papcun, a world renown expert on audio recordings and voice morphing was at the heart of the rulings. It is Papcun’s opinion that the recordings which are key evidence to the government’s case against Edgar Steele had been corrupted and were not an accurate reflection of conversation between Steele and his handyman, Larry Fairfax. Steele’s wife, Cyndi, has repeatedly said that the tapes were “untrustworthy” and she is solidly behind her husband and believes he is totally innocent of the charges.

Edgar Steele is facing the trial of his life, because, at age 65, a prison sentence of any length likely will be a death sentence. He is married and has three adult children and one grandchild who love him very much and he loves them and wants to spend his final years with his family.


His lawyers, the former U.S. Deputy Chief Criminal Prosecuting Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois and Chief Criminal Prosecutor for the District of Colorado turned defense attorney, Robert T. McAllister and Gary Amendola of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho began their representation of Edgar Steele on February 7, 2011.

The Edgar Steele Defense Fund, Ltd., a community based organization dedicated to preserving freedom of speech, said yesterday the involvement of these attorneys brought daylight into a very dark situation. Supporters of Edgar Steele believe that he is being falsely prosecuted by the government and its consulting non-governmental organizations (NGOs) because he was such a strong advocate of speech freedom.

During one of the several court hearings yesterday, it was mentioned that the office of Judge B. Lynn Winmill, who is presiding over the case, received phone calls from persons interested in this matter expressing feelings as to how the case should be handled.

While the Edgar Steele Defense Fund, Ltd. and its Board of Directors appreciate support, they strongly declare that it is not appropriate, under any circumstances, for individuals to lobby the judge or attempt to make contact with him. Such improper attempts to contract the judge negatively reflects upon them and upon Mr. Steele.

Donations of any size for the defense of Mr. Steele are greatly appreciated and are still being accepted by the Edgar Steele Defense Fund. More information can be obtained at www.free-edgar-steele.com, or checks and money orders can be mailed to the Edgar Steele Defense Fund at P.O. 1255, Sagle, Idaho 83860. For further information email admin@free-edgar-steele.com.

[JDRock]

thanx...this has been the biggest non reported story...the assholes are picking us off in plain sight.

[LuckyStrike]

Here is another article which I have had a tab open of for literally months and haven't read

http://koinenscorner.blogspot.com/2010/12/this-is-justice.html

[JDRock]

bump...

[steel_ag]

anybody introduce Edgar Steele to Robert Fox? A master of habeas corpus and criminal defense...

See episode 97 at the below link...

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=39904&cmd=tc

[MAGNES]

People the don't support Steele, him and people like him framed for political purposes.

They will come for you next, they already showed themselves to do that, going after bloggers,
demonstrators, FBI going to their homes, etc, etc,

Steele was working on a " white slave " trade case, the FBI attempted to portray the girls as his mistresses,
he was trying to help them, I don't know the details, he touched the " third rail " and they went after him for
that case most likely.

[Bigjon]

Stop Railroading Edgar Steele (http://militantlibertarian.org/2011/03/24/stop-railroading-edgar-steele/)

Posted: March 24th, 2011 by FreeWestRadio

by Wesley Hoyt, Free-Edgar-Steele.com

The US Government falsely arrested and falsely imprisoned First Amendment attorney Edgar J. Steele on trumped up murder-for-hire charges, naming his wife Cyndi and his mother-in-law as the supposed intended victims. Both Cyndi and her mother know Edgar is innocent and they support him by raising money for his defense. What follows is not fiction. This really happened in June of 2010 and is still unresolved.

Real people like you and me and Good Samaritans like Edgar Steele, a defender of the Constitutional rights of others, many pro bono, continue to be prime targets of the Government’s attack on the innocent who make themselves “politically incorrect.” If you dare to speak out against tyranny, oppression and the growing police state in Amerika, you will be targeted, prosecuted and sent away for a long prison sentence. There are malevolent forces in and around the Government that are hate groups, pointing fingers at others to take the heat off of themselves, while they promote persecution of the innocent. One such group is the Southern Poverty Law Center (“SPLC” – a so called non-governmental organization or “NGO”) which may have started as a “bully buster,” but now has become the “bully.” Along with the FBI, the SPLC regularly attacks innocent people such as Edgar J. Steele. Mr. Steele is a father of three, grandfather, husband, attorney, champion of free speech and a justice seeker. He and his wife Cyndi Steele, who have been married 25 years, have served many individuals oppressed by the government.

