“The special master has ruled against me,” former ATF agent and whistleblower Jay Dobyns told supporters and followers of his case on his website. “In his eyes I failed in my attempt to prove that DOJ committed fraud upon the court during the trial of this lawsuit. I lost this battle.” . . .
Dobyns is the whistle-blowing agent who gained notice after infiltrating the Hells Angels and writing about his experiences in the New York Times bestseller, “No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner-Circle of the Hells Angels.” He has since been the subject of numerous reports focused on retaliation he has been subjected to for coming forward with information exposing official wrongdoing. He was also instrumental in providing background information on management personalities and practices involved in the Operation Fast and Furious “gunwalking” scandal.
The agent had sued ATF for failure to properly investigate an arson attack that destroyed his home and endangered his family, and for reneging on protection agreements over death threats he received after the bureau withdrew his cover identity following the Hells Angels case. In September, Senior Judge Francis M. Allegra of the United States Court of Federal Claims awarded Dobyns $173,000 and denied government royalty claims against Dobyns for his book, seemingly providing an end to a prolonged six-year ordeal. Until the government challenged that ruling in the 11th hour.
In a move surprising to many case-watchers, the judge then voided his own judgment, provoking speculation but no answers as to why. That became apparent after the judge alleged government lawyers had committed “fraud upon the court,” and called for a special master to be appointed to investigate documentation of witness intimidation withholding information from and lying to the court, and other misconduct by government attorneys.
That special master was Judge John M. Facciola. His order unsealing some, but not all, court documents related to the case, has now been posted.
“The documents will soon be available through the United States Court of Federal Claims; docket 1:08-cv-00700-FMA. For those who hold a Pacer account they will be published here:https://www.pacer.gov/psco/cgi-bin/courtinfo.pl?court=E_USFCC,” Dobyns advised. “What you are going to find are witness statements, investigative reports, DOJ’s insider emails, court filings, thousands of them.”
Unsurprisingly, to those watching this case, those documents as well as circumstances surrounding the case also produce many unanswered questions that raise serious concerns. Among them:
Why did the special master not follow specific instructions, instead focusing on a definition of ‘fraud’ so tight that its application was almost unattainable? Why did DOJ attorney Valerie Bacon pressing ATF not to reopen the arson investigation because it might interfere with the government’s defense not constitute actionable misconduct? Just because the investigation went forward in spite of that doesn’t mean government attorneys shouldn’t be held accountable.
Why did Department of Justice attorneys do nothing to notify the court of obstruction of justice allegations raised by Dobyns’ legal team? Why did they lie to the judge, claiming they knew nothing about it, including about threats made against a witness? Why is DOJ attorney Jeanne Davidson, called by Dobyns “the ringleader for the attorneys who were representing DOJ,” still up for federal judgeship confirmation (albeit it was put on hold), and what will the results of that nomination be now that documents have been unsealed?
Why did Facciola accept DOJ’s contention that because threats against the witness did not dissuade him from testifying, it was basically “no harm/no foul”?
Why has Judge Allegra now been removed from the case, and why has Court of Federal Claims Chief Judge Patricia E. Campbell-Smith – who smilingly presented Jeanne Davidson with an award – assigned the case to herself? Alternatively, Campbell-Smith has alluded to unspecified “health” reasons, and alternatively, without elaboration, because it was “necessary for the efficient administration of justice.”
“This case is mired in Gov. Corruption,” Vince Cefalu declared in response to that photograph, which he posted on CleanUpATF, the whistleblower website where the first allegations that the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry involved “walked” guns was made. Cefalu himself is a previously-promoted agent who ran afoul of management for objecting to illegal wiretapping. Escalating retaliation, including for his providing further evidence of management wrongdoing, resulted in his being illegally fired and then reinstated in a settlement that included $85,000 in damages, legal fees, and an expunging of adverse information from his record.
“So this Judge TAKES the case away from Allegra when he insists that Dobyns has a right to depose DOJ Attys,” Cefalu continued. “There is ample evidence that DOJ obstructed justice. Pray for my brother. Corruption prevails.”
There’s plenty more—the case is long and detailed, and can’t be adequately summarized in a column-length post. I and a few others have written about the case, seemingly exhaustively, over the years, but like the radio slogan goes, the hits just keep on coming.
That invariably results in no shortage of comments from readers demanding to know why any of “us” should care about what happens to an ATF agent, a guy who was part of that system. There’s no small amount of “hoist on his own petard” sentiment, and that’s from the polite critics.
Think of it this way – if the government can eat one of its own like this when he strays from the reservation, think what they can do to any of us. If the system does not provide for a fair trial for someone you don’t care about, how can it provide one for those you do care about? If a fair trial is impossible, that means checks and balances are gone. Piling on the guy fighting against that is not in the interests of anyone except the ones who would rig the system, and the ones who would take that as a green light for corruption and abuse.
“The appeal process will continue,” Dobyns advises. “Likely for several more years. Millions more of your dollars will be spent by DOJ in the process.”
And that, compared to the wider implications, seems the least of our worries.
The first social lesson we learn in primary school “They are NOT us”, just let that sink in. At this point anything government related is political and more of a social club than it is a system of just and fair governance.
It’s common knowledge now, the ATF hunts us, the NSA spies on us, the FBI corrals us, and the IRS dogs us. These aren’t systems of protection, they’re systems of control. I swear to god, I think the Northwest or a part of it goes independent in a decade or less.
