FBI agent faces federal charges in Finicum shooting

FBI agent Joseph Astarita pleaded not guilty to five federal counts in a Portland courtroom Wednesday afternoon, accused of lying about firing two gunshots at LaVoy Finicum during the January 2016 deadly encounter on a highway north of Burns.

Astarita, a member of the FBI’s hostage rescue team base in Quantico, Virginia, was charged with three counts of making false statements and two counts of obstruction of justice. Astarita was one of a number of FBI agents who were assigned to the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County.

The indictment comes after the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and Oregon State Police detectives found evidence that one agent allegedly lied about shooting twice at Finicum’s truck after it stopped and he was getting out of the vehicle.

Both bullets missed Finicum, one of the bullets hitting the roof of the truck.

At a Portland news conference Wednesday, Nelson said he and investigators from his office went to Washington, D.C., last year to inform Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe of his agency’s findings.

“We found. informed them we found possible criminal conduct by some involved FBI HRT (Hostage Rescue Team) agents,” Nelson told reporters. “I was disappointed when I recently heard that FBI HRT agents associated with this case were not placed on administrative leave after the briefing by our investigators to the FBI administration.”

After Finicum was shot and killed by two OSP troopers, the officer-involved shooting investigation determined the troopers were justified in shooting Finicum, but also found the FBI agents hadn’t disclosed someone on the team fired off their gun.

LaVoy Finicum’s widow, Jeanette Finicum, told NewsChannel 2 Wednesday she heard the news while driving on her way home.

She said she still believes federal agents compromised the investigation.

“My husband was left in the snow overnight,” she said. “I believe his body and evidence was further tampered with, and I believe there are other things that have been covered up, and I think that we need to keep on digging until we get all of the truth.”

She said she’ll continue to spread her husband’s message, “to continue to share his message of the Constitution and our liberty and continue to be a voice on property rights.”

She also said she plans on moving forward with a wrongful death lawsuit against the state and federal government.