Sex, Lies & Audiotape (Part I) by Edgar J. Steele

[Bigjon]

Sex, Lies & Audiotape (Part I)
by EdgarJ. Steele

The jury never heard evena hint about thesingle most important piece of evidence in the Government’s case in my defenseat trial: proof that the government’s evidence, the two recordings, were phony. Without thoserecordings, the government’s case against me literally disappeared.

What’s that? You say that there must be somethingwrong? That I am failing to tell you everything? Nope. Ask anybody who was at thatpre-trial hearing that took longer than my entiredefense at trial. Judge Winmill ruled that I could not present anyevidence disputing the authenticity of the audiotapes.

Why?

Why? For two reasons, said the judge – one foreach of the two forensic audiology experts we flew in from New York and NewMexico, respectively, for the hearing andthe trial.

Not Qualified?!?

The first expert, Dennis Walsh, with over 20 years experience in handlingand analyzing audio recordings for the New York City Police Department, whoowns a company that does nothingbut analyze recordings, was declared “not qualified” to render anopinion. Not qualified? Excuse me? Walsh was doing this before it was science! In amoment, I will give you Walsh’s conclusions; then you will see why the courtand the government had to prevent his testimony at any cost.

Irrelevant?!?

My second expert, Dr. George Papcun (pronounced“Pap’-sun”), could not possibly be deemed unqualified, given the fact that heis the world’sleading expert in forensic audiology. Papcun literallyinvented the discipline’s terms and wrote the book “that others throughout theworld rely upon.” Papcun couldn’t testify, said the judge, because he was irrelevant, because nobody hadput the authenticityof the tapes into question. Yes, you heard that correctly, regardless of howridiculous it sounds. And the judge said it right out loud, with a straightface. Why wasn’t the listing of Walsh and Papcun as experts with the court (andfiling their written opinions that the recordings were false) enough to put the authenticityof the recordings “into question?” Why didn’t my husband-wife-privilegedjailhouse call, in which I averred the “tapes” had to be false, enough to trigger theauthenticity issue? For that matter, why wasn’t my “not guilty” plea enough?Why wasn’t my expert’s testimony for 1-½ days in a pretrial hearing “enough?”Incidentally the judge ruled that I had waivedthat privilege, so that the call became the source of yet another federal charge callingfor 20 years inprison.

Then the judge said he might change his mind if a“party to the recordings” testified during the upcoming trial (now just 3 daysaway) that something had been deleted or added to them. B-b-but, Judge – that leavesonly Larry Fairfax, the Idahun Hit Man, since I wasn’t really a “party” to them. So, Judge, youare saying that, if I waive my Constitutional right not to take the stand, I might somehow be able todispute the recordings’ authenticity? Really?Of course, you knowthat a defendant always testifies last,if at all? You are forcing me to choose between my constitutional rights and akey witness? The key witness? I felt as though I had “gone through the looking glass” and nowwas subject to the tyranny of the Red Queen.

I don’t know if Judge Winmill knew that Dr. Papcunlong ago had prepaid $48,000 (non-refundable) for his and his wife’s dreamvacation of a lifetime to Tahiti, scheduled to depart just two days later. Dr.Papcun had offered to stay for the trial despitethat vacation (that could notbe rescheduled), ifthe judge ruled that he couldtestify and if wecould put him on the stand early,out of order and ahead of the state’s case against me. But the judge saidPapcun couldn’t testify, so off he flew to Tahiti.

When Yes Means No

I honestly don’t know if the judge knew Dr.Papcun’s vacation beforethe trial, but he sure knew about it during the second week of trial when heinexplicably reversed himself, saying Papcun (but not Walsh, of course) could testify at trial, provided he was in thecourtroom at 8:30 am, two days later. The US Attorney knew about Papcun’svacation in advance, because she was secretly requiring the jail to provide herrecordings of all my calls from jail, eventhose made to lawyers, during which I discussed Papcun at length.Now it was too late to subpoena Papcun, but we could get him back on the next commercial flightif we hurried. He agreed to come back, but asked if there was any other way. Wethought there was another way.

Yes, I know I promised to quote for you both experts’ written opinions,but a couple more incredible twists to the Papcun saga yet remain to be told.My lawyer informed the judge that Dr. Papcun was on the other side of the worldand, though there just barely was enough time to get him back to Boise bycommercial jet by the Judge’s deadline and though he was willing to come, couldwe simply have him testify by videophone satellite uplink, over the internet?“Yes,” said the judge. However, the very next morning and with only 24 hours togo, the judge acceded to the US Attorney’s renewed demand that Papcun testify only in person. Why? So thatshe could “more effectively cross-examine” Dr. Papcun! Keep in mind that thisselfsame US Attorney had cross-examined bothDr. Papcun and Mr. Walsh inperson and on the same witness stand, just 3 days before trial, for 1-½ days!

This is the samejudge who ruled that I had no constitutional right to confront witnesses against me at trial, allowingthe videotaped deposition of Tatiyana Loganova to be played for the jury.

The smell arising from this sordid littleinterlude just gets stronger, doesn’t it? Well, hold on, because it gets worse.

The Stench of RealInjustice

With less than 24 hours to go, the only way we now could getPapcun to Boise by 8:30 am the next morning would be by charter jet. We foundone, incredibly enough, located in a place where it actually could make it toTahiti, pick up Dr. Papcun and fly him to Boise just prior to the Judge’sdeadline… for $180,000! Cash inadvance, of course.

My friends sucked it up and calculated that,together, they could just barely pull together $180,000 that same morning. Whenthey called the jet charter company back, however, less than one hour aftergetting the all-clear signal from it, the tension on the phone line waspalpable. No, they didn’t want to rent us the jet, after all. No, they had noidea who could or would, on such short notice. “Have a nice day.” <click>With that, my hopes for an acquittal disappeared.