The Government version is that, on June 9th and 10th, the Government’s “Confidential Source,” Mr. Fairfax, allegedly recorded two conversations where Mr. Steele was purportedly plotting the murder of his wife and her mother. These “recordings” are the only evidence the Government has against Edgar Steele. If the defense has an opportunity to show that those recordings are fictitious (and the evidence is not excluded at trial) then there is no case. On June 11, 2010, while at his home, Mr. Steele was “cuffed and stuffed,” then incarcerated on charges which allege he and his handyman, Larry Fairfax, were plotting to commit murder. Four days later, Mr. Fairfax who had been free, was arrested on charges that he manufactured a lethal pipe bomb, which he admitted attaching to Cyndi’s vehicle; a fact that the government knew about for a minimum of six days before the bomb was discovered by Mrs. Steele and the FBI chose to do nothing about it. The government also knew about one or more of the Fairfax accomplices, but has failed to arrest, charge or prosecute any of them (as if the FBI is in cahoots with them).

Interestingly, while the confessed and now convicted felon Mr. Fairfax was held in a local jail under soft conditions, free-speech attorney Edgar Steele was held in solitary confinement under harsh, freezing conditions for months until public outcry finally forced minimal privileges and contact with the outside world. (Shades of an Amerikan Gulag?)

On June 15, 2010, as she was on her way to a court hearing regarding her husband’s case, and with time to spare, Cyndi stopped for an oil change a few blocks from the Federal Courthouse in North Idaho. The oil change mechanic pointed out the bomb. The bomb squad was called, they arrived and used the water cannon to neutralize it, then after being interrogated as if she had something to do with the bomb, Cyndi Steele went to court to attend her husband’s hearing. While at court, Cyndi was told by a US Marshal that the Government would not provide her with any protection against the accomplices still at large, one of whom was a neighbor of the Steeles. What possible corruption would cause an official to tell the victim of a car bomb that she would not be receiving protection when part of the gang was still at large? Congress needs to ask this official, “What does it take to get you to do your job?”


Given that Mr. Steele has an established web presence from which he has authored incisive commentary on First Amendment, socio-political and financial matters, it is not surprising that most of his supporters feel that his incarceration is yet another jailing of a dissident for speaking his mind, making him just another political prisoner in America.

Edgar Steele always expressed himself with an edge when it comes to telling it straight and naming names. See http://www.conspiracypenpal.com/ Mr. Steele has also published a book named “Defensive Racism” which has seen wide distribution for the last 5 years. Also at his web site is a brief biography, the capstone of which at the time of his arrest was his work-in-progress of investigating human trafficking involving a “Russian Bride” scam out of the Ukraine. Mr. Steele’s aggressive representation of clients who have run afoul of the Government, in addition to his own use of free speech, may be just the reason the Government and its consulting NGOs colluded to silence him with bogus charges, pre-trial “detention” and no bond.

At present, many caring souls and organizations have financially supported Mr. Steele, raising over $114,000.00 to date. There is a dedicated defense team working for him. The word has traveled far and wide about this travesty of justice and word of Edgar’s fight for freedom, with donations coming from Canada, Europe and far away Australia.

The defense team has just announced that it engaged the finest audio and acoustical engineers in America to analyze the Government recordings. These recordings were supposedly made over a two-day period, on June 9th and 10th, 2010. The experts’ analysis, only obtained last week proves that the recordings are not one continuous recording of a conversation with the Government’s witness, Larry Fairfax. Rather, it has now been proven that the recordings were spliced and dubbed with sound effects and dialogue from multiple people pretending to be Edgar Steele and that the recording did not happen all at once as falsely represented by the Government. The experts have now proven that the tapes were manufactured by the Government. This is criminal conduct. This is the height of Government misconduct and constitutes ‘bearing false witness against thy neighbor.’ Edgar always said that he pictured himself as the “canary in the coalmine” and that he intended to push the boundaries of free speech, so that the rest of us could say what we wished and be safe. He said that when the Government came for him, it would be a sign that we were next. Well, they have come for the canary and he has been clapped in irons, carried off and thrown in a dungeon, all because of his political speech. So, are we next?

