Olympic Bombing 1996: Richard Jewell, the Wrong Man | Retro Report | The New York Times — Transcript

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1. 0:01[Music]
2. 0:05we have had word now of an explosion a
3. 0:09bombing at Atlanta's Summer Olympics
4. 0:11total chaos Mass pandemonium going on
5. 0:13down here led to a massive law
6. 0:15enforcement investigation we will
7. 0:17consider it an act of terrorism and soon
8. 0:20set off a frenzy of speculation who is a
9. 0:23real Richard Jewel FBI officials believe
10. 0:25he fits a profile of the type of person
11. 0:28who might commit such an act but conc
12. 0:31they have no hard evidence against him
13. 0:33can you categorically say that you did
14. 0:34not do this I did not do it Richard
15. 0:37Jewel's nightmare was a cautionary tale
16. 0:39it's hard to believe that it is really
17. 0:41over but what lessons have law
18. 0:43enforcement and the Press really learned
19. 0:45it is now clear that the shooter was not
20. 0:47Ryan Lanza it was his brother Adam Lanza
21. 0:50an earlier report that I had was
22. 0:52incorrect that he was connected with the
23. 0:54Tea Party in fact that's a different Jim
24. 0:56Holmes some media Outlets were tweeting
25. 0:58out that the shooter was a man named
26. 1:00Raley chance when I leave the house I
27. 1:03know uh I'm looking over my
28. 1:05[Music]
29. 1:15shoulder welcome to Atlanta's Olympic
30. 1:17Stadium for the opening ceremony of
31. 1:19these Centennial Olympic
32. 1:21[Music]
33. 1:23[Applause]
34. 1:26Games in the early morning of July 27
35. 1:297th 1996 more than 100 people were
36. 1:33injured and one killed by a Bomb Blast
37. 1:36at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park
38. 1:38after the bombing had occurred the
39. 1:40victims were taken away I remember very
40. 1:42distinctly as the light came up I
41. 1:44started meeting some of the people
42. 1:46around in the area and one of the people
43. 1:48on the scene was Richard juel juel a
44. 1:51former sheriff's deputy had discovered
45. 1:53the bomb in a backpack and helped clear
46. 1:55the area before the explosion he was
47. 1:57hailed a hero and just hope that we
48. 2:00catch the people that did it following
49. 2:01the bombing there were a lot of suspects
50. 2:03but it wasn't too far into the
51. 2:05investigation where Richard juul's name
52. 2:08started surfacing the president of a
53. 2:10college where juel had worked security
54. 2:12called the FBI to say he had concerns
55. 2:14about juel a check into Jewel's
56. 2:16background revealed other Witnesses who
57. 2:19reported he had a history of employment
58. 2:21problems and was obsessed with law
59. 2:23enforcement our profilers from quanico
60. 2:27were watching the shows and saying we
61. 2:29we've had instances in the recent past
62. 2:32where police officers invented
63. 2:34situations so that they could be the
64. 2:35heroes he started to have that uh that
65. 2:39look about
66. 2:40him we've got the Olympic Games going on
67. 2:44we're concerned that whoever did it may
68. 2:46do it again if we don't get a hold of
69. 2:49them it was a lot of pressure to resolve
70. 2:54the case very quickly the Assumption was
71. 2:57that everyone would keep everything
72. 3:00confidential because of the importance
73. 3:01of the investigation in hindsight that
74. 3:03was naive because you know people like
75. 3:06to talk an unidentified law enforcement
76. 3:08Source leaked juwes name to Ron martz's
77. 3:11reporting partner Kathy Scruggs it was
78. 3:13important for us as the hometown paper
79. 3:16to try to verify as as soon as possible
80. 3:19and put that information out on the
81. 3:21street word quickly reached
82. 3:23investigators It sped up the timetable
83. 3:25in the investigation on what the
84. 3:27investigators wanted to do to try to get
85. 3:29to Richard J before his name was all
86. 3:31over creation law enforcement really
87. 3:33wanted to talk with Richard juwel uh
88. 3:35either to find out if he did it or to
89. 3:37clear him we wanted to create an
90. 3:40environment if we brought him in for an
91. 3:41interview where he would be comfortable
92. 3:44so when two agents went to talk to juel
93. 3:46and he expressed concerns about being
94. 3:48interviewed on videotape they told him
95. 3:50it would be used in a training film for
96. 3:52First Responders he then agreed to come