We couldn’t challenge the recordings, so the juryconcluded they were real,of course. The only thing my lawyer was allowed to say during closing argumentwas that there was a “problem with the recordings,” and that only because mywife and daughter had sworn on the stand they were phony and that it didn’teven sound like me in many places. Despite the fact that my wife and daughterliterally are the world’s leading experts on how I sound and, though theirtestimony went unrefuted,the government convinced the jury that I really had said all those terrible things.

Audiotape

Now, let’s see what Dr. Papcun said in hispretrial written report:

“Both recordings contain numerous electronicsignatures… such as would be caused by dubbing… and/or editing…”

“Both recordings contain gaps…”

“Both recordings are of poor quality… with therecording volume at a very low level, which would conceal irregularities anddefects in the recordings.”

“There are discrepancies in the relative volumesof the speakers.”

On one of the tapes, “there appears an extraneousvoice.”

“… I conclude, within a reasonable degree ofscientific probability that the recordings… are unreliable.”

“With commonly available methods, it ispossible to remove material, insert material and alter the meaning ofconversations.”

Dr. Papcun also said that “electronic transientsmay be caused by various events such as the following: turning equipment on andoff, changing components, connecting or disconnecting components, microphone malfunctions,other equipment malfunctions (and/or) attempts at splicing or otherwise editingor modifying recordings.” Everysingle one of the foregoing “events” was ruled out byuncontroverted evidence presented by the government, all except the last item, that is: “attempts at splicing or otherwiseediting or modifying recordings.”

Remember my otherexpert, Dennis Walsh? He adopted allof Dr. Papcun’s conclusions and went even further.Walsh’s written opinion also said:

“I conclude, with a reasonable degree ofscientific probability that the recordings containdifferent speakers purported to be that of Edgar Steele.” (emphasis added)

In direct testimony on the witness stand duringthe 1-½ day pretrial hearing on audiology experts, Mr. Walsh went still furtherand stated his certainty that the tapes had been “manufactured” and were wholly unreliable.

Next: Here Come de Fix



Copyright ©2011,Edgar J. Steele

Forward as you wish. Contact authorfor all other rights, which are reserved.

[Bigjon]

Sex, Lies & Audiotape(Part II)
byEdgar J. Steele

Here Come de Fix

I had an inkling that the fix was in on the morning of thesecond day of the pretrial hearing concerning our forensic audiology eperts.The lead prosecutor, Assistant US Attorney Traci Whelan, was smiling, hummingto herself and positively chirpinghappily to others before court convened. Never have I seen an attorney, leastof all her, look so happy and confident going into a crucial hearing. Clearly,she knew what wouldbe the court’s ruling, though experience shouldhave told her she was losingon the issue of audiology experts and losing badly. She knew. How, do you suppose?

Of course, I already explained (Part I) how the judge laterwould rule (later that same day) that we could not put either of our audioexperts on the witness stand during the trial.

A Work in Progress

My wife, after listening to the recordings several times ondifferent occasions, also swears that they have “evolved” through time, withdifferent wording in places. It seems that, each time someone noticed somethingblatantly wrong with the recordings, they then changed, apparently solvingproblems.

I knew that the recordings would be good when I first wastold about them – of “Mission Impossible” quality, in fact. Even so, I wasunprepared for what I heard as my Public Defender, Roger Peven, played them forme. Peven made it clear at the outset that hebelieved the recordings were genuine, and his conviction remains unshaken tothis day, for all I know. I confess that Peven’s certitude shook me to thecore, but nothinglike the recordings themselves did.

Listening to the recordings was one of the most excruciatingexperiences of my life. I heard a voice that soundedlike my own, saying some of the most outrageous things possible. At points, Iheard familiar words and phrases that I often use. I even heard whole segmentsthat I recalled saying in the past. Only later would I reflect upon how overthe top was the total effect; how scriptedit all sounded.

Hearing whatseemed to be my voicediscussing the deaths of my wife and her mother with this bumbling and oafish handyman, of all people, pushedme over the edge. I became violently ill upon returning to my cell. Inretrospect, I now realize that I suffered what commonly is known as a nervousbreakdown.Evil Edgar

My Cyndi! My best friend andlover. My sweetheart. My Girl.How could it happen? For two weeks, I was in agony, pacing aimlessly in mycell, sick to the point of vomiting almost daily.

At the time, I had aworld of respect for my public defender, Roger Peven, so his opinions carried agood deal of weight with me. Hethought the recordings were real, so I hadto consider the possibility that my personality had split under the pressure offour major surgeries in six months and all the drugs I had been taking at the time(more on this in a future installment I call “Evil Edgar”). After all, I did seem to have a great manyblank spots in my memory, like a videotaped movie with whole scenes erased,seemingly at random. Could it be?

Meanwhile, I finallypersuaded the jailhouse doctor to prescribe an anti-depressant for me.Increasing the dosage twice in the weeks to come seemed finally to bring mesome relief. I was sleeping again.

Ceaselessly, as adog with a bone, I replayed sections of those recordings in my head. Thesegment that bothered me the most was a brief monologue “I” delivered on thedanger of Cyndi not dying and merely being turned into a paraplegic for whom Iwould be forced to care for. (Nonsense!I would be honored and pleased to care for her the rest of my life! I could nosooner walk away from her than voluntarily stop breathing air.)

“Don’t touch him,” Isupposedly said on one recording, referring to Cyndi’s (nonexistent) boyfriend.Wait a minute, Ithought, if she had a boyfriend(she never has), why wasn’t hethe plot’s target, instead of my wife? I loved her enough to bejealous of her, but not enough to want her alive? Slowly, serious doubts beganbubbling to the surface of my mind.

A LittleTruth

Some parts of therecordings did ringtrue, such as my paying Fairfax $400 for two tires he had bought to replacewhat he damaged on my pickup. At trial, that $400 was portrayed as my downpayment on the hit, though the Handyman Hit Man also claimed he already had been paid in silverbullion (yes, beforethe “down payment!”). Ask yourself why I would give him a $400 down payment ifI already had paidhim in full for the “hit,” $10,000 in silver bullion that Fairfax, at trial,finally was to admit that he himself tookfrom its hidey-hole. Yet another hard-to-believe piece of the government’scase. A lie? “Obviously.”