If you are outraged that the Government can do this to a First Amendment lawyer, and you think that this could happen to you or someone you love, we ask you to donate to the Edgar Steele Defense Fund, P.O. Box 1255, Sagle, Idaho 83860. Your donations will pay to have the experts testify during Edgar’s April trial. The donations are administered by a non-profit corporation. Please make contributions payable to the “Edgar Steele Defense Fund.” If the Government can railroad Mr. Steele into a death sentence (he likely would die in prison), then what is to stop them from coming after you or me? We must stop them now by supporting the defense of Edgar Steele, before it is too late. Then we must demand that our Congressional leaders prohibit Rogue FBI Agents and US Attorneys from attacking the innocent. Give generously, because the life you save may be your own.

Thank you.

[Bigjon]

Summary (http://www.spokesman.com/topics/edgar-steele/)


Edgar Steele’s trial is scheduled for April in Boise in a murder-for-hire case in which he is accused of soliciting a hit man to kill his wife and mother-in-law.


Steele was arrested June 11, 2010, and charged in the plot. That was the day the women were allegedly to be killed in a car crash meant to look like an accident.


Four days later, mechanics found a pipe bomb attached to an SUV driven by Steele’s wife Cyndi Steele, just hours before he pleaded not guilty to the murder-for-hire charge in federal court.


On June 9, Larry Fairfax had told FBI Special Agent Mike Sotka he’d been hired by Steele, whom he said he’d known for 20 years, to kill Steele’s wife and mother-in-law. He said he’d already been paid $10,000 in silver coins, received $400 for travel expenses to Oregon, where Steele’s mother-in-law lives, and was to receive $25,000 for the murders, then $100,000 if an auto insurance claim paid off.


Fairfax was arrested June 15 after he told investigators he made the bomb at his home. Fairfax is accused of placing the bomb on the 2004 Mitsubishi Endeavor Limited on May 30, one day before Cyndi Steele was to drive to Oregon. He told police that although he planted the first bomb, he manipulated the fuse to malfunction, according to court documents.


Steele, 65, wanted his wife murdered because he “had been establishing a relationship with a young woman who lives outside of the United States,” according to documents filed in February 2011 in U.S. District Court in Coeur d’Alene.


U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill on Feb. 25 denied a request by Steele’s lawyers to move the trial to Wyoming because the juror pool would be prejudiced by pretrial publicity.

Edgar Steele’s background includes a history of association with North Idaho white supremacists. Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler hired the Sandpoint attorney in 2000 to defend the group from a lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of a woman and her son who were shot at outside Butler’s Hayden Lake compound. Although Steele lost the court battle and the $6.3 million jury award bankrupted the group and shut down the compound, he quickly rose to prominence in the extremist movement.


Cyndi Steele, who operates a horse farm on the couple’s property, filed for divorce in June 2000, alleging her husband “misrepresented his marital status and eligibility” in online dating profiles “with the sole intention of meeting women” in San Mateo, Calif., where he maintained a law office. But the case was dismissed two months later and the couple remained married.


When Steele took over the Aryan Nations’ defense, he said it wasn’t because he shared Butler’s beliefs, but because he believed the case was about free speech. He sued The Spokesman-Review over an article he said implied otherwise. The Idaho Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit in 2003.

[Bigjon]

Any guesses as to David Snyder's ethnic background?



BOISE - Edgar Steele’s defense won’t be able to call two expert witnesses it lined up to question the authenticity of FBI tapes of Steele talking with Larry Fairfax about an alleged murder-for-hire plot against Steele’s wife, Cyndi, a federal judge in Boise ruled Thursday.

The testimony and expertise from one proposed expert was unreliable, U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill found, and the qualifications and testimony of the second were irrelevant, at least at this point.

Steele, a self-described “attorney for the damned” who’s represented clients including the Aryan Nations, goes to trial on Tuesday on four felony charges related to an alleged murder-for-hire plot to kill his wife and mother-in-law; he faces up to 30 years in prison.

