By Lee Williams
SAF Investigative Journalism Project
It now appears that the only way former American sailor Patrick “Tate” Adamiak, may get out of his undeserved 20-year prison sentence is through a presidential pardon, because federal prosecutors are now using the questionable evidence created by the ATF to fight an appeal filed by the 31-year-old former Navy E-6, who had just been accepted by Naval Special Warfare before his arrest.
Adamiak has been in federal prison for almost 30 months. It can take up to half of a year for his court hearings.
In a letter to prosecutors sent Feb. 14, Adamiak’s appellant attorney pointed out that his client never possessed anything illegal. Prosecutors, unfortunately, don’t seem to care.
Matthew Larosiere, Esq., Counsel for Appellant Adamiak, cited United States v. Justin Bryce Brown, in a letter sent to the Clerk of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
“The argument found to be lacking in Brown is in all material respects identical to the argument brought by the government below in opposing Appellant’s motion to dismiss,” Larosiere wrote. “Appellant feels it important to note the items charged in Brown were functional machineguns, as opposed to the non-functional items charged here.”
In other words, Adamiak had gun parts but not any illegal firearms, and he certainly had no machineguns.
But in a response mailed five days later, Assistant United States Attorney Jacqueline R. Bechara continued the prosecution’s the-guns-are-real tactic.
“Because Adamiak’s possession of an unregistered machinegun fell outside the scope of the Second Amendment, the district court properly denied his motion to dismiss,” Bechara said in her response.
In a second letter to the Clerk of Court sent March 28, Bechara describes Adamiak’s firearms even further, although she is completely wrong.
“Here, the evidence at trial established that the PPSh-41 is a ‘machinegun’ because it is a ‘weapon’ which ‘is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger,’ and that the grenade launchers and anti-tank missile launchers were ‘destructive device[s],’ because they were ‘weapons, which will, or which may be readily converted to, expel a projectile by the action of an explosive,’” Bechara wrote.
AUSA Bechara declined to be interviewed for this story, but there are a few things to keep in mind regarding her latest legal claim. Every single PPSh-41 that Adamiak owned had its receiver cut in half. There was no way any of the gun parts kits he owned would shoot “automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.”
ATF’s lies
After dozens of heavily armed ATF agents kicked open Adamiak’s door during a search warrant, nothing illegal was found. As a result, the ATF was forced to call in Firearms Enforcement Officer Jeffrey Bodell.
Once the ATF turned the case over to Bodell, Adamiak’s innocence no longer mattered.
- Bodell inserted a real STEN action and a real STEN barrel into Adamiak’s toy STEN submachinegun and got it to fire one round, even though the toy’s receiver wouldn’t accept a real STEN magazine. Bodell actually classified the toy, which are very popular, as a machinegun. The toy STENs are still completely legal and widely sold.
- Bodell test fired five of Adamiak’s very expensive and extremely collectible legal semi-autos, which fire from an open bolt. All the ATF technician could achieve was semi-auto fire, but that didn’t stop him. He classified all five highly sought after pistols as machineguns. These semi-autos are still legal, very collectible and widely sold. Today, one can fetch from $3,000 to $5,000, and they can still be purchased just like any other firearm, with only an ATF Form 4473 and background check.
- Bodell ruled that several receivers that had been cut in half were actually machineguns. The same parts are still legally sold online and do not even require any paperwork.
- Bodell actually rebuilt three of Adamiak’s inert RPGs, which had holes drilled into their receivers and were stripped of internal parts. Bodell added parts from ATF’s real RPGs until they would fire a single subcaliber 7.62x39mm round. As a result, he classified the RPGs as destructive devices, even though to this day they’re completely legal and widely sold.
The RPGs, toy STENs and submachinegun receivers don’t require any paperwork to purchase.
Adamiak’s plight
Adamiak committed no crime, so why is he still serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in New Jersey?
Because the ATF screwed up, and they would rather charge an innocent man, kill his elite military career and force him to serve two decades behind bars than admit the truth—that their special agents don’t have a clue about what they’re doing.
Adamiak’s appeal is on hold for legal reasons. Therefore, the quickest way he could walk out of prison as a free man would be a presidential pardon.
If President Donald Trump needs to know what kind of a man he’d be pardoning, Adamiak would be the perfect choice. All he wants is to return to the Navy and resume his career. He’s honest, selfless and dedicated to serving this great country. That should be all President Trump needs to know.
Adamiak is willing to forget and forgive and go back to work keeping us safe. All he needs is the opportunity.
In a brief interview Monday, Adamiak said: “I just want my life back. I want to go back to what I dedicated my life to, which was serving the country. I want to return to my career in the Navy despite all that has happened to me. I am still a patriot and love this country.”
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