Cross Examining FBI Agent Burns

We're back from lunch and now that all the transcripts have been entered into evidence by the prosecutor, we can move on to Mike Scholl's cross examination of Agent Burns.

Before the FBI can start an undercover investigation a set of reports have to go through several levels of approval, but according to Burn you don't need approval to make recordings as long as you have local approval.

For E-Cycle get started the FBI put together a written proposal. Included in it were the finances, goals and objectives, prior evidence of criminal wrong-doing and which individuals were thought to be involved in the wrong-doing.

They also have to show evidence that the wrong-doing exists, but the type of evidence varies.

"There appears to be some evidence that this person is pre-disposed to doing criminal activity," says Burns.

Burns says Ford was not one of these 'wrong-doers' that they had evidence on prior to the undercover operation, unlike Roscoe Dixon who they did have some indication of wrong-doing.

This is when Scholl brings up a statement from the Roscoe Dixon trial where Agent Burns was asked:

"So you can't even record or operate against a public official unless there is some predication?"

During the Dixon trial, Agent Burns replied, "Yes, that is correct."