Cyndi Steele’s lawyer, Wesley Hoyt, is the one who contacted the proposed experts and sent them the FBI tapes. “Mrs. Steele believes that the tapes were manipulated,” he said after the judge’s ruling Thursday. “The victim is totally supporting the accused. She believes in his innocence.”

The case began last June when Fairfax told the FBI Steele had hired him to kill his wife and mother-in-law, and paid him $10,000 in silver coins plus $400 in travel expenses to Oregon, where Steele’s mother-in-law lives, plus a promise of another $125,000. A week later, Cyndi Steele took her car in for an oil change and workers found a pipe bomb attached to its underside.

Fairfax pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges in October and is in jail awaiting sentencing; he could get up to 10 years in prison.

Steele, wearing a bright-orange Ada County Jail-issue sweatshirt and scrubs, sat silently through the day-and-a-half pretrial hearing Wednesday and Thursday, speaking only in whispers to his lawyers.

Dennis Walsh, a former New York City detective who said his opinion was that the tapes had been edited, wasn’t qualified to offer that opinion, Winmill ruled. “I just have to conclude he does not have the background and experience,” the judge said, ruling from the bench.

Prosecutors questioned inflated claims on Walsh’s resume, noted that key portions of his report duplicated the report from the other proposed expert witness verbatim, and pointed out that Walsh had no education or certification as a forensic examiner.

Plus, an electronics engineer and certified forensic examiner for the FBI reviewed Walsh’s work and reached opposite conclusions. “There were no signs of tampering,” FBI forensic examiner Dave Snyder, who works at the agency’s Quantico, Va. lab, told the court. “We didn’t feel that their conclusions were accurate.”

A second expert witness, George Papcun, who holds a PhD in acoustic phonetics, testified that he examined the recordings and found unexplained anomalies that could have been triggered by editing, or by other factors including electronic glitches. “This recording does not contain what was being picked up and only that,” Papcun told the court. But he said he wouldn’t use the term “suspicious,” because a variety of factors could have caused the glitches he observed.

Papcun, whose was long employed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory and whose resume shows work on the Jon Benet Ramsey trial, work on recordings for Paula Abdul and work for the Associated Press on the O.J. Simpson trial, said he spent less than a day examining the recordings, which he termed “of poor quality.”

Snyder, who said the recordings were made on a device that’s been standard for the FBI since the 1990s, called them “very clear” and said, “I felt that it was of fair quality.”

He said when he tested the recordings in their original format, he found no anomalies. When he used the uncertified, Russian-made testing program that Walsh used, he found anomalies similar to those cited by Walsh, but Snyder said the program is unreliable - and that’s why the FBI doesn’t use it.

Steele’s attorney, Robert McAllister of Englewood, Colo., told the court, “The government has the burden of establishing authenticity.”

But Winmill said the way that’s normally done is by having people whose voices are on the tape testify as to whether they accurately represent what was said - and that’s something Fairfax can testify about in the trial. If questions arise during that process, he said, it’s possible that Papcun’s analysis of the tapes could become relevant and he could then be allowed to testify.

But short of those questions, the judge said, Papcun’s testimony about the quality of the tape being impacted by one of many possible factors wouldn’t satisfy legal standards for expert witnesses regarding “whether it’s helpful to the jury - which really is the court’s central concern.”

Winmill said any value from Papcun’s testimony at this point would be outweighed by “confusion of the issues and potential of misleading the jury.”

[General of Darkness]

Thanks for the update.

[Bigjon]

Jurors hear FBI recordings in Steele case

By David Cole | Coeur d'Alene Press (Idaho) | April 28, 2011 http://tinyurl.com/3lyo2tq

BOISE - Federal prosecutors on Wednesday played for the first time in public the two June 2010 audio recordings of retired 65-year-old attorney Edgar J. Steele plotting with his handyman, Larry Fairfax, the alleged murder-for-hire of Steele's wife.

The recordings are likely to be prosecutors' best evidence against Steele during the trial in U.S. District Court in Boise. Both were obtained when 50-year-old Fairfax agreed to carry a hidden recording device in his pocket as he cooperated as an FBI informant against Steele.

