An FBI agent has been indicted for lying about the shooting of one of the right-wing protesters who occupied a federal building in Oregon.
The agent, W. Joseph Astarita, faces charges of obstruction of justice and giving a false statement about not firing shots at Robert “LaVoy” Finicum. Astarita plead not guilty to these charges in court on Wednesday.
The incident in question occurred early on in 2016 when FBI agents and Oregon State Police attempted to arrest some of the Oregon protesters as they were heading to a community meeting. Finicum fled from law enforcement in his truck and when the truck crashed, Finicum emerged and appeared to reach for a gun in his pocket, prompting state troopers to fatally shoot him. The rest of the Oregon protesters were arrested peacefully.
While an investigation concluded that the gunshots toward Finicum were justified, investigators were unable to account for two gunshots that missed Finicum, one of which had struck his truck. Now, Astarita is being indicted for failing to report that he had fired those two shots and lying to investigators about it. Four other agents are under investigation for covering up Astarita’s gunshots, although it is unknown if they will face any charges.
FBI veteran Michael German told The Oregonian, “Here you have one of the best trained units in the FBI. They’re only supposed to shoot when there’s an active threat. You would hope they would be accurate in doing so.”
Finicum’s attorney, Brian Claypool, told The Oregonian that they applauded the decision and would be filing a lawsuit claiming that “excessive force” was used against Finicum.
“Nobody is above the law,” Claypool said. “The fact that the U.S. Department of Justice stepped in and investigated one of their own and said, ‘You can’t obstruct justice, you’re not above the law’ sends a very positive message. This is about upholding public trust and preserving the integrity of any investigation involving a death at the hands of law enforcement.”
What happened in Oregon began when the federal government attempted to harass the Hammond family off their land, prompting Ammon Bundy and seven others to occupy a federal building to protest the federal government. Bundy and the other members were acquitted after Bundy gave an impassioned defense against government overreach.
This article has been modified to state that Finicum was fatally shot by state troopers.