Oregon Standoff Judge Wants to Hear More on Allegations of FBI Misconduct

The federal judge overseeing the trial of 26 people charged in connection with the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge says that charges by one defense attorney that the FBI acted improperly deserves further examination.

Judge Anna Brown ordered prosecutors to respond to issues raised by Per Olson, who represents David Fry.

Fry was the last of the holdouts to surrender.

As Fry's surrender was being negotiated, Olson communicated - through the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Federal Public Defender's Office that he was Fry's lawyer, he was invoking Fry's right against self-incrimination, and that he was waiting to speak to his client.

"Please pass on to the agents that I'm invoking on his behalf his right of counsel and his right against self-incrimination," he emailed one of the prosecutors.

It's not clear if any of the messages were ever passed on to the FBI agents who interrogated Fry during the drive to Portland.

According to court papers filed by Olson, nowhere during an audio recording of the interrogation is Fry ever informed that he has a lawyer and that the lawyer had asked that Fry not be questioned.

"It is a matter of public record that, at the time of his arrest, Mr. Fry was in a particularly vulnerable state of mind," Olson wrote. "He thought about to taking his own life out of a fear that he would be sexually assaulted in custody.

"It will be defendant’s contention that the government should not have taken unfair advantage of the trust defendant had placed in the agents in his vulnerable state of mind by interrogating him in disregard of his counsel’s invocations."

The FBI is already the focus of criticism for behavior related to the standoff.

There is an ongoing investigation into the actions of agents suspected of lying to coverup that one of their colleagues fired shots the day LaVoy Finicum was shot and killed in a traffic stop that resulted in the arrest of Ammon Bundy and others.

Olson is asking that Judge Brown order the prosecutors turn over "text messages, emails, and notes or memoranda of phone conversations occurring between AUSA Ethan Knight, Special Agent Sean Hamblet, Special Agent Eric Thompson, and Special Agent Audrey (Last Name Unknown)."

Prosecutors argued it was not necessary because they have no plans to use those statements against Fry at trial.

Judge Brown ordered them to file a more detailed response by next Wednesday and will schedule a hearing after that.