The indictment alleged Reid lied to a Seattle federal grand jury about statements purportedly made to her by an individual identified in court papers as “Suspect #1” — a man federal agents say bragged to Reid about being involved in Wales’ death.
According to court documents and law enforcement sources, Suspect #1 is an acquaintance of the individual believed to have killed Wales on contract, and Suspect #1 is believed to have acted as a lookout while the job was done.
During her appearance before the grand jury on Feb. 28, 2018, Reid claimed the government lawyers laid a “perjury trap” — tricking her into telling a lie — so they could indict her, with the goal of pressuring her to give more information about Suspect #1 and others. Her attorney, Nance, has said it was a dry well and that Reid had no firsthand knowledge of the crime or those involved in it.
Wales, a white-collar prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle, was shot to death in the basement of his Queen Anne Hill home on Oct. 11, 2001.
Mike Carter
Seattle Times Reporter
August 23, 2021
Woman accused of lying in unsolved Thomas Wales slaying case pleads guilty to misdemeanor
[I sort of marvel at the effort put into this case. As near as I can tell the FBI has been working on this full time for just short of 20 years. At this point it appears they are willing to violate the rights of innocent people in order to give indicators they are making progress. They brought in “special” prosecutors with questionable (at best) ethical standards (from the quoted article):
Earlier this month, Robart reprimanded and chastised the special prosecutors out of Washington, D.C., brought in to handle the case, for “carelessness” by failing to turn over evidence to the defense.
The apparently innocent person in this case, Reid, was ensnared in the “perjury trap” and then threatened with a lengthy prison sentence:
Reid was indicted on charges of lying to a grand jury and obstruction of justice. A conviction could have sent her to prison for up to five years.
She traded a guilty plea for:
U.S. District Judge James Robart sentenced Shawna Reid to time served — a total of nine days in custody since she was indicted in 2019 — with no additional supervised release, plus a $25 fine.
Can you imagine the FBI having a team work full time for 20 years to solve the murder of an ordinary citizen and withholding evidence from the defense to acquire a conviction? I can’t. This must mean the “King’s Men” are considered very special.—Joe]
That reminds me of the jury verdict that concludes Leon Uris’s novel “QB VII”.
Having not read the novel, even though you mentioned it once before I purchased the audible version and listened to it this week.
It is a good book. But I don’t recommend reading it and Ordinary Men one after the other. I had one book between them and that was still too close for me.
He probably deserved it, I didn’t do it, and you can’t prove a thing.
No; just as likely the guy wouldn’t tow the line on some false narrative, or was getting too close to some corruption ring, and so the feds had to off him and then pretend to be looking for “the real killer” so as to distract attention.
Regardless, the truth will eventually come out, one way or another..
You know, just as when your gun starts jamming you should look at the magazine as the statistically likely cause, when a fed prosecutor ends up dead under suspicious circumstances, look at the Clintons.
Well, at least we have a timeline on the Durham investigation now. With probable penalties for offenders in the same range!
As I recall, the prosecutors and media were really hoping that some “right wing gun nut” would be the prime suspect, since Wales was making a lot of waves as an anti-gunner at that time.
For some reason, my mind flashes to Leland Yee, ‘anti-gunner’ who was arranging illegal arms deals into California.
Could Wales have been involved in something similar? Or — and let’s not set this thought aside — he might’ve been an honest (if stupid) true believer pursuing a lead on such and become inconvenient, thus becoming a target.
I was a new resident of Seattle and an equally new member of the MSFT Gun Club at that time.
I remember Dave Workman commenting on Wales’ death, saying that he was a lot more useful to the gun rights movement as a live person than a deceased one; supposedly he just couldn’t keep his cool during debates and hearings, but got heated and made himself and his cause look foolish.
I have sympathy for his family.