O’Connor is the author of "The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal" and will appear in Philadelphia on Wednesday, June 25, 7pm, at The A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Avenue. (Parking nearby and also accessible via the #34 Trolley)
O'Connor will speak about "The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal" and sign copies of his new book for the audience. This event is a fundraiser for Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal, currently raising money to print the next issue of our newspaper, to be released on July 4. There will be books available for purchase, from which all proceeds will go towards the fundraiser. For more information, please visit Abu-Jamal-News.com.
The Philadelphia event will conclude O’Connor’s East Coast tour, which will begin on June 23 with a two-hour appearance on WPFW, Wash DC’s Pacifica radio station on the “Jazz and Justice” show, guest hosted by Todd S. Burroughs, from 1-3pm, where folks can listen live or via the website’s archive at wpfw.org.
O'Connor will then be speaking in New York City on June 23, 7-9pm, at Baruch College, more info: http://www.thejerichomovement.com/events4.html
…and on June 24, 2008 6pm @ the Brecht Forum, 451 West Street (btw. Bank & Bethune), see FreeMumia.com for more information.
The Kansas City Firefighters Case: The Framing of Five Innocent People
By J. Patrick O’Connor
(author of “The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal)
The investigation into the explosion that killed six Kansas City firefighters on November 29, 1988, had the federal government running for more than six years in one direction – toward organized labor – while local police were chasing down rumors that implicated a wide array of ne’er-do-wells from Marlborough, the impoverished southeast Kansas City neighborhood adjacent to the construction site where the explosions occurred. For reasons the police or the ATF have ever explained, they chose to ignore the mountain of evidence that pointed directly to the involvement of Deborah and Robert Riggs – the two security guards on duty at the construction site the night of the explosion – in the crime.
By 1994 both teams of investigators had come to such dead ends that, for all intents and purposes, the investigation was over. The killers had escaped the wide net; the most horrific unsolved crime in Kansas City history would remain unsolved.
At this juncture, the local ATF office and the KCPD decided to join forces and conduct one investigation. To accommodate the ATF, the KCPD agreed to replace its Crime Against Persons investigative team with detectives from its Bombs and Arson unit. This switch would put ATF Special Agent Dave True in firm, out-of-control control.
True, nearing retirement but not wanting to retire with the biggest case of his career still unsolved, had steadfastly maintained that organized labor was responsible for the explosions. As late as February of 1995 he said on the TV program “Unsolved Mysteries” that the fire and explosion were consistent with previous acts by organized labor in the year preceding the explosions.
Toward the end of 1994, the investigation got the jump start it had been seeking after True announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for causing the explosion that killed the firefighters. The reward was posted in all Missouri and Kansas prisons and jails, on a number of overpasses, and was widely reported in the news media. Between 60 and 70 convicts in Missouri and Kansas contacted the ATF in response to the award offer. One of the neighborhood callers told True that Richard Brown had admitted being involved in the explosions. True testified at trial that this call “was a starting point for investigating the Marlborough area.”
Although no two of the informants who surfaced would ever tell the same story, much less name the same cast of perpetrators, True eventually focused the investigation on five Marlborough neighborhood residents with shady pasts – four Native Americans: Richard Brown, Bryan Sheppard, Frank and Skip Sheppard, and Frank Sheppard’s girlfriend, Darlene Edwards. True then used entrapment, deception and intimidation in an effort to turn each of the suspects against one or more of the others.
In early 1995, True also orchestrated coverage of the Firefighters Case on the TV series “Unsolved Mysteries.” Two days before the segment aired, The Kansas City Star ran a front-page story that quoted Richard Cook, the ATF agent in charge of the Kansas City office, as saying, “We’ve identified some individuals we believe are at least connected to the fire.”
The day after the “Unsolved Mysteries” segment ran, police arrested Bryan Sheppard on drug charges (selling drugs to an uncover officer). When Bryan appeared in court, True was there to argue that a high bond should be set because Bryan had been threatening witnesses in the Firefighters Case. No such witnesses were ever identified, but the allegation was publicized. (Bryan had been arrested and charged by the State of Missouri with this crime in 1989 based on the false statements of two jailhouse snitches. He was released nine months later when his attorney was able to prove that the snitches had lied.)
