Jury Can Hear Furrow’s Confession, Judge Rules

His federal trial is months away, but it now appears that jurors will be able to hear Buford O. Furrow Jr.’s confession. It was given to the FBI in Las Vegas the day after the avowed white supremacist allegedly shot up a Jewish community center and gunned down a Filipino American letter carrier.

The statement is lengthy--15 pages, typed single space--and its contents are largely unknown. But it provides detailed insight into his actions and state of mind at the time of the hate-fueled rampage, according to lawyers who argued Monday in U.S. District Court over whether it should be used at his trial.

Furrow, 38, is accused in a 16-count indictment of murder, hate crimes, civil rights violations and gun law offenses in connection with shootings that wounded five people, most of them children and teenagers, at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills on Aug. 10, 1999.

He also is accused of murdering a uniformed federal employee and faces the death penalty if convicted.

Furrow was not in court. He has waived his right to attend pretrial hearings and has not appeared since his arraignment last year.

One of his lawyers, Marilyn Bednarski, argued that federal agents spent hours talking with Furrow after he walked into the Las Vegas office carrying only a wallet and four bottles of pills. The agents continued to question him, she said, after they learned the medication had been prescribed for mental health problems, and that he had spent time in a psychiatric hospital.

Federal prosecutors pointed out that Furrow walked into the FBI offices on his own accord, identified himself as the person authorities were seeking and said to agents that he knew what he was doing at all times.

Furrow allegedly told the FBI he targeted children at the community center and wanted to kill Jews as “a wake-up call to America.” He allegedly said he later opened fire on postal worker Joseph S. Ileto because his skin was brown and he wore a government uniform.

U.S. District Court Judge Nora Manella told Furrow’s federal public defenders that she was denying their motion to suppress the statement, adding that she might reconsider if they can show that Furrow’s mental state was addled when he gave the statement. But she warned that proving Furrow was too mentally impaired to knowingly give up his rights would be an uphill battle.

For now, Manella said she was satisfied with the government’s showing that Furrow spoke voluntarily. Federal prosecutors said agents advised him of his rights, line by line. They produced documents on which Furrow signed off on his rights to remain silent and consult a lawyer.

Manella also said she had found that the government has not abused the grand jury process. The defense alleged that government prosecutors had subpoenaed 43 of Furrow’s friends, relatives, employers and acquaintances to fish for evidence to use in seeking his execution.

Manella found, however, that government inquiries into Furrow’s past, his use of medication, his expressions of hatred toward minorities and his relationship with his former wife and stepson were appropriate to provide insight into his state of mind and whether he acted alone or in concert with other hatemongers.

Furrow’s defense won a small victory as half a dozen pretrial motions were argued and decided Monday.

Manella said she was inclined to exclude threats Furrow allegedly made to prison psychologist Maureen Burris. According to court papers, Furrow told Burris that he “could not rest” until he killed a Latino inmate, saying the inmate was Satan and that he had been ordered by God to kill him.

The judge reasoned that Furrow’s rights may have been “offended” because the psychologist initiated the talk by visiting Furrow’s cell, and the defendant may not have been fully aware that he didn’t have to speak with her.

But the judge said she would not block several threatening notes and letters Furrow has written. One, slipped to a guard through the food slot of his cell, was addressed to the psychologist and “on up the line to Washington, D.C. (J. Reno)”

The defense argued that the psychologist and employees at the Metropolitan Detention Center, where Furrow is being held, had been enlisted to spy on him for the government.

But Manella noted that the prison guards were just doing their jobs, adding, “There’s something almost comical about the defendant complaining about the U.S. Justice Department opening mail addressed to Janet Reno.”

Furrow also allegedly has told a guard that he “felt like killing his lawyers,” and wrote what his defense calls a “bizarre” note threatening to kill the Latino inmate who works as an orderly at his high security unit.

In the note, found in the pocket of Furrow’s jailhouse jumpsuit, the defendant had written 129 times: “You must kill Lopez and all his protecting angels.” The number 129 was derived by assigning numerical values to the letters in Lopez’s name and in the name “Satan,” according to court papers.

The defense must inform the court by Sept. 29 of any plans to use an insanity or mental health defense. Furrow’s trial is scheduled to begin in February.