Regarding the Gabby Petito case…since the FBI Director doesn’t seem to know what to do, I continue to feel compelled to intervene.
First off… they screwed up big time by not immediately bringing Brian’s friends and relatives before a Federal Grand Jury upon discovering that Gabby was killed. I would have done that the minute I learned Gabby was missing and her boyfriend returned home days/weeks before, without Gabby, but with her car, credit cards and who knows what else! Learning that Brian’s parents…and Brian…refused to talk, to me…that is the smoking gun. There is simply no f’n excuse for that…in my humble opinion as an investigator who solved thousands of cases over a three decade career!
Not doing that emboldened the family to harbour and protect a murderer…not charging Brian also removed the Harbouring A Fugitive charge that could have been charged. It all defines the inexperience and resulting incompetence that now exists in DOJ and the FBI. It’s NOT a surprise because that’s exactly what the FBI DIDN’T do in many criminal cases… during Obama’s 8 years of running a RICO Criminal organization. Either they didn’t know how to run a case due to their ineptness, ignorance (two FBI Assistant Directors) or…they did what they did intentionally…which is it? The FBI…Peter Strzok and Andy McCabe… didn’t want to solve those cases, like ALL the Hillary Clinton criminal cases that were NOT “matters” and all the FISA Fraud cases, the numerous criminal cases that the FBI intentionally screwed up, ignored, or didn’t know what to do! They had Huma Abedin and all of Clinton staff cold turkey on too many crimes to name here…look into this website’s archives! That, of course, is my humble opinion showing through!
In a case like this when you already know that the family/witnesses are not going to cooperate, you have no choice but to use all the tools you have left and the biggest is the Grand Jury, and the other is the power of arrest…there are numerous charges I would have filed against the family’s hero, Brian, and maybe even his mother and others. I’ve written about that in previous columns, even before Gabby’s body was found! Understand that since the FBI doesn’t work criminal cases anymore, they never use the Grand Jury nor utilize its power to force witnesses to make a decision between telling the truth, perjury, or jail time.
Allow me to make it simple, let’s say six people witness a crime …a homicide…and none were involved in the crime, and none will talk, the reasons don’t matter. If you bring all of them before a Federal Grand Jury by a Forthwith Subpoena, and I have done Forthwith Subpoenas, which means they MUST come with me, in cuffs, if necessary, do not pass go, do not call your lawyer…go straight to the Grand Jury! There the AUSA will tell them their rights and ask questions. If they plead the 5th, he will explain that it only applies to them, singularly, and NOT to others.
In other words, his mother can’t plead the 5th for the reason it will or could be used against Brian. It only applies to her and not what Brian told her. What Brian said to them is only a crime against the mother, for example, if he told her he killed Gabby and she withholds that information from the Lawmen.…then it’s Misprision of a Felony…so if she pleads the 5th, after that is explained to her, she is giving the Government, Probable Cause to believe that Brian told his mother that he killed Gabby. Then the AUSA will give her immunity and ask the Court to order her to talk…and tell what Brain told her. She will have to explain to the Grand Jury and the Court why she plead the 5th…what did she do or know that would incriminate HER and caused her to Plead the 5th!! Get it? What she says cannot be used against her…so what…we don’t want her!
Brian’s family cannot win if the DOJ Attorney and FBI Agent have any brains at all…and it makes me wonder! If she lies under oath, it’s perjury and she needs to be careful because if all the family members are involved, I guarantee you someone WILL talk and the rest of the family, including Brian, are screwed!!
If the Government gives you immunity and you are “not” involved in the crime, you must either testify truthfully, commit perjury or be held in contempt of court, and go straight to jail…no trial…straight to jail…for the duration of the seated Grand Jury (max 18 months). Then they can bring you out to testify before a new, 18 month, Grand Jury and put her back for another 18 months, no trial, no bail, no “go past go”! These laws were intended to make scumbags, like Brian’s’ family, talk and tell the truth!
Why aren’t these tools being used? They need to work criminal cases in order to use the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedures! They probably have never brought a case before a Grand Jury?! “They”, being former Agents like Strzok and McCabe. I don’t know many current Agents, and the few I’ve spoken to, seldom make arrests, carry a gun, drew up any kind of warrants, or …God forbid, take a Criminal case from start to finish, testify, present evidence they gathered, like fingerprints, and obtained a conviction?!
Although I haven’t met many of the new generation of Agents, I have never met a modern day FBI Agent who has gotten a conviction…not one!