The Washington Times
January 11, 1999, Monday, Final Edition
SECTION: PART A; NATION; Pg. A8
HEADLINE: Conspiracy author named in indictment; Accused of Oklahoma City jury tampering
BYLINE: Valerie Richardson
David Hoffman isn't a white supremacist, he's never mixed a fertilizer bomb and he's not particularly intent on overthrowing the federal government.
So when he was the only person to be named in a sealed indictment handed down Dec. 30 by a grand jury investigating the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, it raised a few questions. Why Mr. Hoffman and not, say, Andreas Strassmeir, or John Doe II, or other shadowy figures lurking on the fringes of the crime?
It turns out Mr. Hoffman, 38, was indicted on jury tampering. A journalist who wrote a book on conspiracy theories surrounding the case, Mr. Hoffman stands accused of sending copies of his book, along with cover letters, to the grand jurors in an attempt to influence the investigation's outcome.
His real crime, however, may be his knack for inflaming Oklahoma authorities and others close to the case with his stinging outbursts. He called Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy a "two-faced coward" on local television, and says the members of the grand jury "have a collective IQ of 50."
What has Mr. Hoffman so outraged is the grand jury's conclusion that Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were solely responsible for the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which killed 168 persons. Mr. Hoffman contends the jurors squandered what may be the last, best opportunity to address unanswered questions of the case by failing to pursue evidence suggesting a broader conspiracy.
"They're accusing me of coercing and manipulating the jury. They're the ones who coerced and manipulated the jury," Mr. Hoffman said in a telephone interview. "If anything, I've done the people of Oklahoma a great service."
Now in hiding somewhere in Colorado, Mr. Hoffman has until today to turn himself in to Oklahoma authorities or face a fugitive warrant for his arrest. In the interview, he said he planned to apply for political asylum in Colorado.
If that move fails, he said he would turn himself in, provided he can negotiate the terms of his surrender. He faces a maximum sentence of a year in jail on the misdemeanor charge, which he believes he will get because Mr. Macy "is out for blood," he says.
The publisher of the Haight Asbury Free Press in San Francisco, Mr. Hoffman moved to Oklahoma three years ago to research his book, "The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror." In it, he contends that the bombing was the result of a federal sting operation gone bad, and that McVeigh was merely a patsy set up to take the fall.
Mr. Hoffman contends the jury-tampering charge was motivated by the grand jury's need to produce an indictment after failing to bring any substantive charges in the case, and it's not hard to find Oklahomans who agree with him.
"They spent more time trying to discredit anything that conflicted with the FBI's theory than finding the truth," said V.Z. Lawton, a bombing victim who believes the conspiracy goes beyond McVeigh and Nichols. "Then they found some little thing they could pin on some guy and said, 'Look, we handed down an indictment.' "
The grand jury was empaneled 18 months ago after a petition drive and over the objections of Mr. Macy and state Attorney General Drew Edmondson. The jurors heard from 117 witnesses, but critics say the jury was steered away from information that suggested a wider conspiracy or federal involvement in the bombing.
"I testified for 3 1/2 hours, and the only thing they asked me about was the jury tampering," said Mr. Hoffman.
"My book's the most comprehensive study on the bombing out there, and the only thing they can ask me about is jury tampering?"
The Oklahoma City Bombing Investigation Committee, which forced the grand jury probe, also denounced the report. Committee founder Charles Key quipped that the only thing the final report lacked was an FBI signature at the bottom.