4/16 Judi Bari/FBI trial

A juror was two and a half hours late Tuesday morning (reason given: a flat tire), and things got off to a strained start as Judge Claudia Wilken adjured the attorneys to keep their questions to the point and told them "not to repeat anything".

Plaintiffs' lead attorney Dennis Cunningham began, continuing the questioning of Sgt. Michael Sitterud, Oakland Police Dept., Homicide Division, chief investigator for Oakland at the bomb scene. Sitterud at one point responded to questions about a report, filed at the time of the bombing, which referred to a "booby trap", by saying "I am amazed. I thought all this time it was 'possession of an explosive device'."

Sitterud responded to most questions with "No" or "I don't believe you're correct"

Sitterud said he is an environmentalist, "Yes, I 'm very concerned with the environment". When asked if he would join Earth First! he said that "No, my ethics would not allow me to do any of the violations that they are involved in."

The judge rebuked plaintiff's attorney Dennis Cunningham for trying to ask a question about the Oakland Police and FBI's history of persecuting political groups. Judge Wilken had ruled this area out of bounds, saying that this is not a lawsuit against the FBI as an institution but against individual officers and agents.

Another dramatic moment occurred when the City of Oakland's attorney, Maria Bee, stepped into other territory that had been limited by Judge Wilken. Ms. Bee and Sgt. Sitterud brought out that a (plastic) pipe had been found when agents searched Darryl Cherney's van after the bombing. Plaintiff's co-counsel Bob Bloom jumped to his feet and said "This testimony has just put before the court information that is misleading and improper", saying that it was in violation of an evidence limiting ruling by the judge, which had classified this topic as 'irrelevant'.

Sgt. Robert Chenault's questioning was conducted by attorney Bob Bloom. The first point Bloom made was when he asked Sgt. Chenault whether he had testified in court before, and used Chenault's answer "hundreds of times" to inform the jury that Sgt. Chenault's practice of turning to and addressing the jury (with a sincere expression) was something he had been taught. As Sgt. Chenault said, "It is the way I was trained to address the jury when I testify in court."

Some of the answers Chenault gave while being questioned:

"No, we don't keep files on people who are exercising their First Amendment rights."
"No, we don't keep files on political groups."

He said that nobody in the investigation, as far as he knew, ever talked to Judi Bari's doctor to find out what the doctor could tell them about where the bomb was.

On Wednesday, Chenault's testimony will be concluded, and the jurors may leave the courtroom to get a look at the bombed-out car itself.