Much of therecordings was foreign to me, though. Why,I asked myself, would I pay to have Cyndi’s mother killed? She never had beenanything but good to the children and me. Besides, though I hate to say itbecause of the impact upon Cyndi, she already is dying and spends as much timein the hospital as she does at home (where she lives alone in another state).Clearly, she alreadydoesn’t have long to live. Know that I regret the pain that saying this meansfor my Cyndi, but I feel it must be said. Of course, since Cyndi’s mother livesin another state, a plot alsoagainst her wouldconfer legal jurisdiction on the Federal Government (the FBI).

Both recordingsstarted with the sameintroduction by FBI Agent Sotka before he allegedly planted the recorder onLarry the Idahun Hit Man. And both recordings started precisely at “6:02 pm.” Odd,eh? Just coincidence, I am sure.

And, wouldn’t therehave been small talk between Fairfax and Sotka at the start and end of thoserecordings (e.g.“Hello,” “got your tic tacs?” “Good luck,” “how did it go?” “Good bye.”)?

Also, though theprosecutor made a big thing about a train whistle heard that marked the passageof a train over two miles away every day at about 6:15 pm, she failed to drawthe jury’s attention to the fact that the whistle appeared nine times on one of therecordings, but not at all on theother. Besides, though one can hearthat train when standing in front of the house (or parked on the road outfront), it is impossibleto hear in the barn, where both recordings supposedly took place.

I was almost convinced after just onehearing of the two recordings. Meanwhile, Cyndi, who is much more familiar with myvoice than I, required just one hearing to pronounce them both fakes, a factwithheld from me until after the trial, nearly a year later, when she and Ifinally were allowed to talk with each other about the case. It took me a longtime to reach that conclusion, though I was certain of it during the firstmonth or so after I was arrested.

Lies

The governments twofaked recordings were the biggest lies told at the trial, Cyndi later was towrite of differences within those recordings: “What I found odd is that therewere distinct differences between non-plot subjects being discussed and theplot being discussed.
1. “Non-plotconversations: easier to hear, voice resembled my husband’s voice.”

2. “Plotconversations: much harder to hear, husband’s voice seems strange, differentand odd to me… intonation was wrong… fluctuation in the voice was wrong…diction and pronunciation of words were wrong… sentences were offgrammatically… ends of words were as if they were cut off or being dropped; Edspeaks clearer than that.”

Cyndi also notedthat, “There were a lot of things that I had heard my husband say to (LarryFairfax) many times in conversations about a work project that (Fairfax) wasdoing for us.” This time, however, those phrases popped up appended to plotdetails supposedly under discussion between Fairfax and myself.

Cyndi also laterwould write that, “there were a lot of things that seemed like they were out ofother conversations that my husband had in his office or our bedroom.” Such as,“Following Ed’s aortic aneurysm in Nov. 2009, he spoke a lot about neverwanting to end up in a vegetative state or a paraplegic and that he wouldrather be dead than for his children or I left to take care of him.”

More Lies
The discussionbetween Cyndi and FBI Agent Sotka following the playing of the recordings wasespecially revealing: “When I tried to tell the FBI agents that I didn’t trustthese tapes and they didn’t prove anything to me, Agent Sotka only becameargumentative, defensive and went to great lengths to try to convince me that Iwas wrong and how they wouldn’t lie. Sotka didn’t want to hear my opinion ofthe tapes. He made it very clearthat he didn’t want to hear anything other than what they wanted me to say.”

At this meeting,Cyndi was shown a document verifying the recordings “were authentic and notaltered.” Interestingly, during a court hearing several months later, thegovernment was to claim that it hadnot yet had an opportunity to analyze the recordings in response toour “surprise” claim that they were false.

Sotka’s big admissionat trial: During his testimony, FBI Agent Sotka for the first time admittedthat, after downloading (copying) the recordings to a computer, he madesecond-generation CD copies, he destroyedthe originals, afterthey allegedly had been made, so that only Agent Sotka ever heard the originals. Yes, you heard thatright. Sotka admitted under oath to being the only person who ever had heard the originalrecordings, after which hedestroyed them. This finally came out because Sotka was unable toproduce the original mini discs at trial, as demanded by our subpoena. They hadbeen erased, he was finally forced to admit.

Still MoreLies

Sotka stalled forten days, until June 21, when he finally agreed to let Cyndi hear therecordings. Even then, however, Sotka would claim the third recording (ofconversations during my arrest of June 11) was “not yet ready.” They never havelet Cyndi hear that third recording,nor me, either, nor was it played at trial. What was needed to get it ready, do you suppose?The same “processing” that required them to keep Cyndi away from the first tworecordings for ten days?

Reportedly, it hasnow slipped out that the third recording has a one-hour gap, which is why, Isuppose, released just a transcript of that recording, transcript not yetprovided to Cyndi or to me. Just coincidence, I am sure, that the thirdrecording would prove both FBI Agent Sotka and ISP Trooper Spike in their(evidentially improper) testimony about my reaction to their lies to me aboutthe deaths of both Cyndi and her mother. At the end of that tens days, duringwhich Cyndi was prevented from hearing the recordings ( I wasn’t to be allowedto her them for another two months), the pipe bomb was discovered on our car.

When finally allowedto listen to the first two recordings, Cyndi plainly heard the word “bomb,” butnot the word “car,” which was to appear, as if by magic, sometime later. Sotkatold Cyndi he had listened to the two conversations as they were being recorded (yet another lie, itturned out), even taking notes, but somehow missed mention of any “bomb.” Sotkalater was to testify that he listened to the recordings twice before he destroyed theoriginals. Of course, if he hadheard “bomb,” then he would have had to warn Cyndi, which Sotka never did. Aftershe drove back from Oregon? Nor did Sotka’s supervisor or AUSA Whelan, wholistened to the June 9th recording (the recording that now has the word “bomb”)the very next morning (June 10th), warn Cyndi. Or, perhaps “bomb” was never onthe original tapes atall. It seems that bothAssistant US Attorneys Whelan and Hawes, not to mention their boss and any member ofFBI and Justice Department employees, would have heard “bomb” on the recordingsif it was there early on… doesn’t it?