Steele's wife, Cyndi Steele, was in the gallery as the recordings were played aloud and transcripts were projected for jurors to follow along.
The Steeles celebrated their 26-year wedding anniversary Wednesday, the first day of testimony in his trial. A panel of 11 women and one man were seated Tuesday for the jury. Two alternates also are women.

Fairfax, of Sagle, testified in a white-and-orange striped jail suit, saying he went to the authorities about the alleged murder plot because he never really wanted to kill Cyndi Steele in the first place. "I thought there might be a way I could get the money without doing it,"
Fairfax said.

After he accepted payment, Fairfax said Steele grew impatient for the deed to be done. Fairfax said Steele had told him, "If I didn't take care of the job, he would get somebody else to take care of the job - and me."

Fairfax said he told Steele he needed money to settle unpaid bills and avoid foreclosure, before Steele allegedly made the offer to off his wife and mother-in-law. Fairfax said he falsely led Steele to believe he had experience in just the type of illegal work he says Steele wanted done.

Prosecutors provided receipts from coin shops in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene, showing Fairfax cashed in nearly $10,000 in silver "rounds."

Fairfax said the silver was his payment from Steele.

Fairfax called the pipe bomb he made and placed under Cyndi Steele's vehicle a "North Idaho firecracker," a roughly foot-long metal pipe, two to three inches in diameter, packed with gunpowder. Fairfax said he didn't fill the pipe with a non-explosive material because he was afraid Steele would have checked his work.

He said he rigged it to be a dud, but admitted it could have gone off.

Fairfax said Steele promised to pay him $10,000 for each person he killed, and offered to pay Fairfax an extra $5,000 to kill his wife in Oregon. He said Steele wanted some neighbors and judges killed, too. He said there were about 12 people he wanted dead.

When Fairfax went to the FBI with the plot, he never mentioned the massive pipe bomb he had already placed under Cyndi Steele's vehicle because he hadn't secured "immunity" yet, something his lawyer told him he would get. Fairfax is awaiting sentencing for the pipe bomb.

On the recordings, the two men discuss payment, alibis for Steele, the consequences of Fairfax getting caught in the act, and methods for carrying out their alleged scheme. Steele, acknowledging the years he had spent with his wife, said he didn't want her to know what was happening in her final moments. He also asked that she not suffer.

Steele told Fairfax on June 9, as Fairfax tended to horses on Steele's property, he would "make out very handsomely on this one" when she died
- if an insurance policy paid out.

In an apparent reference to Cyndi Steele's black SUV, Steele told Fairfax, "If that black thing leaves, I guarantee you she's driving it."

Methods varied from placing a bomb under her vehicle, to causing her to wreck, to what they called "guns blazing."

Steele asked, "Larry, I can count on you?"

And, "It has to happen right now," Steele told Fairfax. "I'm coming up against some things." During this conversation, Fairfax can be heard borrowing $400 from Steele to cover travel expenses to the Portland area where Cyndi Steele's mother lives.

In a recording the next day, when Fairfax was dropping a borrowed vehicle off at Steele's home, Steele told him if Fairfax got caught trying to kill her in Oregon, the trail would lead right back to him. "We'll be sharing a cell together," Steele is heard saying on that recording.

Steele also advised Fairfax to make sure Cyndi Steele dies, because he doesn't want to have to take care of a crippled person. "This could actually become a much worse situation than it is," Steele said. He told Fairfax that he couldn't abandon his wife if she was a "paraplegic"
because their children would then hate him forever.

In opening statements, Steele's defense lawyer Robert T. McAllister said the case is "as much about Larry Fairfax as it is about Edgar Steele." He said it's not clear why Steele would want to kill his wife, who had been taking care of him as he dealt with heart problems and recovered from surgeries. Plus, he said Steele has never been in trouble with the law.

And, "Why would he ask someone like Larry Fairfax to do it?" McAllister said.

The lawyer said Fairfax stole silver from the Steeles. He called Fairfax a liar for not telling the FBI about the pipe bomb he placed under Cyndi Steele's car, letting her drive around with it and risk injury or death, or risk it falling off and injuring the public.

"All the evidence points back to Larry Fairfax," McAllister said.

