Informant Incitement and Failure to Intervene in Fatal Incidents

SUMMARY

Allegations of informant incitement to violence and failure to intervene in fatal incidents represent a critical area of concern regarding the use of confidential informants by law enforcement and intelligence agencies. While the use of informants is largely unregulated by courts, as highlighted by Supreme Court decisions in the 1960s [1], and recognized as integral to the plea bargaining system [3], their misuse can lead to severe consequences, including civil liability and criminal prosecution for officers [4]. The Department of Justice also acknowledges that federal informants can face prosecution for unauthorized criminal conduct or exceeding their authority [5].

Specific cases have emerged where informants have been accused of inciting violence or providing misleading information, leading to miscarriages of justice or facilitating crimes. The broader discussion involves the legal definition of 'incitement to violence' [6, 15] and the fine line between intelligence gathering and active participation or encouragement of illegal acts. The integrity of cases can be compromised when informants are found to have provided false information, as seen in the Brittanee Drexel case [9], or when they are themselves involved in criminal activity, as suggested by the Scott Kimball case [12].

CLAIMS

1. CORROBORATEDCONF 0.90

   The use of confidential informants by police is largely unregulated by the courts, stemming from Supreme Court decisions in the 1960s.

   — attributed to: ACLU

   • https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/the-use-of-confidential-informants-can-lead-to-unnecessary-and-excessive-police-violence
2. CORROBORATEDCONF 0.80

   The criminal justice system's reliance on plea bargaining inherently links to the use of informant deals.

   — attributed to: Harvard Law School

   • https://hls.harvard.edu/today/falling-in-love-with-your-rat-the-criminal-informant-system-in-the-u-s/
3. CORROBORATEDCONF 0.90

   Failure to properly supervise criminal informants can result in civil liability for municipalities and officers, and potentially criminal prosecution for officers.

   — attributed to: Police1.com

   • https://www.police1.com/police-policy/articles/when-supervision-of-criminal-informants-goes-south-EoVb5eMREPagzxr5/
4. VERIFIEDCONF 1.00

   Federal informants can face criminal prosecution for unauthorized criminal conduct or for exceeding the scope of their authority under Informant Guidelines.

   — attributed to: U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General

   • https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/0509/chapter3.htm
5. CORROBORATEDCONF 0.80

   Confidential informants have contributed to solving major U.S. cases.

   — attributed to: NPR

   • https://www.npr.org/series/124073579/the-secret-world-of-confidential-informants
6. CORROBORATEDCONF 0.80

   The definition of incitement to violence requires speech to be directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and likely to incite or produce such action.

   — attributed to: r/legaladviceofftopic user

   • https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladviceofftopic/comments/11a60xb/is_saying_that_someone_deserves_violence_illegal/
7. SINGLE-SOURCECONF 0.60

   A confidential informant provided false information in the Brittanee Drexel disappearance case.

   — attributed to: Reddit user (r/TrueCrime)

   • https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueCrime/comments/urirgc/cases_that_have_been_solved_through_information/
8. SINGLE-SOURCECONF 0.70

   A reporter and an informant were indicted for defamation related to allegations of school violence against actor NamJooHyuk.

   — attributed to: Reddit user (r/NamJooHyuk), citing prosecutors

   • https://www.reddit.com/r/NamJooHyuk/comments/1am1xmc/exclusive_prosecutors_indict_informants_of_actor/
9. SINGLE-SOURCECONF 0.60

   Several key figures in the January 6th Capitol incident were unnamed and unindicted, with some claiming these individuals were FBI informants.

   — attributed to: Revolver (cited by Reddit users r/AARP_Politics, r/TimDillon)

   • https://www.reddit.com/r/AARP_Politics/comments/opm6q5/theyve_done_this_before_five_past_cases_of_fbi/
   • https://www.reddit.com/r/TimDillon/comments/opu6vg/theyve_done_this_before_five_past_cases_of_fbi/
10. SINGLE-SOURCECONF 0.70

    Scott Kimball, an FBI informant, was found to have engaged in lies, betrayal, and murder.

    — attributed to: Reddit user (r/truecrimelongform), citing 'The Snitch' case

    • https://www.reddit.com/r/truecrimelongform/comments/156lsw5/the_snitch_in_scott_kimball_the_fbi_thought_it/
11. SINGLE-SOURCECONF 0.50

    The FBI has used informants on scene with terrorists during attacks, such as the Garland, Texas shooting.