Cyndi drove aroundfor a week (from June 9th to the 15th), through three different states, beforethe bomb’s discovery. When do you suppose the bomb was added to her car? Couldit have been afterthe word “bomb” was added to the tape? After I was arrested? Just asking.

The Sex

In a truly bizarredevelopment, one month later FBI Agent Sotka was to admit to my wife that he“liked” her. Make of that what you will. I’m not sure what Sotka meant, but Idon’t think I like it.

No, that wasn’t the“sex” promised by the title, but you have heard just some of the many, manylies that FBI Agent Sotka told in this case. I admit that I adapted the titleof this chapter from a mediocre movie of several years ago, but there is sex to come (so to speak),when I tell you about all my Ukrainian “girlfriends” (over 100 of them)… (Isuppose you could call that lots ofsex, since every single one of these young ladies is drop-dead gorgeous).

Keep in mind thoseworld-class experts we retained to examine the recordings for authenticity; theforensic audiology experts who bothindependently found the recordings to be packedwith indications of dubbing, splicing and editing. That is the single most critical fact in the case,a fact that the judge refused to allow us to get before the jury. The omissionled to my conviction.

Previous: Sex, Lies& Audiotape (Part I)
Next: Who? Why?


Copyright ©2011,Edgar J. Steele
Forward as you wish. Permissionis granted to circulate this article
and its related audio file amongprivate individuals and groups,
post on all Internet sites andpublish in full in all not-for-profit
publications. Contact author forall other rights, which are reserved.

[Book]

Listening to the recordings was one of the most excruciating experiences of my life. I heard a voice that sounded like my own, saying some of the most outrageous things possible. At points, I heard familiar words and phrases that I often use. I even heard whole segments that I recalled saying in the past. Only later would I reflect upon how over the top was the total effect; how scripted it all sounded.

Hearing what seemed to be my voice discussing the deaths of my wife and her mother with this bumbling and oafish handyman, of all people, pushed me over the edge. I became violently ill upon returning to my cell. In retrospect, I now realize that I suffered what commonly is known as a nervous breakdown.He just demonstrated what is really wrong with him:

Dissociative identity disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_diagnosis) and describes a condition in which a person displays multiple distinct identities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_%28social_science%29) or personalities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_psychology) (known as alter egos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alter_ego) or alters), each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment.

[Bigjon]

(Mr. Steele hasforwarded a revision to his first article written while in jail; this is it. Wehave word through Cyndi Steele that he plans to revise other of the first fewsubmissions he had sent. So, if you notice a message title you've already seen,still... you may want to give it a read to see what his further thoughts are.)

Seeing is Disbelieving
(Revised July 21, 2011)
by Edgar J. Steele

June 18, 2011

There are thingsin life that defy belief. Seeing them often is enough to set one on a pathtoward seeing unbelievable things at every turn. Seeing is disbelieving? Hmm…

The Red Queen ofAlice in Wonderland Fame remarked that she often believed in impossible things;as many as six of them, all just before lunch, too.

A great many morepeople now are willing to disbelieve in the inherent justice of the AmericanJustice System. They watched a jury in Boise convict me of four Federalfelonies.

Sigh. Where do I begin?

YouCould Be Next

This story willtake some time and require several installments. If you have yet to hearanything about it, you will not believe it. You may not believe it, anyway. Ido, however. I am living it.All too easily, you could be next.

I was convictedof hatching a plot to kill my wife, for which I allegedly hired an oafish Idahohandyman as a hit man. Already, something may not sound quite right to you.

A Casein Search of a Motive

Why did I wantCyndi, my wife of 25 years dead? I never have quite heard a reason that makessense. First, Cyndi was told by the FBI that the motive was life insurance, butthen they learned that both of us cancelled our policies years ago. Then, theFBI told her that the motive was my jealousy over her (nonexistent) boyfriend.Cyndi quashed that by demanding that the FBI produce photos they said they had;of course, there were none. They had told her another of what was to become a truly incrediblenumber of lies in their haste to put me away.

Finally, thegovernment settled upon a case I was investigating as motive, because I hadcommunicated with a great many young Ukrainian women (with Cyndi’s consent andeven, assistance) to determine if the Russian Bride business really was a humantrafficking scam. First, as part of a case I briefly handled, then simplybecause I found the subject fascinating and worthy of writing a book about.

Two more novelmotives were presented at trial: (1) I was after our car “uninsured motorist”insurance, though I was a lawyer and would have known full well that death bypipe bomb is not “accidental,” so that no insurance ever could be paid. (2) Divorce from Cyndi wouldbe too expensive. Yet, the prosecutor failed to tell the jury that, long beforethe trial, I had signed allmy assets over to Cyndi. Why, if I wanted all that we own (not much actually)for myself enough to want her dead?

Cyndi was part ofevery aspect of my life, even my communications and research overseas to determinehow the Russian Bride business really worked. The book I planned, exposing thefraud was to be entitled “Love and Other Four-Letter Words” (subtitled “TheInvasion of Planet Earth by Teenage Russian Mail-Order Brides fromCyberspace”). Supposedly, I wanted Cyndi out of my way so that I could run awayto be with one (of over a hundred) of my teenage Ukrainian “girlfriends.” Seriously, that apparently isjust what the prosecutor sold the jury! Of course, they had those damned audiorecordings, as well.

I call this acase in search of a motive because, you see, I happen to love Cyndi. I know –that just isn’t fashionable in this day of throw-away relationships, but it istrue.

I often havewritten of how lucky I have been to have had her. About the terrific kids wehave. About how my family life serves to steady my universe. All true, evennow, as I write these words from a jail cell in Northern Idaho while awaitingsentencing and endeavoring, as best I can, to get a new trial.