In his opening statements, Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Haws laid out the charges, the names of primary players in the case, dates of significance to the government's case, relevant places that include the Steeles' Sagle home and Cyndi Steele's mother's home in Oregon City, Ore., and alleged motives. "He suspected she had a boyfriend," Haws said. She had been spending so much time in Oregon in the spring of 2010, teaching dancing and caring for her mother. "He resented Cyndi."

He said Steele began to carry on a "dalliance" by Internet with a Russian woman, who Haws promised would be testifying in the trial, by video, because of the distance.

"It's a story of a man who wanted to hire somebody to murder his wife,"
Haws. "He is adept at pressuring people to do things he wanted them to do."

FBI agent Mike Sotka was the first witness called to testify.

He said law enforcement officers delivered a fake notification to Steele at his home just before arresting him, reporting his wife had been killed. Sotka said he had decided to do this to see how Steele would react.

Then, Sotka said they broke the news that they knew of the alleged murder-for-hire plot and investigators had spoken with Fairfax. At this point, Sotka and other law enforcement officials at Steele's house immediately could smell fecal matter in the air and Sotka said he believed Steele had "defecated" in his pants.

The trial continues today. Steele could spend the rest of his life in prison if found guilty of the murder-for-hire count and related charges.

*** ***

The HOFFMAN WIRE is a public service of Independent History and Research, Box 849, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83816 USA

24 Hour Revisionist News Bureau:
http://www.revisionisthistory.org/page1/news.html
Subscribe: HoffmanWire-subscribe@topica.com

[Bigjon]

BOISE - Jury selection is underway (http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/sirens/2011/apr/26/jury-selection-begins-edgar-steele-trial/) in the trial of a North Idaho lawyer accused of hiring a hitman to kill his wife and mother-in-law.

Edgar J. Steele, 65, faces at least 30 years in prison if convicted of his most serious charge - possession of a destructive device in relation to a crime of violence.

Steele also is charged with use of interstate commerce to commission murder for hire, use of explosive material to commit a federal felony and tampering with a victim. The tampering charge stems from a phone call he made to his wife, Cyndi Steele, from the Kootenai County Jail after his arrest.

A pool of 65 potential jurors was called to the federal courthouse in Boise this morning. Fourteen will be selected; two as alternates.

A couple jurors have already been dismissed because of scheduling conflicts and financial difficulties.

About 20 potential jurors said they'd heard of the case before today, but all said they could still be impartial. One woman said she heard about the case from her sister who lives in North Idaho.

“I would hope I would be able to put it out of my mind, yes,” she said.

She was stricken from the pool not because of that incident but because she said serving would be a personal hardship because she needs to help her husband with their cattle farm.

One man said he told a friend he couldn't make lunch today because of jury selection. The friend replied via email that the “Steele case” was underway and that he should “tell them you don't like lawyers,” the man told U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill.

He remains in the jury pool.

Steele's supporters say he has been framed by the government to silence him for his views and legal work. Steele calls himself “attorney for the damned” and is well known for defending the Aryan Nations against the lawsuit that bankrupted the racist group.

Cyndi Steele believes he is innocent and has criticized prosecutors for not pursing more serious charges against the alleged hitman-turned-FBI informant, Larry Fairfax. Fairfax (pictured) is expected to testify at trial.

Fairfax was arrested June 15 after Coeur d’Alene auto shop workers found a pipe bomb under Cyndi Steele’s car. The FBI says Fairfax put it there but never told investigators.

Fairfax pleaded guilty last October to two federal weapons charges and is to be sentenced after Steele's trial.

Prosecutors say Steele wanted his wife murdered because he “had been establishing a relationship with a young woman who lives outside of the United States,” according to court documents. Cyndi Steele says her husband was helping the woman in relation to his work fighting human trafficking.

Steele's lawyers wanted to call expert witnesses who believe the recordings of Fairfax and Steele discussing the plot have been altered, but a judge rejected that last week.

The trial was moved to Boise after it was delayed at the last minute March 7 in Coeur d'Alene.

Court is scheduled until 5 p.m. today. Opening statements could take place this afternoon.

Trial for the rest of the week is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Past coverage:

April 13: Audio experts to testify at Steele trial
Tags
Cyndi Steele
Edgar Steele
jury selection
murder plots
U.S. District Court

Four comments on this post so far. Add yours!


