FBI Agent Is Free Despite Jail Order : Courts: The decree is intended to speed an appeal of a contempt ruling against Richard Boeh, who is investigating a police shooting.

A federal judge ordered an FBI agent who refused to testify in a civil case involving a police shooting to be jailed Thursday, but then allowed the agent to remain free pending an appeal.

The jail order was a technical maneuver needed to speed federal prosecutors’ appeal of a contempt order that U.S. District Judge J. Spencer Letts issued against FBI Agent Richard Boeh last week.

Boeh has been investigating a Los Angeles police shooting that occurred after a holdup in Sunland in 1990. He refused Letts’ order to testify about the investigation in a trial of a lawsuit filed against the police by the families of three robbers who were killed by officers and a fourth who survived gunshot wounds.

In following the instructions of U.S. Justice Department attorneys, Boeh also refused an order to discuss the case in chambers with the judge.

After Letts held the agent in contempt, government attorneys filed an emergency appeal. But the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected it Wednesday, ruling that there was no emergency because Letts had taken no punitive action against the agent.

Letts apparently sought to rectify that Thursday in a closed hearing by ordering Boeh jailed. But he also agreed to Assistant U.S. Atty. Sean Berry’s request that the agent be freed on his own recognizance--without bail and with a promise that he would appear for court hearings on the matter.

After the 30-minute hearing, Boeh left the judge’s chambers and went back to work while the U.S. attorney’s office quickly filed a new emergency appeal.

The jury trial of the lawsuit has been in recess since the contempt order was issued, prompting the need for a quick review by the appeals court.

Boeh was not fingerprinted, photographed or booked into a jail cell, U.S. Marshal Craig L. Meacham said. In fact, he was out of the courthouse before the marshal’s office was informed of the judge’s ruling, Meacham said.

The marshal said allowing the agent to avoid the booking process was routine for individuals freed on their own recognizance after an appearance in court. He said he consulted Letts’ office, and Berry and will only “process” the agent if Letts specifically orders it.

Stephen Yagman, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said Meacham’s decision not to book the FBI agent showed favoritism. He said the decision could also cause the appeals court to again reject the case because no real sanction was taken against Boeh.

“There is no question that Mr. Boeh’s status as an FBI agent has caused the marshal’s office to violate its own procedures,” Yagman said. “It is Mr. Meacham taking care of his cousin, the FBI agent. It’s an outrage. It is not routine for someone not to be booked.”

The U.S. attorney’s office declined comment.

The order to jail Boeh was unusual and significant, said Yagman, who subpoenaed Boeh to testify, thus triggering the showdown between Letts and government attorneys.

Yagman wants Boeh to testify in the trial because he believes the agent has information supporting the $10-million lawsuit’s contention that the four robbers were unarmed and that members of the police Special Investigations Section opened fire without reason. The police have said they fired when the robbers pointed weapons at them.

“The citizenry of this country ought to be shocked by this,” Yagman said of Letts’ order on Thursday. “The federal government is trying its best to protect brutal and corrupt police.”

Though Yagman said he believed it was the first time an FBI agent has ever been ordered jailed for refusing a judge’s order to testify, a spokesman for the bureau in Washington said Letts’ order was not unprecedented. However, the spokesman could not provide information about any other case where an agent was ordered jailed for a similar reason.