MyLove Story

Let me try,first, to tell you of my love for Cyndi. She is my mate, pal, helper, lover,buddy, partner, mother of our kids… my first and last wife… my best friend. Thelove of my life. She is somuch better than I deserve. I could go on.

There is a reasonfor this paen to my blushing bride, of course. To see that the Emperor of mystory has no clothes, you must first get,on a visceral level, as do my closest friends, just how ludicrous it would be for me towant my wife dead.

I recall themoment I first laid eyes on Cyndi and the spontaneous burst of surprise andpleasure that crossed her face just before she cast her eyes down and firstsmiled for me that impish little grin of hers that I love so much. In less thantwo minutes, I was swept away, though I did my manly best to seem unaffected.It was love at first sight and, 27 years later, my heart still leaps up everytime I catch sight of her again.

I could, andshould, go on like this for a long time, but please know that I still see Cyndias my one and only soulmate. There is much, much more to this story, though,and I have to give you at least an overview in this first installment.

My Way

At my lawyersrequest, I have kept silent (though not silent enough) about my case. I havemade no public statements until today and have yet to speak with anybody fromany media outlet. I bit my tongue during my recent trial and, against my betterjudgment, agreed notto take the stand to testify in my own behalf. Fat lot of good all that has done me!

No more. I did itmy lawyers’ way and now, at age 66, I face a mandatory minimum sentence of 30years, with 70 years a very real possibility. Obviously, any sentence over 10years is superfluous to my life expectancy, especially in view of the medicalproblems I have seen in recent years (yet another lengthy, though relevant,tale that I call “It Only Hurts When I Breathe,” yet another story for anotherday).

Now we are goingto do it my way,which likely will involve a good deal of sound and fury.

All MyTrials

First up: Motionfor a New Trial, which Federal Judge Winmill certainly will reject in summaryfashion. I will have to rely on an appeal to get that new trial. It should be alaydown appeal, though, because this judge repeatedly committed reversibleerror (more than onestory for other days).

We wrecked asizable legal defense fund (the thanks for which would take more future storiesthan you would want to read) during the first trial, so I very possibly willhave to represent myself at retrial. Spare me the jokes – all lawyers are fools (else wewouldn’t even belawyers, of course).

Lessee now, wherewere we? Oh, yes. What really happened? Here’s the executive summary:

TheIdahun Hit Man

Larry the Idahunhandyman/builder/junk hauler whose cousin’s name must be Daryl, (though I do not yet know if Darylhas one or more brothers alsonamed Daryl), worked off and on for us for years. Larry knew we had hidey-holeshere and there on the property, because he builtsome of them for us. Larry stumbled across one of three of our silver stashesin an outbuilding and then he searched and found two others. All told, Larrystole $45,000 in silver bullion from us at the then price of $18 per ounce (twice that amount today).

Knowing I/wewould discover the theft, Larry apparently decided that I/we had to go, so heset out to kill me/us with car pipe bombs. Like Wily Coyote, Larry must shop atAcme, because neitherof the two bombs that he claimed to have placed on the two cars I drive (one ofwhich Cyndi drove about half the time) went off.

Larry says heremoved the bomb attached to one car and then believed the other “fell off”when his cousin Daryl failed to see it after being told to look.

There is analternate theory explaining the car pipe bomb as having been emplaced by eitherFairfax, the FBI or perhaps, the ADL afterI was arrested, but the foregoing seems the most likely scenario. At first,even the FBI suspected my wife of placing the bomb, believe it or not.

It is undisputedthat Larry sold silver to three different dealers on three different occasions(remember, he stole three ofour hidden stashes) – he produced receipts for those sales (totaling just a fewthousand dollars) during his testimony at my trial. Larry claimed I gave thesilver to him as part of my $10,000 advancepayment to him for killing my precious Cyndi. Larry did finally admit on the witness stand that Ihadn’t given him thesilver. He took itfrom one of the three hidey-holes, he said.

Makinga Federal Case Out of It

Why did Larrythen go to the FBI and fess up to “his” part in this sordid affair? In exchangefor immunity, of course, as well as the silver he had stolen from us. The feds always allow their snithes tokeep whatever they are able to carry away from the scene of their crimes. Hestill had to get me out of the way before I discovered his theft. I wasbeginning to mend from the foursurgeries I had had in six months and was starting to get out of the house.

Cyndi later wasto be awarded only $900 in restitution from Fairfax (not yet paid) – for theover $100,000 (attoday’s market value) he stole from us. Pretty good incentive for him to liefor the government on the witness stand, eh?

Larry and I hadbeen talking a lot during those six months, because we paid him to help us outwith many things, including feeding our horses twice a day whenever Cyndi wasout of town, tending to her very ill mother who lives alone. I explained mydifficulties with the ADL, the Russian Mafia, the FBI and others. All he neededto do was make one phone call in order to be conscripted into helping get meout of the way, which is just what he wanted.

Just aCoincidence

The ADL’sInternet site hit piece on me was quoted at length in the very first courtfiling by the government – coincidence? Probably just another coincidence thatdocument subsequently was removed from the court’s files and docket. Else, wemight be entitled to think of my case in terms of a conspiracy. Of course,nobody pays any attention to us conspiracy “nuts.” The FBI is alleged by usconspiracy theorists to be in bed with, if not controlled by, the ADL. Yetstill more coincidence?Why did Larry go to the FBI rather than the local Sheriff or state authorities,like most of us would? Yet still morecoincidence?

Larry said thathe travelled nine hours to Oregon to ensure the bomb fell off the car thatCyndi then was driving, but he couldn’t be bothered to take the time to lookfor himself. Really?Of course, it is just coincidence that this interstatetrip is the only thing that gave jurisdiction to the FBI… isn’t it? Seriouslynow, do you stillbelieve in coincidence? I don’t.

