There is a very disturbing development in the Edgar Steele case. On April the 20 and 21, a pre-trial hearing was held in Boise to determine whether or not the defense will be allowed to present audio experts who claim that audio tapes, or I should say digital recordings, I use the term tapes out of old ingrained habit—anyway, the sound recordings in which Edgar Steele supposedly tries to hire Larry Fairfax as a hit man, were forgeries.This thing is called a Daubert hearing under Federal Rule 702, and it was specifically a hearing to determine whether the expert witnesses for the defense would be admissible in court during Edgar Steele’s upcoming trial. Two expert witnesses for the defense who have analyzed the audio tapes the prosecution is using to indict Edgar Steele were examined for their credentials so the judge can decide if their evidence will be deemed admissible during the trial.
The first expert witness is George Papcun, PhD. His web site has a list of his credentials. The judge ruled that, while his credentials qualified him as an expert, his analysis of the tapes was not relevant because no evidence from the defense had been presented that raised any suspicion that the tapes had been altered, which is simply absurd. In other words, the defense would have to sneak into the Federal Building in Spokane or Coeur d’Alene and secret videotape FBI agents messing with the tapes before they can claim that the tapes were altered.
In other words, an expert’s opinion that the sound tracks were altered is not relevant because the defense has presented no evidence that the sound tracks were altered. Well, isn’t that what Doctor Papcun’s testimony was supposed to indicate? We’re looking at Catch 22 here. It sounds like Monthy Python is writing the script.
The second expert witness was a man named Dennis Walsh. The judge ruled that Mr. Walsh did not have the necessary credentials to testify. What Mr. Walsh has discovered during his analysis is that there are 351 electronic transients in the audiotapes of June 9 and June 10. These “transients” show places on the tapes where there have been alterations or editing, with obvious quality of sound changes, etc.
Although the prosecution brought forth their own expert witnesses regarding the audiotapes, it will not be necessary to use them at trial since, after today’s ruling, the jury will hear the audio tapes and there will be NO questioning as to their authenticity.
In other words, this is a completely politically motivated case, and the fix is in. The trial is supposed to begin today, April 26, so we’ll see what happens, but I have to admit that since Steele will not be allowed to introduce a defense, it doesn’t look good. It’s kind of hard to avoid conviction when the judge decides the accused won’t be allowed to present a defense.
You know, I really wonder sometimes, what exactly did Edgar Steele do in order to piss somebody in the Federal government off like this? Some people have suggested that this whole thing is a hoax perpetrated by that big land developer up in the Idaho panhandle, Tim, Tom something, what’s-his-name, to cleanse his private little kingdom up there of wicked racists so the developers can go hog wild and turn all of North Idaho into a condo and mansion-filled paradise fit for liberal yuppies. Other people claim that Steele got onto our nigger attorney general Eric Holder’s personal shit list when he defended the Aryan Nations all those years ago. Still more claim that a book Steele was about to publish on the world sex slave trade, which is run by Israeli Jews, got the Israeli mob pissed off at him?
Who knows? But when the judge simply will not allow the authenticity of FBI evidence to be questioned, that pretty much tells the story. We’ll see how the trial plays out, but I have to admit that in view of this latest ruling, it doesn’t look good.