    — attributed to: Reddit user (r/TimDillon)

    • https://www.reddit.com/r/TimDillon/comments/opu6vg/theyve_done_this_before_five_past_cases_of_fbi/

TIMELINE

• 1960sU.S. Supreme Court decisions (Hoffa v. United States, Lewis v. United States, Osborn v. United States) clarify broad police powers in using informants. [src]
• 2005-09U.S. Department of Justice OIG report details potential for criminal prosecution of federal informants for unauthorized conduct. [src]
• 2015-05-03Garland, Texas shooting incident occurs; an FBI informant was reportedly on scene. [src]
• 2021-01-06January 6th Capitol incident takes place, with later claims of FBI informant involvement. [src]
• 2022-05-18Discussion on Brittanee Drexel's case mentions false information given by an informant. [src]
• 2023-02-10Reporter and informant indicted for defamation related to actor NamJooHyuk's alleged school violence. [src]
• 2023-07-20Discussion about Scott Kimball, an FBI informant involved in lies, betrayal, and murder. [src]

ENTITIES

• ORG Confidential Informants — Individuals providing privileged information to agencies, sometimes accused of incitement or failure to intervene.
• ORG Law Enforcement Agencies — Users of confidential informants, including police and federal agencies like the FBI.
• ORG ACLU — Advocacy group highlighting concerns about unregulated informant use.
• ORG U.S. Supreme Court — Judicial body that made decisions regarding informant use in the 1960s.
• ORG U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General — Oversight body for federal law enforcement, issuing guidelines and identifying potential for prosecution of informants.
• PERSON Scott Kimball — FBI informant accused of lies, betrayal, and murder.
• PERSON Brittanee Drexel — Subject of a cold case where false informant information was allegedly given.
• PERSON NamJooHyuk — Actor subject to defamation claims from an informant and reporter.
• PLACE Garland, Texas — Location of a shooting where an FBI informant was reportedly present.
• EVENT January 6th Capitol Incident — Event where some participants are alleged to have been FBI informants.

OPEN QUESTIONS — PENDING LEADS

• Are there verified cases of FBI informants inciting violence that led to convictions subsequently overturned due to entrapment claims?
• What specific guidelines do law enforcement agencies use to prevent informants from inciting violence or failing to intervene in criminal acts?
• How many federal informants have been prosecuted for unauthorized criminal conduct or exceeding their authority, and what were the outcomes of these cases?
• Are there documented instances of civil liability or criminal prosecution of officers directly related to informant incitement or failure to intervene in fatal incidents?
• What specific evidence or official reports corroborate the claim that FBI informants were present at the January 6th Capitol incident and engaged in incitement or failed to intervene?

EVIDENCE — CAPTURED SOURCES

1. [WEB] https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/the-use-of-confidential-informants-can-lead-to-unnecessary-and-excessive-police-violence [archived]

   The use of informants by police is essentially unregulated by the courts. In the 1960s, a trio of Supreme Court decisions — Hoffa v. United States, Lewis v. United States, and Osborn v. United States — made clear that police have a relatively free hand to use informants. The high…

2. [WEB] https://www.caselaw4cops.net/searchandseizure/informant.htm [archived]

   Criminal informant-An informant that developed the information through his own criminal activity or associations. Ordinary citizen-An informant that was a victim or eyewitness to a crime. Publicly known informant-An informant whose identity was released by the police. Confidentia…

3. [WEB] https://www.police1.com/police-policy/articles/when-supervision-of-criminal-informants-goes-south-EoVb5eMREPagzxr5/

   When supervision of criminal informants goes south Failure to manage confidential criminal informants can lead to personal and municipal civil liability, and even criminal prosecution of officers

4. [WEB] https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/0509/chapter3.htm [archived]

   Criminal Prosecution of Informants. Federal criminal prosecution of FBI informants can result from the informant's unauthorized criminal conduct or from situations in which the informant exceeds the scope of his authority to engage in "otherwise illegal activity" under the Inform…

5. [WEB] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378216625001407

   Analyzing a legal database is a fruitful and beneficial way to consider the interpretive process of deciding that language is incitement, even if a court of law is not the only source of judgement: first, because of incitement's institutional status; second, because the database …

6. [WEB] https://www.npr.org/series/124073579/the-secret-world-of-confidential-informants

   The Case Of A Confidential Informant Gone Wrong Confidential informants, or people who pose as criminals so they can provide information to the government, have helped crack some major U.S. cases.