Ok, you may besaying – What’s the big deal? My word against the Idahun’s, so I should beexonerated without a fight. That would be true if not for those pesky audiorecordings that Larry and the FBI claim memorialize my hiring Larry the Idahunhit man. But let’s save that story for the next installment in this epicaffair: “Sex, Lies and Audiotape.”

There is so much more to come: RussianMafia intrigue, teenage beauty queens, official (and unofficial) corruption,mail-order brides, Hannibal Edgar, the Tao of Ed, private jets, Tahiti…..and more, believe it or not.Remember, seeing is disbelieving.

With a little helpfrom my friends and my lovely Cyndi, who resolutely has stood by me throughoutthis ordeal, I will get this and future installments out to my list and postedon my website , as well as others. Bear with us, please.

I finally wasseeing some of the mail sent to me in recent months. However, I once again ambeing moved and, at this moment, no one knows where. So please visit www.free-edgar-steele.com (http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/) for updates on where tosend mail.

-ed

Next: Taoof Ed (http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Conjuring34_post7-6-11.rtf)

Copyright©2011, Edgar J. Steele

Forwardas you wish. Permission is granted to circulate this article and itsrelated audio file among private individuals and groups, post on all Internetsites and publish in full in all not-for-profit publications. Contactauthor for all other rights, which are reserved.

[General of Darkness]

This pisses me the fuck off to no avail. I'm really not sure why they did this to Ed, other than sending a message to white nationalists, shut your mouth and we won't fuck with you.

[Large Sarge]

He just demonstrated what is really wrong with him:

Dissociative identity disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_diagnosis) and describes a condition in which a person displays multiple distinct identities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_%28social_science%29) or personalities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_psychology) (known as alter egos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alter_ego) or alters), each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment.

I am not sure really...

I think the govt is setting him up

but a number of things do not add up

Ed Claims to have known his handyman was an active FBI informant, Ed takes on all these high profile cases that stir a lot of emotions, and Ed taunts the govt in every newsletter (9/11, politicians hanging from lamp posts, etc), and yet Ed who seems so brilliant, keeps his FBI informant handy man around for years on end, all the while ratcheting up the rhetoric against the govt and Israel via the internet....

Is Ed Brilliantly stupid? unwise? or ?

[woodman]

This pisses me the fuck off to no avail. I'm really not sure why they did this to Ed, other than sending a message to white nationalists, shut your mouth and we won't fuck with you.

Ed is very intelligent. Almost all intelligent people have enormous gaps in their ability to see the world around them in a clear way. Alot is missed that any idiot would immediately see. Their own intelligence can become a liability. Their mind gets in the way of their senses.

[Bigjon]

Too Good
(Sex, Lies and Audiotape Part III)
by Edgar J. Steele

July 27, 2011

They saythat something is too good to be true if it looks much better than one normallywould expect in a given situation; if it is not what it appears to be.

TooGood

There are manythings about my recent trial that simply were “too good,” albeit with differenttwists on the old adage “Too good to be true.”

First, of course,are those two recordings of conversations the government alleges took placebetween Larry “the Idahun Hit Man” and myself. Truly, they are a prosecutor’sdream, because they have it all:confession, smoking gun, motive, corroboration, method, alibi and, perhaps mostimportantly, wording calculated to inflame a listener to be outraged. Never, inthe history of wiring confidential informants, has the FBI gotten recordings socomplete… so condemning… so inflammatory.

Think about itfor a moment. Think back over all the realincriminating recordings you ever have heard, whether made in person or bytelephone. Usually, it is a stretch to see the government’s case against therecorded speaker(s). Not in mycase, however, and that is the biggest tipoff of all. “My” recordings quitesimply are so over the top… so complete and so inflammatory, that they literally are too good to be true.

TooPerfect

Just on theirface, “my” recordings hadto have been scripted because nothing real couldhave been so perfect. And, of course, that is the case – they were manufacturedand cobbled together from actual recordings of me speaking, sometimes to theerstwhile “hit man” (but at othertimes and in othercontexts).

As one of myretained experts ascertained, there are 351 different anomalies on just one of the recordings producedby the government, anomalies of justthe sort produced by editing (cutting, splicing, dubbing, insertingetc.) Most of theanomalies cannot be heard,but must be identified via wave-form analysis. That expert also determined,again through wave-form analysis, that inmany places on both recordings it is not even my voice! Another’svoice was used and then “morphed” to sound like mine. 351 anomalies. An“extraordinary” number , that forensic audio expert said – the most he ever had seen ona single recording in his over 20 years of analyzing such recordings. Enough toremove allpossibility that the recordings were genuine. Keep in mind that only one such defect is enough tojustify excluding a recording at a trial. Notmy trial, though.

TheGunslinger

It needs to besaid that my lead trial lawyer was too good to be true, as well. RobertMcAllister is a natural-born trial lawyer – a gunslinger is what I call such a lawyer. He ridesinto town, fires a few perfectly-aimed shots and then leaves like ClintEastwood: always the hero.

The problem witha natural gunslinger is that he is sogood that he never has been stretched enough so as to learn that there are some trials that require fulland comprehensive preparation of the sort that he never has had to do before. Mine was such a trial,which is why I got convicted. Besides, McAllister secretly was seriously distracted by hisbankruptcy and then-pending disbarment (more on this later).

Were there otherreasons for his seriously-incompetent handling of my case (more on this in a future installment Icall “Thrown Under the Bus”)? I hope not, but I do not believe in coincidence. Too paranoid, you say? Justbecause I might be paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get me. Believe me…they are.

Though I laterwill give a great many reasons whymy defense was grossly inadequate, for now, let me leave you with the fourbiggest:

1) my forensic audioexperts were forced out of the courtroom and
I had no time to find others;

2) I didn’t takethe stand, against my better judgment, to testify
in my own behalf;

3) I was deniedthe ability to work on my own defense; and

4) I never wasallowed to talk with most of my lawyers in private, without the federalprosecutor listening in.

Those are theprime reasons I was convicted.

