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| Justice Dept. Re-Examines Prison Death |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 12/01/2003 |
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In a rare step, the Justice Department is re-examining its investigation into the 1995 death of a federal prisoner that the victim's family alleges was murder at the hands of the government. Several official inquiries have ruled the death a suicide. Justice Department public integrity section chief Noel L. Hillman recently disclosed his decision in a sworn affidavit in a civil case brought by the family of prisoner Kenneth Michael Trentadue. The family wants access to government records from the earlier inquiries. Trentadue's bloodied body was found in his cell in an Oklahoma federal detention center in summer 1995, and the government ruled he hanged himself. In the years since, information has emerged that evidence was mishandled or lost, prison officials lied and potential evidence of a struggle in the cell before Trentadue's death was overlooked. At the family's request "the Public Integrity Section is conducting an ongoing review, for purpose of criminal law enforcement, of all investigative materials, including attorney work product, grand jury materials and related documents," Hillman's affidavit stated. The Justice Department told the court in the civil case this week that the department does not yet want to release documents from one of the earlier inquiries of Trentadue's death because of the "ongoing, related criminal investigation." The family has been using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain records gathered by the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency, the government watchdog that evaluates the conduct of federal inspector generals. Hillman's decision is extremely rare, particularly because his predecessor as public integrity section chief, Lee Radek, declined to prosecute anyone in the case after an investigation in the late 1990s ruled the death a suicide. Officials familiar with the decision said Hillman was moved in part by the pleas of the family, some members of Congress and federal law enforcement officials - all who raised concerns about irregularities in the initial prison and FBI investigations Hillman hasn't decided whether to convene a grand jury or refer some matters back to the inspector general, the officials said. |
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