Senate Panel Investigating FBI Agents For Lying About Murder Investigation

Senate panel eyes FBI lying allegations

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/n...ng_allegations

May 14, 2006, 12:18 GMT

BALTIMORE, MD, United States (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is investigating whether Baltimore FBI agents lied while looking into the death of federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna.

In a letter to the director of the FBI, committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and ranking member Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., wrote that a confidential report indicated FBI officials gave 'conflicting stories during interviews with agents of the FBI`s Internal Investigations Section.'

The unsolved death of Luna, a 38-year-old assistant U.S. attorney in Baltimore, continues to haunt the FBI. His body was found more than two years ago with 36 stab wounds, lying in a remote Pennsylvania creek, the Baltimore Sun reported.

In the midst of investigation, the FBI was forced to question its own officials because a Baltimore-based FBI agent accused her supervisor of misconduct, complaining fellow agents inappropriately grilled her about unfounded rumors of an affair with Luna.

She later charged the FBI`s then-acting special agent in Baltimore, Jennifer Smith Love, improperly approved an illegal search of her computer.

In August 2004, the inspector general`s office of the Justice Department intervened, finding enough 'credible evidence' of wrongdoing to conclude the case should have been sent through the FBI`s formal disciplinary process.