Yael T. Abouhalkah Kansas City Star July 28, 2011
The summary of a new Justice Department report indicates other people also were involved in causing the huge 1988 explosion that killed six KC firefighters.
Who were they? When is current U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips going to try to prosecute these new suspects? Her refusal Wednesday to answer questions about the case and the surprising new information was a dereliction of duty.
The government’s report was prompted by questions raised by The Star’s reporters about the conviction of five people in the 1988 blast.
Yes, the new report claims the five people are still guilty of the crime, something The Star has questioned previously because of statements made by others involved in the case. Those statements to the newspaper essentially have indicated other people were responsible, partly or wholly, for the incident.
The Justice Department needs to release the full, 20-page report so the public can more clearly see why theU.S. government claims the five people are still guilty. (Four are in prison; one has since died.)
But I’d say that - even more importantly - the government needs to release the full report so we can find out whether new trials ought to be held to prosecute others who may have been involved in the deadly explosion.
It’s not enough for the Justice Department to simply say, oh, by the way, others may have been responsible for the crimes.
These people need to be brought to justice, too - just like the government claims the five others were brought to justice more than a decade ago when they were convicted and sent to prison.
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