ItDoesn’t Matter What the Truth Is

Less than a weekafter I was arrested, a US Marshal, while driving me to the Federal Districtcourthouse for my arraignment, made the following prescient observation: “Itdoesn’t matter what the truth is,” he told me, “what matters is what you areable to prove to a jury.” The hair on the back of my neck stood up when he saidthat and now I know why!

Previous: Sex, Lies and Audiotape(Part II) (http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Sex_Lies_Audiotape_Part21.rtf)
Next: How (Part VII)



Copyright©2011, Edgar J. Steele

Forwardas you wish. Permission is granted to circulate this article and its relatedaudio file among private individuals and groups, post on all Internet sites andpublish in full in all not-for-profit publications. Contact authorfor all other rights, which are reserved.

[Bigjon]

How?
(Sex, Lies and Audiotape, Part VII)
byEdgar J. Steele



August 8, 2011



Howdid they pull it off? Easy. They did it the old-fashioned way: They cheated.



How?



How did they manufacture the recordings? We can only speculate, but we can be surethat “they” did manufacture at least the first two recordings because two ofthe world’sleading forensicaudiology experts proved it, thenpronounced them to be fakes. They won’t let us hear the third recording,though.



An“extraordinary” number of “electronic transient signatures exist on those tworecordings,” said both of our sound experts, indicative of things such asediting, turning microphones on/off, equipment malfunctions and so on. The government itself ruled out everythingbut editing at trial (not its intent, of course).



Clearly,Larry, the Idahun Handyman Hit Man made recordings of at least some of the conversations that he and Ihad in the days and weeks leading up to my arrest, because I recognize snippetsof some of those conversations in the two incriminating recordings.





Somebody



Somebody brighter than Larry had to havewoven them into the final product, though.

Somebodywith a strong motivation to put me away, not to mention the resources.

Somebody arrogant enough to think thatI wouldn’t or couldn’t have the resources to have the recordings analyzed closelyenough to disclose their chicanery.

Somebody,perhaps, with the ability to keep me locked up and to hold me essentiallyincommunicado en route to my “fair” trial, for which I was not allowed even to help prepare my own defense or, moreimportantly, to offer evidence in my own defense.



So –let’s speculate. The FBI admits toviolating its own rules in the way that Sotka made the recordings: OnlyLarry the Idahun Handyman Hit Man and, probably, FBI Agent Sotka know the real truth (aside from me, of course). Larry is a proven and self-admitted liar andthief with a strong motive to lie in this case, so nothing he says can be trusted. Is Sotka a liar, too? Yes, as itturned out – a seeming pathological liar, at that. All we needed then was a dirty prosecutor,which is just what showed up on my case, even before the FBI was assigned mycase.





TheMillion-Dollar Man



They were calling me the “Million DollarMan” in and around the local Federal courthouse because of the exceptionaleffort and amount of money that was being employed to ensure that I was putaway “for the rest of (my) life,” as promised my wife by FBI Agent Mike Sotka,one of the two people relentlessly and ruthlessly driving my prosecution. You have to ask yourself why such resourceswere being expended in my prosecution if my guilt was so obvious.



Youalso have to ask yourself why I, a practicing trial lawyer with a spotlessrecord, had to be held for nearly a year withoutbail. My family and friends pledged$1 million for bail, only to be repeatedly refused by a Federal magistrate shotthrough with malice and literally drippingwith contempt. Held in solitary confinement for most of thatyear, not to mention mostly under maximum security and full lockdown, there wasno way for me to communicate with others or, more importantly, actuallyparticipate in erecting my own trial defense.



Sincewhat remained of my family’s life savings (kept on our property as silverbullion) that had not yet been stolen by Larry, the Idahun Handyman Hit Man,was confiscated by the FBI, I was left with nothing but a public defender. It is not for nothing that such lawyers are called“Public Pretenders,” believe me.



Withoutmy many, many friends who contributed to a Legal Defense Fund, I never couldhave afforded to hire a private attorney or the forensic audiology experts whouncovered the proof that I had been framed. Of course, I didn’t reckon with my Federal trial judge refusing to allowthem to testify.



Nordid I reckon with the fact that I would be deniedconfidential attorney-client communications by that prosecutor and thejudge, but that is a story for another day.



Lies



I always have found it curious that the first thing Sotkadeclared to Cyndi, something he was to stress repeatedly, was “He (me, that is) is a liar.” Umm…about what,exactly, Agent Sotka? Then, of course,the “victim” herself (Cyndi) hascomplained repeatedly about all the lies that Sotka told her. I, too, have been witness to an extraordinarynumber of lies told by Agent Sotka.



Whydid Sotka have to lie so much if the case against me was such a dead-bang,laydown sure thing? We’ll come back tothat question later.



Ifwe believe Agent Sotka is innocent (a stretch, I confess), then Larry had tohave had a tape player secreted in the barn, which he then twice played intothe portable recorder Sotka gave him. Easily enough done, but I refuseto believe Larry bright enough to have produced the false recordings. Besides, like Wily Coyote, Larry shops atAcme, don’t forget. Did somebodylike the ADL produce those recordingsfor Larry?



Else,Sotka is dirty, then the possibilities unfold endlessly. He and Larry needn’t ever even have come tomy property for anything except, perhaps, to record background noises. I wonder if Sotka possessed the necessaryexpertise to manufacture recordings? Certainly, the FBI possesses tonsof sound-editing expertise, which expertise has been proven repeatedly to havebeen used to manufacture evidence in the past, both inside and outside the FBIlaboratory in Quantico, Virginia. But,then, the FBI is so entwined with the ADL, of course.

Previous: Too Good (Sex, Lies and Audiotape, Part III) (http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sex3_7-27-11.rtf)
Next: How Too? (http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/sex8_8-13-11.rtf)(Sex, Lies and Audiotape, Part VIII)







Copyright ©2011, Edgar J. Steele





Forward as you wish. Permission is granted to circulate this article and



its related audio file among private individuals and groups, poston all

Internet sites and publish in full inall not-for-profit publications.

