The FBI wants to stop a videotape interview with convicted Oklahoma City federal building bombing conspirator Terry Nichols to maintain privacy and security.
Let’s repeat.
The FBI is concerned about the potential invasion of privacy posed by an interview with a man serving a life sentence for his part in the worst domestic terrorism act in American history.
OK, just checking.
In his pursuit of uncovering what he believes is the truth concerning the death of his brother, Utah attorney Jesse Trentadue has been granted permission to interview Nichols at the federal prison in Denver where Nichols is housed. Trentadue’s brother, Kenneth, died at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City a few months after the bombing. Trentadue believes Kenneth was killed by prison authorities during an interrogation because they believed he was involved in the bombing.
An official report determined the cause of death was suicide.
A federal judge granted Trentadue permission to question Nichols and videotape the interview.
But, as reported in The Oklahoman, the FBI has a privacy concern.
“In this case, the (Bureau of Prisons) has determined that allowing recording equipment onto the institutions’ grounds and into the institutions where these individuals are confined “¦ is detrimental to the order and security of the prisons and may violate the privacy of others,” FBI attorneys argued in a legal brief.
It seems pretty safe to say the FBI knows where Nichols lives these days, since it helped put him there, and knows that Nichols’ living quarters are not exactly monastic. When most people think of prisons, privacy is not a term that comes to mind.
This article appears in Nov 7-13, 2007.