Edgar Steele's trial has been postponed until March 7. That’s four months of delay, for no apparent reason that anyone can determine. Obviously, the U.S. Attorney wants to avoid a public trial because they now have virtually no evidence except for the so-called tapes of Steele soliciting Larry Fairfax to kill his wife and mother in law, and of course there’s Fairfax himself, who is by now so completely discredited by his own behavior that I suspect the feds don’t dare produce him in a courtroom and on the record. My guess is they want the extra four months to bring more pressure on Ed Steele to cop to a plea, to publicly admit that something happened, anything, so as to let the FBI off the hook. Be interesting to see what kind of a deal they offer him, if we’re ever allowed to learn.Of course, it also gives them another four months wherein Steele’s terrible health might kick in and solve the whole problem for them, with or without a little encouragement from the prison doctor. Bear in mind that 11 months ago Steele underwent very serious open heart surgery and his health has to be pretty precarious. That’s not something you just get up and walk away from. Anybody remember what happened to Jim McDougal in federal custody back in 1998, when it looked like he might break and his testimony before Ken Starr might have embarrassed Billyboy?
That will mean that by the time he comes to trial—if he ever does come to trial—Edgar Steele will have been in prison for nine months for a crime which it is becoming more and more clear every day he did not commit. I won’t even bother to ask what happened to the Constitutional guarantee of a speedy trial; we’re dealing with the government of the United States here, and they are allowed to ignore any and all sections of the Constitution as it pleases them.
The second item of news is that the federal judge has modified the no-contact order against Steele and his wife Cyndi, his alleged victim. Well, sort of. Edgar Steele and Cyndi Steele are now allowed to meet once a week in the Spokane County Jail, but they are not allowed to touch, they are not allowed to exchange any written notes or documents, and they are not allowed to say anything at all about the case.
Steele’s court-appointed attorney must present at all times and he is under court order to immediately suspend the meeting and have Steele hustled back to his cell if he doesn’t like anything either husband or wife says. Finally, all of these meetings are to be recorded and by order of the judge, the recording of each meeting is to be gone over with a fine toothed comb in order to make sure that Cyndi and Edgar are not communicating in some kind of secret code. No, I am not making this up.
I’m sorry if this seems to be rocking the boat at a time when Ed Steele needs all the support he can get, but I’m sorry, I simply don’t believe that a man who is being paid by the very court system and the very government that has initiated this whole grotesque farce and is clearly determined to destroy this man out of what appears to be nothing more or less than sheer vindictive malice, is capable of representing Steele with the kind of single-minded and complete zeal which any attorney is supposed to devote to his client’s interest.
The fact that the judge appointed Steele’s own ostensible attorney as the watchdog over these horrible government-supervised meetings tells the story, I think, as well as the fact that the judge assumes that this man who is supposed to be on Steele’s side will enforce this atrocity without question. I have a really creepy vision in my mind as to what these meetings will be like. What the hell are husband and wife supposed to talk about in a situation like that? The weather?