97. 3:55to Atlanta's FBI office I don't think
98. 3:58they were very far into the interview
99. 4:00when I received a phone call from the
100. 4:02director and the director said I want
101. 4:05you to stop the interview to warn him of
102. 4:09his rights do it now and so I instructed
103. 4:13the assistant special a charge to knock
104. 4:15on the door Alexander later saw on
105. 4:18videotape what happened next the
106. 4:21investigation was going along as if it
107. 4:23was a training video for a first
108. 4:25responder at a point the um the
109. 4:28investigators just just said you know we
110. 4:31want to make this as realistic as
111. 4:32possible or something to that effect
112. 4:34we're even going to read you in the
113. 4:35Miranda Rights and as they start the
114. 4:38camera's on Richard juwel and his eyes
115. 4:40widen a little bit and it's like there's
116. 4:42a cartoon character light bulb going off
117. 4:44on top and you realize he's saying he's
118. 4:46saying wait wait a minute I'm am I a
119. 4:48suspect FBI has a suspect Read All About
120. 4:52It the news had already hit the streets
121. 4:54when from inside the FBI office juel
122. 4:57called a friend who was a lawyer I asked
123. 4:59him if read the newspaper he said no he
124. 5:02hadn't so I read him the
125. 5:05headline and uh I said man they think
126. 5:08you did it asked him if he was under
127. 5:10arrest and they said no he was not and
128. 5:13um I said great then he's
129. 5:16leaving I remember saying to my editor
130. 5:19this man's life will never be the same
131. 5:22simply because he suddenly was in the
132. 5:25eye of this this media storm are they
133. 5:28letting you go to work they're letting
134. 5:30you go to work you're free to go did
135. 5:31they tell you now not to leave town no
136. 5:34can you categorically say that you did
137. 5:36not do this I did not do it
138. 5:38categorically yes television cameras
139. 5:41surrounded juul's apartment as federal
140. 5:43agents searched for evidence he created
141. 5:46a circus environment I'm sure anger with
142. 5:48his attorney but we had a responsibility
143. 5:51to try to figure out whether he was
144. 5:52involved some of the coverage while
145. 5:55acknowledging that juel was only under
146. 5:57investigation still cast him in the
147. 5:59worst possible light the hero may be a
148. 6:01possible villain you get a different
149. 6:03picture of Richard juel in these North
150. 6:04Georgia Mountains he lived alone in this
151. 6:06rented home with his Doberman dogs most
152. 6:09days with the blinds drawn but behind
153. 6:12the scenes a few investigators had
154. 6:14doubts I had one of my agents and I
155. 6:16believe an FBI agent uh redo and watch
156. 6:21the interviews in detail and my agent
157. 6:24came out came to me and the first thing
158. 6:26he said was this guy didn't do it is a
159. 6:29attorney whether I agree with it or not
160. 6:32did not want to cooperate at all with us
161. 6:34it hurt our ability to resolve Richard
162. 6:37juel in a timely manner it made him a
163. 6:40victim it didn't make us look very good
164. 6:42either still tailed by FBI agents and
165. 6:45unable to get a job his only source of
166. 6:47income is now a telephone hotline two
167. 6:49months after juel was identified he was
168. 6:52offered a deal if he answered
169. 6:54investigators questions he could be
170. 6:56cleared once Richard juel did come in it
171. 7:00became very apparent over the next few
172. 7:02weeks that uh we there's no reason to
173. 7:05charge him Richard juel finally got what
174. 7:09he's been waiting for a hand delivered
175. 7:11letter from the justice department says
176. 7:13based on the evidence developed to date
177. 7:15jeel is not considered a target of the
178. 7:17federal investigation after he was
179. 7:19cleared of Suspicion several FBI agents
180. 7:22were reprimanded including the agent who
181. 7:24read juel his Miranda rights during the
182. 7:26ruse juel pursued legal action against
183. 7:29several news organizations citing among
184. 7:31other things a column that implied a
185. 7:33comparison between Jewel and a convicted
186. 7:35murderer and another that called him a
187. 7:38fat failed former sheriff's deputy
188. 7:40here's Richard juel the 114th victim of
189. 7:42the Atlanta Olympic bomb this is the
190. 7:45first time I have ever asked you to turn
191. 7:47your cameras on me for 88 days I lived a