DoesntMakeSense on April 26 at 10:43 a.m.

The defense hired audio experts who have revealed that the prosecution tapes were manufactured, but the Judge won’t allow their testimony. The experts have produced charts showing 351 electronic transients that occur where splices have been made. The two tapes of June 9 and June 10 contain about 30 and 40 minutes of audio, and there are all sorts of discontinuities and changes of background noise and changes of subject in these tapes, and the electronic transients that the experts found always occur at the beginning and ending of these dubs.

If the Judge had shown fairness, he would have allowed the defense experts to display these electronic graphs to the jury, and would allow the prosecution to attempt to rebut them. But the government wants to silence Edgar Steele, and what we have is a farce, a kangaroo court. We need to put in jail those who manufactured these phony tapes.



BitinDawg on April 26 at 3:09 p.m.

That the Judge has disallowed Edgar’s own audio tape experts raises a serious question about the impartiality of this Judge.

As I have been long aware of Edgar, his activism and his belief that silver was going to skyrocket in value, early on I became aware of and checked on this situation.

I heard something then, I believe that it was on that first tape of Edgar talking to his son Rex, that I did not hear on this posted version of that call.

I heard him say, I dis-remember just exactly what epithet he used, but then he said, in a disbelieving tone of voice, Quote: I never thought that they would come after me this way. End quote.

There is a legal concept known as a spontaneous utterance. That was a spontaneous utterance. It is highly credible because it is not considered and crafted for effect.

But, of course I did not hear that on these posted recordings. They have been thorough. Methinks that you are toast Edgar.

What possible motive could the United States Government have to go after a mere citizen such as Edgar Steele.

Go and listen to a sampling of Edgars nickel rants on http://conspiracypenpal.com/ This man has pulled ZOG’s tail like no other man ever has. That ZOG tiger has much motive to go after Edgar.

ZOG. Zionist Occupied Government. Not just a right wing white supremacist delusion. It is a fact.

Our Government is rife with Jews and Jews are especially incensed with Edgar Steele. If I am right, and the probabilities on that are high, Jews are somewhere somehow the major factor in this equation.

That said, the people, the fifth column that can totally shut down any investigation and hush up any news or discussion of the deliberate Israeli attack on the U.S. intelligence gathering ship, the U.S.S. Liberty, killing 34 American Sailors, grievously wounding some 171 others, are not likely to be outed over some such minor matter as this.



Chompers on April 26 at 3:56 p.m.

In this ‘reporting’, Ms. Cuniff yet again hoists the “Aryan Nations” flag, with “[Mr. Steele] is well known for defending the Aryan Nations…” Good lord! How — might one ask — has he become well known? Could it be the reference she and her fellow controlled Media comrades ceaselessly persist in battering readers with?

Why not just be plain about it and say, “Mr. Steele is well known for his Aryan Nations representation because we’ve reported it dozens of times before, and we’re reporting it again, just so everybody GETS IT.”

Readers who take a few minutes to actually think about why this is being done all come to the same conclusions; first, it was to plant the idea in people Mr. Steele is somehow “bad”, then second, it was done to try to negatively prejudice the regional jury pool.

‘Journalists’ ain’t no dummies. Now that AP has given Mr. Steele’s case some slight attention, it too retains the AN reference. But, those who are far distant from north Idaho who read AP’s news will be less likely to manifest the knee-jerk reaction that AN causes locally.

Still — across the board — the Media has and will continue to vilify Edgar Steele. And readers actually pay money to receive ‘news’ that is essentially brainwashing?



monamontgomery on April 26 at 4:32 p.m.

I don’t know what happened with the second expert, Papcun, but I know from the documents on www.pacer.gov that the judge denied the first expert because the wording on his declaration was word for word the same as Papcun’s. As to both Papcun and the other witness, the judge found the motions deficient because the experts’ declarations did not give the proper supporting statements to justify their conclusions. They simply said, “The tape is defective in my opinion based on (named number of defects) which suggest splicing” or something like that. The declarations didn’t give the judge any specific science or logic that supported the conclusion. Google declaration completey conclusory.

[JDRock]

//indeed thanx 4 the update