False accusations can wreak disaster; Alabama man

cleared in bombings seeks apology; Atlanta guard's

case is in limbo
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
October 24, 1996, Thursday, HOME FINAL EDITION

Section: NEWS; Pg. 1A

Length: 1318 words
Byline: Ed Timms, Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News

Robert "Wayne" O'Ferrell knows what it's like to be mistaken for a bomber and a murderer.

Six years ago, he was the FBI's prime suspect after a federal judge and a civil rights lawyer were killed
with mail bombs.

Federal agents scoured his home and business for evidence. They questioned just about everybody he
knew. The media converged on the small Alabama town he called home.

Before it was over, Mr. O'Ferrell had lost his business, his home, his car and his marriage of more than
two decades. And another man was indicted and convicted of the crime.

But Mr. O'Ferrell is still fighting to get federal authorities to apologize and make up for his losses.

He ponders the case of Olympics hero-turned-suspect Richard Jewell, who first was lionized for leading
spectators away from a crude pipe bomb, then became a suspect and now is in limbo — neither accused
nor exonerated.

"If the guy is innocent, I certainly feel for him, because I've been there," Mr. O'Ferrell said. "I had hoped
the government wouldn't do anyone else like they did me."

Within days of the July 27 bombing at Olympic Centennial Park in Atlanta, Mr. Jewell was the target of
relentless scrutiny by federal agents and the international media.

Agents took away the security guard's guns and his pickup truck.

Forensics experts nitpicked his apartment for evidence. A media pack watched his every move. He was
interrogated repeatedly.

With time, however, FBI ardor apparently cooled. His truck was returned within a week. Authorities gave
back his guns and other seized property — including Tupperware and Disney videos — earlier this
month. Agents' surveillance of Mr. Jewell has faded away.
On Wednesday, as part of a court order requiring the FBI to release documents related to the case, a
federal judge in Atlanta called Mr. Jewell a "former suspect" in the Olympic park bombing.

But Justice Department officials said the judge's characterization of Mr. Jewell was merely the judge's
own opinion and carries no legal effect with respect to the investigation.

Earlier, a Justice Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was "premature" to say
what might happen. Some federal law enforcement officials said they were weighing what, if anything, to
say publicly should Mr. Jewell be fully exonerated.

Officials said the FBI has all but ruled out a formal apology to Mr. Jewell, however, denying his accusation
that an agent leaked his name to an Atlanta newspaper.

At the same time, Mr. Jewell's attorneys said he was contemplating his options.

Attorney L. Lin Wood Jr. said the affidavits used to get a search warrant for Mr. Jewell's home were
flawed and may be the focus of a lawsuit against individual FBI agents.

In other cases, law enforcement officials have been successfully sued for their actions, and some have
apologized.

Last month, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that a prosecutor who made
false statements while seeking an arrest warrant was not immune from lawsuits.

In 1994, a former high-ranking NASA official got a $ 125,000 settlement from the federal government after
U.S. marshals in Harris County arrested him instead of an indicted drug suspect with a similar name.

And in California, a therapist wrongfully arrested for a 1993 armed robbery got a financial settlement and
a court order that declared her innocent — along with an apology from the sheriff whose deputies
arrested her.

Federal prosecutors sometimes inform people that they are no longer targets of an investigation, said a
Justice Department spokesman.

"All I can say is there have been situations in the past where people have gotten what is called a
nontarget letter from a U.S. attorney," said Bert Brandenburg, "but I can't comment on any aspect of this
case."

Mr. Jewell's attorneys aren't looking for mea culpas just from law enforcement. They've indicated that
others may have reason to fear a lawsuit, including some in the media.

Officials with the Atlanta Journal, which first published a story identifying Mr. Jewell as a suspect, have
defended their coverage.

Media ethicist Bob Steele said that if the newspaper had a high level of confidence in its sources,
publishing Mr. Jewell's name was legitimate.

"The wrongs that happened were in the days after," said Dr. Steele, director of the ethics program at the
Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla. "The way in which Jewell was chased across
parking lots, the way in which we peeled away every layer of his past and background — and did so
publicly — to my mind was overzealous reporting."
He warned, however, against reaching conclusions in the case.
"We don't know for sure that there's a wrong that's been done," he said. Mr. Wood suggests that Mr.
Jewell will never fully escape the notoriety.

"He's now controversial, and that's going to follow him for the rest of his life," the lawyer said. "If they don't
catch the bomber, then the damage is going to be horrendous. But even if they do, the damage is still
going to be permanent and substantial because there will always be people out there who believe
Richard Jewell had something to do with this."

Exactly why Mr. Jewell became the focus of the FBI's investigation is still murky, Mr. Wood said. It's
possible, he said, that an agent, or agents, leaked Mr. Jewell's name without the bureau's knowledge. He
and others also have said Atlanta organizers of the games may have been responsible for a leak in an
effort to calm fears about safety, a charge they deny.

When Mr. O'Ferrell's ordeal began in early 1990, the pressure was on to stop a deadly bomber with a
racist agenda and a grudge against the judicial system.

Mail bombs had killed federal appeals court Judge Robert S. Vance and Robert Robinson, a lawyer in
Savannah, Ga. The investigation uncovered threatening letters that had been written to federal judges.
Investigators concluded that the letters had been written with a typewriter that Mr. O'Ferrell had used to
write other letters.

Much later, investigators learned that the wife of the man ultimately convicted in the bombings had bought
the typewriter from Mr. O'Ferrell's secondhand store in Enterprise, Ala.

But for a time, Mr. O'Ferrell was on the FBI's front burner. And the heat was on high. In January 1990,
more than 100 law enforcement officials descended on his home and store.

Mr. O'Ferrell contends that FBI agents leaked information that he was a suspect in the bombings to the
media, which showed up in force at his store and home. He also alleges that FBI agents threatened him
with the electric chair during questioning.

Agents hauled away boxes of Mr. O'Ferrell's belongings, more than a dozen typewriters and even his
favorite Bible. His life and his business were disrupted. Eventually, he lost his business, home and car.
His marriage fell apart.

In November 1990, Walter Leroy Moody Jr., of Rex, Ga., was indicted in connection with the bombings.
He later was convicted.

Mr. O'Ferrell, 53, has remarried and lives in New Brockton, Ala., where he runs a grocery and
secondhand store. "One collie dog is the only one who's still with me," he said of his life before the FBI
came to visit.

He has sued the FBI. The case is pending in federal court. The government argues that the law grants it
immunity from lawsuits because the agents were performing their official duties.

Attorney Wood said he has taken note of parallels between Mr. Jewell's situation and Mr. O'Ferrell's
ordeal. He pointed out that Mr. Moody was prosecuted by a U.S. attorney named Louis Freeh, now FBI
director.

"You would think that Louis Freeh would know better than to do to another person what he knows the FBI
did to Mr. O'Ferrell," Mr. Wood said. "And yet here they are again."
Staff writer David Jackson in Washington contributed to this report.