Eight days later, in January of 1995, True orchestrated the arrest of Darlene Edwards on drug charges. True had gotten her stepson, Ronnie Edwards, to set her up for the bust in a school zone.
In February of 1995, when Skip Sheppard had a court appearance on a charge of transporting guns across a state line, True appeared in court to request a high bond, alleging that Skip had been threatening Firefighter Case witnesses. U.S. Magistrate John Maughmer released Skip on standard bond when True was unable to identify any such witnesses.
On March 14, 1995, The Star ran a front-page story saying the government’s investigation was focusing on the Sheppards and Darlene Edwards. The story cited possible physical evidence, “including a two-way radio that may have been stolen shortly before the explosion…Some witnesses said the suspects were stealing construction equipment, while others said they intended to steal dynamite. Some said the fire was a diversion. Others said it was done for spite.”
This article would become a script for perjury by many of the government witnesses at both the grand jury and at trial. Over and over again the jailhouse informants would claim the Sheppards were up there stealing construction equipment, or dynamite, or walkie-talkies, and that the fire was a diversion for these thefts. At trial the general manager of the construction site would testify that nothing was ever stolen from the site.
Using perjured testimony and the alleged thefts of construction site materials such as explosives, batteries, and walki-talkies, U.S. Assistant Attorney Paul Becker got a grand jury to indict Bryan Sheppard, Richard Brown, Frank Sheppard, Skip Sheppard and Darlene Edwards in June of 1996 for causing the blast that killed the firefighters.
In early 1997, a federal jury found all five defendants guilty of causing the deaths of the firefighters. Judge Joseph Stevens sentenced each of them to life in prison without the possibility of parole. All subsequent appeals have been denied.
Not one of the convicted had a single thing to do with the explosion. Their crime was that they were poor and expendable. Three of the convicted passed police-administered polygraph tests; Darlene Edwards’s request to be polygraphed was denied by True, and Skip Sheppard was never asked to take a polygraph. None of the convicted ever admitted to any personal involvement in the crime, nor did any ever take the Fifth Amendment. None ever requested an attorney be present while being interviewed by the police or ATF. Each of the defendants turned down numerous government offers to turn state’s evidence and receive a significantly reduced sentence.
No trial in U.S. history used more convicts and ex-convicts as government witnesses. Few trials in U.S. history represent a more concerted effort by the U.S. government to frame innocent people.
---J. Patrick O'Connor, is the author of "The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal". He will appear in Philadelphia on Wednesday, June 25, 7pm, at The A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Avenue. (Parking nearby and also accessible via the #34 Trolley)
O'Connor will speak about "The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal" and sign copies of his new book for the audience. This event is a fundraiser for Journalists for Mumia Abu-Jamal, currently raising money to print the next issue of their newspaper, to be released on July 4. There will be books available for purchase, from which all proceeds will go towards the fundraiser. For more information, please visit Abu-Jamal-News.com.
The Philadelphia event will conclude O’Connor’s East Coast tour, which will begin on June 23 with a two-hour appearance on WPFW, Wash DC’s Pacifica radio station on the “Jazz and Justice” show, guest hosted by Todd S. Burroughs, from 1-3pm, where folks can listen live or via the website’s archive at wpfw.org.
O'Connor will then be speaking in New York City on June 23, 7-9pm, at Baruch College, more info: click here …and on June 24, 2008 6pm @ the Brecht Forum, 451 West Street (btw. Bank & Bethune), see FreeMumia.com for more information. On May 1, the day of the book's release, AJN interviewed O'Connor at Philadelphia City Hall. The next day, The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal was featured in The NY Times: "Book Asserts Black Reporter Didn't Kill White Officer in '81." O’Connor argues that the actual shooter was Kenneth Freeman and he criticizes the media, who “bought into the prosecution’s story line early on and has never been able to see this case for what it is: a framing of an innocent and peace loving man.” For more on “The Framing of Mumia Abu-Jamal” we are featuring an excerpt, a previous interview, O’Connor’s review of “Murdered By Mumia,” and his response to the March 27 ruling.
Read our exclusive interview from April, focusing on the frame-up, Kenneth Freeman, the March 27 court ruling, and Frank Rizzo's legacy.
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