Contact author for all other rights,which are reserved.

[Bigjon]

(Also postedrecently are numerous documents regarding 'Motion For New Trial', found at http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/?p=475 (http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/?p=475)--- Interesting read for those who have been following the legal battle.)

How Too?
(Sex, Lies and Audiotape, Part VIII)
by Edgar J. Steele

August 13, 2011



OriginalCopies

I find itextraordinarily odd that FBI Special Agent Sotka continually lied aboutpossessing the original recordings, until he was cross-examined on the witnessstand at my trial. You see, we subpoenaed to trial the actual recorder that Larrysupposedly used to make the two recordings that were the only evidence against me.Claiming all along that he had provided the originalsto both the FBI labs and to my sound experts, Sotka finally acknowledged underoath that he could notproduce the actual original recordings. Why? Because he destroyed them shortly afterthey were made! We never even got to seethat recorder. So much for confronting the evidence against me.



Here’s theproblem with our not being allowed to test the recorder: In the pretrial“Daubert” hearing challenging my (world-class) sound experts, a key point madeby the government was that their recorder’s “floor” volume limit and “ceiling”frequency limit accounted for those “electronic signatures.” Sorry, the judgetold us, but the recorder is “too secret” to let us verify any of the government’s claimsabout the limitations of their recorder. How convenient for the government. Howtragic for me. Guessmy world-class experts just must be dumb.



Agent Sotka did claim to have copied theoriginal recordings to a different format, but he continued to call thosecopies “originals.” Most people, including my experts, would call those copiessimply copies, second generation, at that, but not Agent Sotka. Agent Sotkasteadfastly insisted upon calling them “originals.” Oh, my…

Incidentally…

The same FBI Agent who told allthose lies and made several startling admissions at trial, Michael Sotka, also finally admitted that hehad violated several FBIrules of protocol in securing his “recordings” (the same ones that even Sotka claimed never to haveheard before he destroyedthem):

1. The alleged conversationsbetween Fairfax and me were notsimultaneously monitored by the FBI (by radio) as they were beingmade (and, incidentally, as Sotka at first falsely claimed to have done).

2. There was no second (or more) FBI agent(s) presentto observe the proceedings. JustSotka.

3. There was no visual sighting of thetarget (me) at any timeduring either “recording session.”

4. The originals (and first-generationcopies) were destroyedby Agent Sotka, never having been heard by anybody.

Tell me, just howobvious does it have to be in order to produce reasonable doubt at trial?Answer: That depends upon your lawyer and the degree of corruption involved(both topics for a future installment I call, “Thrown Under the Bus”).



JuriesLove a Man in Uniform

My jury, likevirtually all juries, accorded Agent Sotka’s testimony the same weight that all juries give to thetestimony of police and other agents of the government: They took it as gospel. Only onTV do juries manage to disbelieve government agents – trust me on this one,because I am a trial lawyer(I know how that sounds, but for once I don’t say it as a joke). Else, how doyou explain their verdict after hearing Agent Sotka’s startling admission?



But why would FBIAgent Sotka even participate in, let alone mastermind, a fraud like this? How do you think FBI agents get promoted?



The FBI hasmaintained a large task force in Northern Idaho since the days of RichardButler’s Aryan Nations (both of whom I represented at a very high-profile trialseveral years ago, don’t forget). That task force has had little to do. Howoften have you heard about structure fires surreptitiously being set by over-ambitiousfiremen with too much time on their hands?



Is ItMemorex or…?

Why was Sotka soquick to deny to mywife knowing who I was? Why was he so eager, the morning of my arrest, toassure me that the FBI was notout to get me? Is the fear of putting the lie to these two assertions thereason they won’t let us hear that thirdrecording?

After stallingCyndi for 10 days before allowing her to hear his “original” two recordings,why did Agent Sotka then tell her he couldn’t play the third tape for her becauseit “wasn’t yet ready?” It wasn’tready? Excuse me…isn’t this the same tape that one of the FBIagents shook beneath the nose of Dr. Banks shortly after my arrest, saying,“I’ve got everything we need right here?” Not “ready?” After ten days? What, exactly, neededto be done to that tape, such that it “wasn’t ready” ten days later for my wifeto hear?



Do you supposethat Agent Sotka hadn’t yet made his “original” from that tape, similar to thetwo “originals” (second-generation copies, by his own admission at trial) thatrequired ten days before theywere “ready” for Cyndi to hear? Was it, too, a “work in progress” at that time,as the other two recordings seem to have been, since they subtly changed eachtime my wife heard them?



SpeakNo Evil

It seems likelyto me that FBI Agent Sotka was in on the fraud, at a minimum. But the judgerefused to let us sayso, directly or through witnesses. He also refused to let us tell the jury,directly or through two of the leading forensic audiologists in the world, thatthe only evidenceagainst me was fabricated. Why?The judge also literally forbade my attorney from eliciting any testimony casting the FBIin a bad light.



Are you beginningto see how it is done? Spare me the blather about how I must be guilty, else how could12 jurors, good and true, saythat I was guilty? Easily.How do you think the Feds getthat 97% conviction rate of which they are so proud? Fair trial? Not evenclose, boys and girls. Not evenclose.



All MyTrials

Hope springseternal. Though wrongly convicted and sitting in a jail cell as I write this,while awaiting that same Federal trial judge to sentence me (to a mandatory minimum 50 years), I (naively?)hope to be granted a new trial on appeal – a trial that will be fair enough ( I have plans forensuring that ) to enable me to clear my name and walk free, then to spend mydeclining years in the arms of my beloved Cyndi, just as we first planned, 27years ago.



Previous:Too Good (Sex, Lies andAudiotape, Part VII) (http://www.free-edgar-steele.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/sex7_8-8-11__b.rtf)


Copyright©2011, Edgar J. Steele
Forwardas you wish. Permission is granted to circulate this article and its relatedaudio file among private individuals and groups, post on all Internet sites andpublish in full in all not-for-profit publications. Contact author