7. [WEB] https://cwc.law.northwestern.edu/incentivized-witnesses-informants/ [archived]

   An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency.

8. [REDDIT] https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueCrime/comments/urirgc/cases_that_have_been_solved_through_information/ [archived]

   I've been keeping up with Brittanee Drexel's case and after learning about how vastly different the reality of the case was in relation to the detailed false information given through the informant, I've been wondering just how useful the incentive is for a lesser sentence given …

9. [REDDIT] https://www.reddit.com/r/NamJooHyuk/comments/1am1xmc/exclusive_prosecutors_indict_informants_of_actor/

   The reporter and informant who raised suspicions of NamJooHyuk's school violence were put on trial on charges of defamation. On the 8th, the Goyang branch of the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office briefly indicted a reporter and a tipster who reported on actor NamJooHyuk's al…

10. [REDDIT] https://www.reddit.com/r/AARP_Politics/comments/opm6q5/theyve_done_this_before_five_past_cases_of_fbi/ [archived]

    Last week, Revolver highlighted the disturbing number of key figures in the January 6 Capitol incident who have gone unnamed and unindicted even as the number of criminal cases federal officials have brought spirals into the hundreds. Read it here if you've been living under a ro…

11. [REDDIT] https://www.reddit.com/r/truecrimelongform/comments/156lsw5/the_snitch_in_scott_kimball_the_fbi_thought_it/ [archived]

    The Snitch: In Scott Kimball, the FBI thought it had found a high-value informant who could help solve big cases. What it got instead was lies, betrayal, and murder.

12. [REDDIT] https://www.reddit.com/r/Mafia/comments/15qx0hl/question_about_informants/ [archived]

    With the FBI, an informant can be someone who isn't necessarily in a position to testify for a variety of reasons. Whether or not they are in a position to do so will be noted in the reports that agents type up detailing the information the informant provided. If an informant is …

13. [REDDIT] https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladviceofftopic/comments/11a60xb/is_saying_that_someone_deserves_violence_illegal/

    It would have to constitute incitement to violence, which is defined as: directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action. It's probably possible to come up with a scenario where that sentence could be considered incitement,…

14. [REDDIT] https://www.reddit.com/r/investigation/

    r/investigation: r/investigation is where news, articles, plus opinions about the world of criminal, and Private Investigations begin. VERIFICATION…

15. [WEB] https://hls.harvard.edu/today/falling-in-love-with-your-rat-the-criminal-informant-system-in-the-u-s/ [archived]

    The more principled and structural answer is that, as long as we have plea bargaining, we are going to have informant deals. You cannot excise the dysfunctions of the informant market from the larger fact that we are running our entire criminal system as an enormous kind of negot…

16. [REDDIT] https://www.reddit.com/r/TimDillon/comments/opu6vg/theyve_done_this_before_five_past_cases_of_fbi/ [archived]

    This is basically every case of terrorism the FBI has ever foiled, and many that they didn't. They literally had an informant on scene with the terrorists while the Garland Texas shooting was taking place.

CROSS-REFERENCE

• → SHARES-ACTOR COINTELPRO: FBI Counterintelligence Program Against Domestic Groups (1956–1971) — The FBI, a key actor in COINTELPRO, also extensively uses confidential informants, raising similar concerns about oversight and potential for abuse.
• → SHARES-ACTOR FBI Informants in Targeted Organizations: Intelligence Collection vs. Incitement to Illegal Activity — This dossier directly investigates the tension between intelligence collection and incitement by FBI informants, aligning with the concerns raised in this lead.
• → PARALLEL-PATTERN COINTELPRO Violent Outcomes: Direct Attribution vs. Organizational Disruption — Both dossiers explore the question of direct attribution of violent outcomes to agents or informants operating under government programs.
• → PARALLEL-PATTERN Prosecutions Based on COINTELPRO Infiltration: Convictions, Reversals, and Entrapment Claims — This dossier's focus on informant incitement relates to potential entrapment claims in prosecutions, a pattern explored in COINTELPRO cases.