Justice Department review of
1988 explosion is taking its time, and that’s raising
questions
Kansas City Star Mon, Aug. 23, 2010
It took only moments for two massive explosions to claim the
lives of six firefighters and gouge a giant crater into Kansas
City’s earth and psyche in November 1988.
But it took nearly a decade to bring five defendants to trial.
And it’s taking the U.S. Department of Justice much too long to
review the controversial evidence that resulted in convictions and
lifelong prison sentences for all five.
Former U.S. attorney John F. Wood asked for the review two
years ago, after reports in The Kansas City Star raised disturbing
questions about the integrity of the government’s witnesses. At
least 15 witnesses told Star reporter Mike McGraw that a federal
investigator pressured them to lie.
Washington-based investigators have interviewed some of the
witnesses. But the scope of the review is unclear. The dearth of
information and the length of time the review is taking are
raising suspicions that getting to the truth may not be a high
priority.
We hope that’s not the case. U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who was
a Kansas City councilman at the time of the blast, summed up the
situation very well: “Justice delayed could be interpreted as
justice denied.”
