[Cdhrsupport] Revised - FBI Hunting the Dead: Can John Bowman Ever Rest in Peace?

[SF-8 case]

FBI Hunting the Dead: Can John Bowman Ever Rest in Peace?

Soffiyah Elijah

February 22, 2007

John Bowman is a former Panther who was arrested in New Orleans in 
1973 and was tortured by a task force of law enforcement officers 
from several jurisdictions. In 2003, some of those same agents came 
to his home in Oklahoma City and confronted him about an unsolved 
1971 police murder in San Francisco. So began a several year journey 
of resisting interrogations and Grand Jury subpoenas. Shortly after 
getting out of San Francisco County Jail in October of 2005 for 
refusing to cooperate in a modern-day COINTELPRO investigation, John 
was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He persevered and continued to 
organize resistance along with four other former Black activists, 
formed the Committee to Defend Human Rights, and educated people 
about the responsibility to stay true to the precepts of the 10-Point 
Program of the Black Panther Party. Despite the pain of his illness 
and the ongoing suffering caused by his 33-year post-traumatic, 
post-torture pains, John Bowman educated and gave his soul to his 
people, community and the struggle.

Just weeks before his death, the same California Attorney General's 
office that tried to force him to cooperate with his tormentors and 
jailed him for contempt of the Grand Jury, knew he was in terminal 
pain, and called his attorney, Douglas Parr, in Oklahoma City to ask 
if he might have a change of heart and now wanted to cooperate. 
Naturally John refused this inhumane request, said he was not 
interested and resisted until his transition on December 23, 2006.

But the torment doesn't end at his passing. On Tuesday, February 13, 
2007, two local FBI agents, one who identified himself as John Coyle, 
visited a funeral home in Oklahoma City and interrogated the owner 
and two staff people regarding the services it provided for John 
Bowman's cremation and memorial. They displayed their badges and one 
left his card. It was clear from the tone and nature of their 
questions that they suspected that John had not actually died, and 
perhaps one or more people had participated in a scheme to feign his 
death. According to the agents, they were investigating John as a 
fugitive. They wanted to know about all the events leading up to his 
memorial service. The agents asked for the name of the crematorium, 
the doctor, the medical examiner, where John died, who picked up the 
body and who handled the service. They also questioned how the owner 
could be certain that it was indeed John's body that had been 
cremated. The agents wanted to know if they had seen the body and if 
they could verify from a photo that it had been John who died. They 
were told that the body had not been viewed at that funeral home by 
anyone because it had already been cremated. Near the end of their 
visit the agents asked one of the funeral home administrators for 
their full name, date of birth, home address, home phone number, 
social security number and any other numbers where they could be 
reached. When asked why they needed all the personal information, the 
agents responded that it would be entered into the FBI data base. The 
funeral home owner said that in all the years they have been in 
business, this was the first time that anything like this had ever 
happened. They couldn't believe that a question was being raised as 
to the identity of the deceased.

Today, Ann Moorman, John Bowman's attorney, confirmed that the 
Federal Bureau of Investigation has been actively questioning whether 
her client is in fact dead.

"It was clear from the tone and nature of their questions that the 
agents suspected that John Bowman had in fact not died and that the 
Funeral Home had participated in a scheme to feign his death," said Moorman.

She added, "Setting aside the insult to the Bowman family and John's 
numerous friends by this inquiry, I am astonished law enforcement is 
questioning his death.  John Bowman spent months in a local hospital 
suffering from cancer.  Before his illness he demonstrated his 
willingness to face these baseless allegations by appearing numerous 
times during the course of various grand jury proceedings.  The 
authorities know that if John Bowman were alive today he would stand 
up to these allegations and vigorously defend himself and the other 
men also facing the charges."

After their interrogation at the funeral home, the agents went to the 
crematorium to interrogate the owner of that business. Again they 
asked if the owner had seen the body and if he could identify a 
photo. The owner explained that the body arrived wrapped in a sheet 
and that he hadn't seen it. The agents had photos they wanted him to 
view but he insisted that he had not seen the body and therefore 
would be unable to identify any photos. They requested to see the log 
records for the body. They went on to ask the owner if he knew John 
personally, if he had heard of John, how it was that he was asked to 
do the cremation and what had been done with the ashes!! At the close 
of their interrogation they asked the owner for the same personal 
information they had asked for from the funeral home administrator. 
When he asked why they needed it, they responded that they needed it 
for their records. The crematorium owner said that in his 24 years of 
operation, this was the first time that anything like this had ever 
happened to him.

Moorman emphasized, "John Bowman was a proud man and would not hide 
from the FBI.   Instead of questioning his death, they should instead 
be investigating why many court records favorable to the defense are 
missing. Or, why various items of physical evidence have also turned 
up missing.  They overlook those obvious suspicious developments that 
bear directly on the credibility of this prosecution and instead go 
looking for a dead man.   The whole case just does not pass the smell 
test and this just further confirms it."
Can John Bowman ever rest in peace?

For more information contact:
<http://www.cdhrsupport.org/>www.CDHRsupport.org

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