Here is a case in which a police officer who was patrolling a highway found a pipe bomb in the ditch. He notified his chief and the highway was shut down. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents responded and detonated the bomb. The next day the officer took some additional ATF agents to the scene to show them where he had found the bomb. To their amazement, there was another pipe bomb in the ditch. Since the area had been searched the previous day it was believed that someone had planted the second bomb that very night.
As the investigation progressed, it was soon believed that the officer had planted the bombs for the notoriety. He was charged and went to trial in federal court. Unlike most defendants, this officer took the stand and testified in his own defense. In his testimony, he unknowingly admitted to planting these pipe bombs.
See if you can find his admissions in these two Q & A's. The first one is easy and occurs when his own attorney questions him. The second one occurs when the prosecutor cross exams him and will require you to pay close attention to every word he says.
Direct examination by his defense counsel
Q: "After you get out of the car March 25th and walk to it, what happened?"
A: "I back tracked and then as I was coming up towards the ditch I walked a little farther down, so I could come up around, as I came up on the ditch I was looking down on, it sort of sloped down and I noticed something shiny. So I stopped and it was a little, it wasn’t very level, so I braced myself, and I leaned down and I could just see a top part of, well, I just saw one part, I wasn’t sure if it was a top part or whatever, so I reached down and I grabbed it, and then when I stood up and I looked closer at it, I realized what I had picked up."
Q: "What did you believe you had picked up?"
A: "I knew it to be a pipe bomb."
Q: "Had you had prior training at all?"
A: " In?"
Q: "In pipe bombs, devices, anything like that?"
A: "We had a little bit when we went to the police academy. "
Q: "When you originally saw it could you tell any characteristics about it, battery, mercury switch, wires, anything like that?"
A: " No, I believed what I had originally seen was just the end cap."
Q: " You’ve got this in your hand, obviously, it didn’t go off?
A: " No sir."
Q: " Did it make any noise or did you see any smoke or anything like that?
A: " I didn’t remember hearing anything."
Q: " What happened after you got it in your hand? Do you remember first of all do you remember what hand you had it in?"
A: " I picked it up with my right hand and then when I had it I had it with both hands. "
Q: " How far was it from where you picked it up until you had it in your hands? Distance did the device travel?"
A: " I’d say, I’d probably leaned down over about a foot and then when I picked up natural ground until I stood up I’d say about three feet."
