The Killing of Karen Silkwood by Richard Rashke

Author:Richard Rashke
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497639294
Publisher: Delphinium Books

Chapter 22

FEBRUARY 1977

Jacque Srouji was the key to Dan Sheehan’s conspiracy case. Bill Taylor hadn’t found any evidence to support the allegations of the case—that Kerr-McGee had wiretapped, bugged, and conducted illegal surveillance on Karen Silkwood, or that the FBI had found out about the illegal snooping and had covered it up. If Srouji would say under oath what she’d told Peter Stockton and others, and, even better, if she would produce FBI documents to substantiate her allegations, Sheehan would be well on his way to cracking the Silkwood case. So he subpoenaed Srouji to appear in the federal courthouse in Oklahoma City for a sworn deposition, and he subpoenaed all her Silkwood-related documents.

In a civil suit, the court sets aside a certain number of months for “discovery,” during which attorneys for both sides develop the facts needed to support their cases. During discovery, each side has the right to subpoena relevant witnesses to give depositions, taken under oath and transcribed by a court recorder. The depositions themselves are normally not used in any trial resulting from the complaint; rather, they are tools for uncovering facts or investigative leads. If a deposed person proves to be a valuable witness, he or she may be called later to testify at the trial, if there is one. If a deposed person lies in the deposition, he or she may be charged with perjury.

Dan Sheehan had no idea what Srouji would say in a sworn deposition, and he was quite willing to strike a deal with the journalist. If she would tell all she knew about the Silkwood case and hand over the documents, and if her testimony and documents indicated she was not part of a conspiracy to cover up the violation of Silkwood’s civil rights, he would drop her from the case. So Sheehan called one of Srouji’s attorneys and said he’d like to talk to her before taking the deposition. In the long run, he argued, a predeposition conference would save Mrs. Srouji a lot of time and emotional energy. But Jacque refused to meet Sheehan. She told her lawyer that the FBI was following her everywhere and that she was scared.

Thus, Sheehan was surprised when he got a message on February 13 from Sister Caroline, of the convent of the Little Sisters of Jesus, that Jacque Srouji was trying to reach him. Srouji knew the sisters because they had given her lodgings for a few nights when she had been in Washington.

Sister Caroline was waiting when Sheehan knocked on the convent door. She told him Jacque had called her in tears. “I don’t belong in this case,” Sister Caroline said Srouji had told her. “I don’t have anything I can help with. Please tell them to stop persecuting me. Why are the Jesuits after me?”

“Don’t cry, Jacque,” Sister Caroline said she had told Srouji. “Just relax. They are going to help you.”

“Would you call and talk to her?” Sister Caroline asked Sheehan.

Sheehan told the nun that court rules forbade his speaking to Mrs.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.