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Anthrax Investigation Documents Unsealed

A federal court has unsealed documents related to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe of the 2001 anthrax attacks, less than a week after the apparent suicide of Bruce E. Ivins, a U.S. Army scientist identified by the FBI as the person solely responsible for the string of anthrax-laced mailings.

Search warrant applications, sworn affidavits, and court-issued warrants released Wednesday provide a paper trail detailing the federal government's investigation into the anthrax attacks, which killed five people and sickened at least 17 others beginning in September 2001. Also on Wednesday, U.S. Department of Justice and FBI officials briefed victims and family members on the FBI's evidence from the investigation -- code-named "Amerithrax" -- which included more than 9,100 interviews, executed more than 70 searches, and followed leads across six continents. According to the Washington Post, the federal government has determined that Ivins acted alone in carrying out the attacks, a conclusion "centered on a near-perfect match of anthrax spores in his custody and a record of his late-night laboratory work just before the toxic letters were mailed."

• FBI Press Release: Anthrax Briefing and Investigation
• View the Unsealed "Amerithrax" Court Documents (DOJ)
• Washington Post: Government Asserts Ivins Acted Alone
• Associated Press: Summary of Evidence Laid Out by Prosecutors
• L.A. Times: FBI Says Evidence Points Uniquely to Bruce Ivins in Anthrax Case
• N.Y. Times: Anthrax Attacks Unnerved a Shaken Nation
• How People Get Charged with Crimes (FindLaw)
• Stages of a Criminal Case (FindLaw)

Full post as published by FindLaw's Common Law on August 07, 2008 (boomark / email).