By Lee Williams
SAF Investigative Journalism Project
The ATF and federal prosecutors are prepping to deceive Patrick “Tate” Adamiak’s appellate court just like they did his trial court.
Their actions are so overt, Adamiak wonders whether prosecutors are even aware that the toys and legal gun parts that the trial prosecutors used to secure his 20-year prison sentence are not illegal and never were.
“Quite simply, they don’t qualify as firearms under the law,” Adamiak said in an interview. “Do the current prosecutors, the new ones, even realize these items do not qualify as firearms under the federal gun statutes and code of federal regulation?”
Three new federal prosecutors will be handling Adamiak’s appeal. Of the old crew that got him imprisoned for two decades, one prosecutor is dead, one retired and the third, who was only a temporary assistant, has since left the office.
Adamiak is very concerned that the new appellate prosecutors are using his case’s “Joint Appendix,” which is nearly 3,000 pages and contains every record, objection, transcript, exhibit and piece of evidence from his first trial.
“The appendix is literally the only thing appellate judges get so see when looking at my case and rendering a decision,” Adamiak said. “It is the record that they have to go by.”
The Joint Appendix is chock-full of errors, Adamiak said.
“There are huge discrepancies in here. The Appendix consists of all the exhibits that were used against me at trial. In the table of contents of this volume, they list all of my unregulated gun parts that were not even put before the jury as ‘machineguns’ or ‘machinegun receivers.’ They even go so far as to show the appeal judges a picture of the ATF case agent, William Hairston, holding an M240 air gun that even the ATF admitted was a replica, and labeled the exhibit as, ‘ATF agent holding machinegun.’ Yes, they are showing the judges the agent posing with a toy that looks real, asserting that it is, in fact, a machine gun,” Adamiak said.
It is clear that Adamiak’s defense team had no opportunity to edit the Appendix. For example, all of the parts listed as “machineguns” were purchased without any federal forms in open commerce. They are gun parts, not machineguns, and are still offered for sale at the websites where Adamiak purchased them, without any requirements such as ID.
Unfortunately for Adamiak, the ATF knows well that these products were not illegal, but since the prosecutors used them successfully during his initial trial, they will likely now be used as evidence during his appeal.
A look at some of the trial prosecutors’ major evidentiary exhibits raises questions about their true intent. None of the items are illegal. As stated, all are sold online and mailed directly to the buyers, who don’t even need to show an ID.
Adamiak’s response is simple: The gun parts are not receivers according to federal law. Therefore, they’re not firearms. Therefore, they’re not machineguns. Therefore, they’re not illegal.
“These items are all equivalent to an AR-15 upper, which are not regulated, and on top of that, they were all cut in half,” Adamiak said. “It’s absolutely wild to me that prosecutors and the justice system, which is supposed to uphold the law, can allow this blatant miscarriage of justice to occur before my eyes due to prosecutors flagrantly lying about these items that are simply not illegal.”
Prosecutors are likely aware of the newest factor in their case against Adamiak, which could lead to Adamiak’s freedom – President Donald J. Trump.
President Trump and Pardon Czar Alice Marie Johnson may be Adamiak’s last hope for justice, because unless some actions are taken, the ATF and prosecutors will likely victimize Adamiak once again.
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