Innocent, agent says in lying case

Unreported FBI shots cited in fatal refugee-standoff shooting

PORTLAND, Ore. — An FBI agent pleaded innocent on Wednesday to charges that he lied about shooting at a key figure in last year’s armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge just before the man was killed by Oregon police.

W. Joseph Astarita was indicted on five felony charges after the inspector general of the U.S. Justice Department last year began investigating possible FBI misconduct and whether there was a cover-up.

He said nothing during a brief court hearing and was released on his own recognizance, declining to comment as he left.

Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, a spokesman for the group that took over the remote bird sanctuary to oppose federal control of land in the western U.S., was fatally shot Jan. 26, 2016. Oregon State Police opened fire after he got out of a vehicle at a police roadblock and reached toward a handgun in an inner jacket pocket.

Investigators determined that the troopers were justified in shooting Finicum but also found members of an FBI hostage rescue team at the scene failed to disclose that they fired two rounds that missed the Arizona rancher.

“The actions of the FBI [hostage rescue team] in this case damage the integrity of the entire law enforcement profession, which makes me both disappointed and angry,” said Deschutes County Sheriff Shane Nelson, whose agency investigated Finicum’s shooting.

Oregon U.S. Attorney Billy Williams would neither confirm nor deny that up to four additional members of the FBI team are under investigation for making false statements.

Asked why Astarita may have lied, Williams said, “I suspect that question will be answered in court.”

The FBI spokesman in Portland, Jennifer Adams, referred questions to headquarters in Washington, D.C., which did not return messages seeking comment.

A grand jury indicted Astarita on making false statements to his FBI supervisors just after the shooting and obstruction of justice for misleading the Oregon State Police.

A one-week jury trial is set for Aug. 29.

Finicum’s widow, Jeanette Finicum, has said she plans to sue the Oregon State Police and the FBI, alleging the use of excessive force in her husband’s death. Nobody answered a call to her number Wednesday, and her lawyer, Brian Claypool, did not return a message seeking comment.

Dozens of people, including leader Ammon Bundy, occupied the remote Malheur National Wildlife Refuge about 290 miles southeast of Portland, from Jan. 2 to Feb. 11, 2016.

Authorities moved in Jan. 26 when key standoff leaders left the refuge to attend a community meeting, pulling over two vehicles and arresting the occupiers inside.

Finicum, 54, was driving one of the vehicles. Video taken by one of his passengers showed the occupants panicking after authorities stopped the truck.

Finicum then sped off. He was driving more than 70 mph when the truck came to a roadblock and plowed into a snowbank.

Authorities say the FBI agent fired two errant shots as Finicum left the truck. As Finicum stood in the snow, authorities told him to lie on the ground. Instead, he reached toward his jacket, leading state troopers to fire three rounds, all of which hit him.

Most occupiers left the refuge after Finicum’s death, though four holdouts stayed an additional 16 days.

Federal prosecutors tried to convict occupation leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy and five others in a trial last fall but jurors acquitted them of charges of conspiring to impede federal workers from their jobs.

Jurors convicted four men in a second trial. An additional 14 people pleaded guilty without going to trial.