Correction: they are systems of exploitation. Otherwise, you nailed it.
And the gun control crowd thinks we have no reason to be paranoid…
I believe most in leadership roles of the gun control crowd know we have a reason to be paranoid. They know we are right. But see, their goals have never been about gun control, it is about people control.
A note scrawled on a bathroom wall, long ago in Vietnam:
“Being paranoid doesn’t mean that’s not somebody out there trying to kill you.”
WOW! That is quite a cast of characters! I had to read it three times to get straight just exactly who was doing what to who. If you made a movie about this, folks would say it was unbelievable.
The government can’t let a whistle blower win. If they do, then others might come forward, so they want him dead, hence why his secret identity was pulled. The Hells Angels have a contract out on him to be sure, and they have infiltrators even in the FBI is you ask me, so his days are numbered. Pretty sad way to treat someone who risked his life for you too. This will also serve to the wise to never join the Feds.
While I tend to agree with your sentiment, Fedzilla will never improve if honorable people refuse to work for Fedzilla. Rather, we need honorable people to flood Fedzilla so we can root-out the bad apples.
You’re assuming that “Fedzilla” isn’t the corrupting factor in that equation.
Men of true character resist corruption, men of weak character succumb to it.
@WedelJ, Everyone is corruptible. DC has the time, patience, and experience to corrupt anyone. The only person I have seen resist the temptation (and I’m not convinced completely) is Ron Paul.
Reject those voices!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIOF5R-7rx8
“It’s not tyranny when WE do it.”
The legal system is every bit as corrupt at political system.
The Judicial branch did what Thomas Jefferson feared. They have become loyal to the leadership of a political party.
This sounds consistent with what I know of Thomas Jefferson but I have never actually come across it. Do you have a citation?
I’m not sure about Jefferson, however Washington said what amounts to the same thing in his farewell speech to the Congress after his second presidential term.
[W3]
The Judicial branch did what Thomas Jefferson feared. They have become loyal to the leadership of a political party. Patrick Henry had great fears of the Judicial branch being in collusion with the other branches of government and parties.
I’d say the great was common then, considering they did their best to design a government that would resist the phenomenon. It worked for a while. But an incompatible ideology deliberately infiltrated education, courts and I’m sure many other institutions.
They are one and the same.
“Reasonable Regulations” and “Due Process” … I call, “BS” … “We’re the government. We can do anything we want to you, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Mr. Dobyns,and others like him who have stood up to the government, are extremely fortunate that they aren’t “cooling their heels” in a federal prison, or dead.
[W3]
And the list of people that need the adornment of fowl plumage and scalding petroleum byproducts, whilst being carried on a timber beam, continues to grow.
The system has gotten too far away from it’s original design and scope. It will not be reduced on its own, or peacefully allow it to happen. We will either continue on this path until it’s literally too late, or put a stop to it. But I fear it will soon (meaning several years, if not already) be too late, and the only thing to do will be to wait many generations for it to collapse in on itself.
I now blame AG Loretta Lynch for allowing this to continue. If she is aware of the corruption in her department and turns a blind eye she is corrupt. If she is unaware she is incompetent. This case was brought directly to her attention during her confirmation hearing. What has she done? Nothing. You be the judge.
Too late to work within the system, too late…well, you know the rest.
So will people stop buying cuckstamps for $200 so they can emulate their jackbooted thug heroes?
The bigger scum POS hells angels or ATF/DOJ? hard to chose just one.
I read that guys book; not a very good book, in my opinion. He never really got them on anything worse than selling speed and a few guns at the cost of several million of taxpayers money. The angels did not seem like nice guys, but they just fight amongst themselves. Not worthy of that much investment
Whistleblower and traitor are the same words to this government. So are “public servant” and “above the law”. There has been no hope of any sort of justice ever since the Bates v. State Bar of Arizona decision. It was that single decision that made the turn of law from an honorable profession to a lapdog of the powerful into an unalterable course toward the eventual catastrophe that we’ve been slowly wading into. Justice, in the sense of government establishing a system of rights and additional systems by which those rights are not violated, died a long time ago. Representative constitutional democracy died a long time ago and it’s questionable as to whether it ever really existed. When everyone in the country realizes that we are not free and haven’t been for a long time the balloon will go up and the people as a whole will finally be able to and forced to decide who to water the tree of liberty with or if they even want that tree watered anymore.
It is possible and something that the freedom loving amongst us must come to terms with that we are in the minority and actual freedom isn’t what most Americans want anymore. If the majority just want lattes and mcjobs and ugg boots and Michael Bay movies then we’re going to have to made a choice about where and if we live. If you think existing solely as a consumer or retail goods and services and having the ability to exert your power only through that medium then by all means you belong in such a society. I do not desire that model for my life. It too closely resembles what Orwell spent a lot of time writing about.
The Huxlian begets the Orwellian.
The ATF crooks are punishing someone for helping to point out the crimes of their regime.
Fast and Furious was designed explicitly to let US guns into Mexico, blame lax gun laws in the US, and justify stricter gun laws. It back fired of course. However for all of those who doesn’t care about this agent because he is “one of them” just remember he tried to expose Obama’s little charade and is suffering for it. He is, in a manner of speaking, one of us.
I have found out that there is a congressional investigation into the ATF and DOJ treatment and protection of minority witnesses that has been underway for over 4 and half years! Shit is about to get real people! FAST!!!!!!!