Dec 9, 2005 11:33 pm US/Eastern
Jonathan Luna Case Revisited, Reassessed
by Dennis Edwards
Baltimore, MD (WJZ) ―
WJZ.com has learned the U.S. Inspector General's office is in the early stages of a review that could result in an investigation of the way the FBI handled the case in the mysterious death of Maryland federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna.
Luna was found stabbed to death and drowned in a Lancaster stream two years ago.
WJZ Eyewitness News has obtained a letter in which Pennsylvania state Representative Mark Cohen tells the U.S. Inspector General that "...court transcripts and documents from Luna's last case reveal egregious non-compliant activities in the handling of an FBI confidential informant..."
The Democrat openly challenges the agencies suicide theory.
"I do not buy it. I think it's a preposterous idea," Cohen tells
WJZ's Dennis Edwards. "
Cohen is asking the Inspector General to investigate the way the FBI handled the case, its relationship with a man Luna was prosecuting when he died, and whether someone connected to one of Luna's cases may have played a role in his death.
Deputy Inspector General Paul Martin tells
WJZ Eyewitness News they are reviewing the letter.
"He prosecuted many people who might have ample reason to want him dead," says Cohen.
WJZ's Dennis Edwards investigated the story on Friday. "A spokesperson for the FBI declined on-camera interviews, but tells
WJZ Eyewitness News Baltimore's special agent in charge is aware of Cohen's allegations. At this stage, the agency's only response is, 'No comment,'" says Edwards.
Cohen openly alleges the FBI's relationship with the confidential informant weakened the murder case Luna was prosecuting. It was a case in which Cohen says he was pressured into agreeing to a lesser sentence.
"The web in which confidential informants work could have lead to somebody on the periphery of that web to decide that it might be better if Mr. Luna was dead," says Cohen.
Cohen admits that much of his information comes from research in a book called "The Midnight Ride Of Jonathan Luna." But he hopes the Inspector General decides to investigate, to solve the mystery surrounding Luna's death, and shed light on the FBI's relationship with informants.
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