U.S. Justice Dept. Appeal Denied on Technicality
The U.S. Justice Department’s emergency appeal of a contempt order against an FBI agent who refused to testify in a civil rights trial about a Los Angeles police shooting was denied Wednesday on an unusual technicality--the judge did not punish the agent for not testifying.
The ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sets the stage for the possible fining or jailing of FBI Agent Richard Boeh today because the appeals court can only review Judge J. Spencer Letts’ contempt ruling after Boeh receives some sort of punishment from the judge.
Letts ordered Boeh to testify a week ago about his investigation of the Feb. 12, 1990, police shooting by the Special Investigations Section that left three robbers dead and a fourth wounded after a holdup at a McDonald’s restaurant in Sunland.
Boeh has been investigating the shooting for a year and apparently has supplied information to a federal grand jury, according to documents filed in the case. The federal government sought to block his testimony on the grounds that it would violate rules of secrecy governing grand jury testimony.
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