AGILENT LINKED TO DEATH THREATS!
"I, Jon B. Eisenberg, declare:
1. I am an attorney at law licensed to practice law in California and a partner in the firm of Horvitz & Levy LLP, counsel for the defendants and appellants in Varian Medical Systems, Inc., etc. v. Michelangelo Delfino and Mary E. Day, Case No. CV 780187. The following facts are personally known to me. If called upon to do so, I could and would testify competently to these facts under oath.
2. In a telephone conversation on July 23, 3003, I informed plaintiffs’ counsel Matthew H. Poppe of the threats of death and great bodily injury made against Delfino, Day and their counsel on the Internet and by email, explaining the content and pseudonymous sources of the threats in considerable detail. I asked Mr. Poppe to help investigate to determine the identity of the perpetrator or perpetrators. Mr. Poppe replied that he would do no more than “approach” the subject of the threats with the corporate Varian plaintiffs “indirectly” by saying to them “if you know anything, let me know.” Mr. Poppe did not identify who he would “approach” at Varian.
3. Also during this telephone conversation, Mr. Poppe said he had previously asked plaintiffs Zdasiuk and Felch whether they had ever posted on the Internet, and because they told him they had not he was now “confident that they are not responsible for encouraging” the threats. I told Mr. Poppe the following: (1) one of the threatening postings said plaintiff Zdasiuk might be “justified in shooting Delfino in self-defense”; (2) numerous postings on the Yahoo! message board for Varian mentioned Zdasiuk had been selectively deleted from the board; and (3) some of the threatening emails have been traced to an Internet server for Agilent Technologies, Inc., by whom Zdasiuk’s wife Julie Fouquet is employed. Mr. Poppe said that, in spite of those points, he would not contact Zdasiuk regarding the threats.
4. Also during this telephone conversation, Mr. Poppe said that (1) he has been following postings by “crack_smoking_jesus” for a year, (2) he thinks “crack_smoking_jesus” is “obsessed” with this case, (3) another pseudonymous poster called “:harvey_wirman” once telephoned Mr. Poppe and claimed to know the true identity of “crack_smoking_jesus,” and (4) Mr. Poppe’s “theory” is that “crack_smoking_jesus” is a former Varian employee.
5. Immediately following our telephone conversation of July 23, 2002, I faxed Mr. Poppe a selection of threatening Internet postings and email messages.
6. Mr. Poppe telephoned me on July 31, 2002, and said “I don’t know” and “I can’t say” who is making the threats.
7. On August 5, 2002, Mr. Poppe and I exchanged a series of email messages concerning a claim by “crack_smoking_jesus” on the Internet that the Orrick firm knows “where to reach me.” I asked Mr. Poppe “s it true that ‘[y]ou know where to reach him?” Mr. Poppe responded: “No, it is not true. I assume he means we could contact him through the yahoo board. Or perhaps he is associated with that other web site that discusses the Varian/Delfino case, which I believe has a contact email address posted.” I replied: “Have you ever tried to contact him through the Yahoo board or through his website? Have you considered trying to do so since I alerted you to the death threats?” Mr. Poppe said: “No.”
8. On September 9, 2002, I telephoned Jeff Nedrow, the Untied States Attorney in charge of the criminal investigation of the death threats, and inquired as to the current status of the investigation. I also read aloud for Mr. Nedrow the plaintiffs’ assertion, at page 2, lines 13014, that “[t]he defendants’ proper recourse to identify the perpetrator(s) of the alleged threats is to seek the assistance of law enforcement.” Mr. Nedrow responded as follows: (1) he cannot say anything further at this time about the current status of the investigation other than to repeat that it remains ongoing, and (2) in his words, “law enforcement isn’t about providing information, it’s about investigating crimes and deciding whether to prosecute. You don’t go to law enforcement to get information.”
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct and that this declaration was executed on September 10, 2002, at Oakland, California.
signed Jon B. Eisenberg"
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