192. 7:52nightmare for 88 days my mother lived a
193. 7:56nightmare too and it's rush for the
194. 7:58headline that the hero was the
195. 8:01bomber the media cared nothing for my
196. 8:04feelings as a human being NBC CNN and
197. 8:07the New York Post were among those which
198. 8:09settled for undisclosed sums but the
199. 8:12Atlanta Journal Constitution fought the
200. 8:14case for 15 years and won there's no way
201. 8:18that anybody can convince me that we
202. 8:20liel Richard Jewel the information we
203. 8:23printed was that he was the focus of the
204. 8:24investigation he was the focus of the
205. 8:27investigation am I sorry for what
206. 8:29happened to Richard juel yes I'm sorry
207. 8:31for what happened to Richard juel but I
208. 8:33don't feel responsible for what happened
209. 8:36to
210. 8:40him this is video that just came into a
211. 8:44I followed the Boston Marathon case very
212. 8:47closely and I was really struck by how
213. 8:49far law enforcement has come and
214. 8:51particularly their use of Technology
215. 8:53come after a very detailed analysis of
216. 8:56photo video and other evidence we are
217. 8:58releasing photos of of these two
218. 9:00suspects the public will play a critical
219. 9:02role in identifying and locating these
220. 9:04individuals in the Boston case you
221. 9:07wanted to bring the media in at almost
222. 9:09every point so that you get out these
223. 9:11leads Millions across the world saw
224. 9:14these photos instantly tweeted and
225. 9:16retweeted Facebooked and Facebook shared
226. 9:20but social media also made it easier for
227. 9:22the public and the press to quickly
228. 9:24spread misinformation and false leads
229. 9:26whether they originated with law
230. 9:28enforcement or not croud sourced
231. 9:30investigations turned into a witch hunt
232. 9:33this missing student was wrongfully
233. 9:35accused of being a suspect in the last
234. 9:37two years innocent men have been wrongly
235. 9:40associated with a number of high-profile
236. 9:42crimes including mass shootings in New
237. 9:44Town Connecticut and the Washington Navy
238. 9:46yard after the Boston bombing the New
239. 9:49York Post while not naming these two men
240. 9:51as suspects ran a photo of them at the
241. 9:54marathon under the headline bagmen being
242. 9:57wrongly accused of an act of terroris is
243. 9:59m is its own kind of nightmare ask
244. 10:01Richard jeel who went through the media
245. 10:03Pyon the obvious lesson learned from
246. 10:05Richard jeel is avoid identifying people
247. 10:08as a suspect if there's not really good
248. 10:10reason to do so because it can lead to
249. 10:12just what happened in Richard Jew's case
250. 10:14the identification of someone who Not
251. 10:17only was innocent but was a hero as it
252. 10:20turned out the true perpetrator of the
253. 10:22Olympic bombing remained active he would
254. 10:25go on to bomb two abortion clinics and a
255. 10:27gay nightclub in the Years following
256. 10:29Centennial Olympic Park the crime scene
257. 10:32in Atlanta was a complicated one to say
258. 10:35the least but we ended up getting
259. 10:36picture of a a silhouetted figure on the
260. 10:39bench where the bomb was placed we had
261. 10:41the bomber the problem was the quality
262. 10:44was so poor you can make out no facial
263. 10:47features I can't help but think that if
264. 10:49we fast forwarded to today that we would
265. 10:52have had Eric Rudolph's face on there
266. 10:54and would have solved that crime quite
267. 10:55quickly nearly a decade after the
268. 10:58Olympic bombing Rudolph pled guilty in
269. 11:00an Atlanta courthouse Richard juel was
270. 11:03there he gave me a hug and I know some
271. 11:05of the my former law enforcement
272. 11:07colleagues stepping away because there
273. 11:08was just there was still something about
274. 11:10it I think there was a a feeling that
275. 11:12they didn't want to be associated with
276. 11:14Richard jeel juel eventually found work
277. 11:16as a sheriff's deputy in Georgia he died
278. 11:19in 2007 due to complications brought on
279. 11:22by diabetes he was 44 years old people
280. 11:26to this day think that he was arrested
281. 11:29was never arrested he had nothing to do
282. 11:32with it is that the implication that you
283. 11:34should get from responsible reporting
284. 11:38[Applause]
285. 11:42[Music]