Aug 20, 2008 6:04 am US/Eastern
FBI Had, Then Tossed Anthrax Type Used In Attacks
WASHINGTON (WJZ/AP) ―
A lawyer for the man accused in the 2001 anthrax attacks says the U.S. is not releasing enough information to let the public judge the case for themselves.
Paul Kemp, who represented Bruce Ivins, said the FBI and prosecutors are forming the case against Ivins in a way that wouldn't be allowed in court.
Kemp says prosecutors get to control the information and are doing it selectively and speculatively.
Dr. Bruce Ivins took his own life seven years after the FBI says he murdered five strangers with anthrax.
Now, the agency says just months after the attacks, Ivins sent them samples as part of the investigation.
Weijia Jiang explains why they were thrown out.
The latest twist in the anthrax investigation shows years ago the FBI obtained a sample of the very strain that killed five people and injured 17.
It was sent from Ivins, the man they believe is the sole mastermind behind the attacks. But the FBI threw it out despite lengthy follow-ups.
"We followed every lead. We conducted 75 searches, probably 9,000 interviews in the course of the investigation," said Robert Mueller, FBI director.
The investigation started up after letters went through the U.S. Postal Service to the media and politicians in the fall of 2001.
The FBI has now revealed Ivins sent them two anthrax samples as part of the investigation. The first was sent in February 2002. The strain was RMR-1029, identical to that in the mailings. But at the time the FBI destroyed it because it did not meet court-ordered conditions as evidence because of the way it was prepared and collected. The bureau believed it might not have gone through at trial. The other sample was from April 2002. That sample did not match up.
The deadly spores were traced back to U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in 2004. But they were not conclusively linked to the mailings until early 2007.
Eyewitness News has also learned more than 100 people in two labs at Fort Detrick had access to the strain. FBI officials are not saying how they were ruled out as suspects.
Even after information against Ivins unfolds, former colleagues find it hard to believe anyone at the site could be to blame for the attacks.
"The environment we were always in was very intent on the science and dealing with the science of each of the protocols. Each of those meetings reviewed anywhere from 8 to 10 protocols at a time," said Norman Covert, retired Fort Detrick spokesperson.
Ivins' attorney maintains his innocence. Investigators admit there is no hard evidence linking Ivins to the attacks. At this time it is all circumstantial.
Ivins committed suicide on July 29, just days before investigators planned to indict him for the mailings.
Kemp doesn't believe that Ivins will be judged fairly by the public because of the government's ability to control evidence.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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