Gottheimer: Richard Jewell is a warning to those who falsely accuse.
/By Sussex Watchdog
From Wikipedia:
Richard Jewell is a 2019 American biographical drama film directed and produced by Clint Eastwood and written by Billy Ray. It is based on the 1997 Vanity Fair article "American Nightmare: The Ballad of Richard Jewell" by Marie Brenner and the 2019 book The Suspect: An Olympic Bombing, the FBI, the Media, and Richard Jewell, the Man Caught in the Middle by Kent Alexander and Kevin Salwen.
The film depicts the July 27 Centennial Olympic Park bombing and its aftermath, as security guard Richard Jewell finds a bomb during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, and alerts authorities to evacuate, only to later be wrongly accused of having placed the device himself. The film stars Paul Walter Hauser as Jewell, alongside Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates, Jon Hamm, and Olivia Wilde.
The film had its world premiere on November 20, 2019, at the AFI Fest, and was theatrically released in the United States on December 13, 2019, by Warner Bros. Pictures… It was chosen by the National Board of Review as one of the ten best films of the year… For her performance, Bates won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress and earned nominations at the Academy Awards and Golden Globes.
n 1986, Richard Jewell works as an office supply clerk in a small public law firm, where he builds a rapport with attorney Watson Bryant. Jewell leaves the firm to pursue a law enforcement career. At some point Jewell is hired as a sheriff's deputy, but ends up discharged. In early 1996, he's working as a security guard at Piedmont College, but is fired after multiple complaints of acting beyond his jurisdiction. Jewell later moves in with his mother Bobi in Atlanta. In the summer of 1996, he works as a security guard at the Olympic Games, monitoring Centennial Park.
In the early morning of July 27, 1996, after chasing off drunken revelers during a Jack Mack and the Heart Attack concert, Jewell notices a suspicious package beneath a bench, which an explosives expert confirms contains a bomb. The security team, including police officers, FBI agent Tom Shaw, and Jewell's friend Dave Dutchess, are moving concert attendees away from the bomb when it detonates, and Jewell is initially heralded as a hero.
After being contacted by the dean of Piedmont College about his dislike and suspicions of Jewell, at Atlanta's FBI office, Shaw and his team determine that Jewell, as a white, male, "wanna-be" police officer, fits the common profile of perpetrators committing similar crimes, comparing him to others who sought glory and attention by rescuing people from a dangerous situation they created themselves.
Shaw is approached by journalist Kathy Scruggs of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Over drinks in a cop bar, Shaw reveals that Jewell is under FBI suspicion. The Constitution publishes Scruggs's story on the front page, disclosing the FBI's interest in Jewell as a possible suspect. Scruggs makes particular note of Jewell's physique, the fact he lives with his mother, and work history to reassure herself that he fits the FBI's profile. The story quickly becomes international news.
Jewell, initially unaware of his changing public perception, is lured to the FBI office. He initially cooperates but refuses to sign an acknowledgement he has been read his Miranda rights, and instead phones Watson Bryant for legal representation. Bryant, now running his own struggling law firm, agrees and makes Jewell aware he is a prime suspect in the news.
Shaw and partner Sam Bennet visit the dean of Piedmont College, who reinforces their suspicion of Jewell. The FBI searches Jewell's home and seize property including true crime books and a cache of firearms. Jewell admits to Bryant that he has been evading income taxes for years and was once arrested for exceeding his authority. Bryant scolds Jewell for being too collegial with the police officers investigating him. Jewell admits his ingrained respect for authority makes it difficult for him not to be deferential, even when the authorities are trying to do him harm.
Jewell and Bryant confront Scruggs, demanding a retraction and apology, but she stands by her reporting. Still not completely convinced of Jewell's innocence, Bryant and his long-suffering secretary Nadya time the distance between the phone booth which was discovered to have made the initial threat of the bomb, and the bomb site, concluding it is impossible for someone to phone in the bomb threat and discover the bomb at the time it was found. Scruggs and Shaw come to the same conclusion, and the FBI changes their picture of the crime to include an accomplice. As their case weakens, the FBI try to link Dutchess to Jewell as a possible homosexual accomplice.
Bryant arranges a polygraph examination which Jewell passes, removing Bryant's doubt about his innocence. Bobi holds a press conference and pleads for the investigation to cease so she and her son may get on with their lives. Jewell and Bryant meet with Shaw and Bennet at the FBI office, and after some irrelevant questions, Jewell realizes they have no evidence against him. When he asks pointedly if they are ready to charge him, their silence convinces him to leave, finally having lost his sense of awe for law enforcement officers.
Eighty-eight days after being named "a person of interest", Jewell is informed by formal letter that he is no longer under investigation.
In April 2003, Jewell, now a police officer in Luthersville, Georgia, is visited by Bryant who tells him that Eric Rudolph has confessed to the Centennial Olympic Park bombing.
An epilogue states that two years later, on August 29, 2007, Jewell died at the age of 44 of complications from diabetes and heart failure. It also mentions that Bryant and Nadya got married and had two sons, both of whom Bobi babysits to this day.
Jewell was never charged with a crime, but media speculation led to the FBI publicly searching his home twice, his friends and neighbors being questioned, as well as FBI surveillance of him. A Justice Department investigation of the FBI's conduct in the case, found that the FBI had “tried to manipulate Jewell into waiving his constitutional rights by telling him he was taking part in a training film about bomb detection”, although the report concluded “no intentional violation of Mr. Jewell's civil rights and no criminal misconduct” had taken place.
On October 26, 1996, the United States Attorney in Atlanta, Kent Alexander, sent Jewell a letter saying “based on the evidence developed to date ... Richard Jewell is not considered a target of the federal criminal investigation into the bombing on July 27, 1996, at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta”. The letter did not include an apology, but in a separate statement issued by Alexander, the U.S. Justice Department regretted the leaking of the investigation.
The separately issued statement said that Jewell “endured highly unusual and intense publicity that was neither designed nor desired by the F.B.I., and in fact interfered with the investigation”, and that “The public should bear in mind that Richard Jewell has at no time been charged with any crime in connection with the bombing.” The New York Times reported that the statement was “a tacit admission by Federal officials that they had been wrong in their suspicion of Mr. Jewell.”
On July 31, 1997, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno expressed personal regret over the leak that led to intense scrutiny of Jewell. She said, “I'm very sorry it happened. I think we owe him an apology. I regret the leak.”
On August 2, 2006, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue honored Jewell for his rescue efforts during the attack, and publicly thanked him for saving people's lives. Perdue said Jewell “deserves to be remembered as a hero.”
CNN settled a libel suit brought by Jewell for an undisclosed monetary amount.
Jewell sued NBC News for this statement made by Tom Brokaw, “The speculation is that the FBI is close to making the case. They probably have enough to arrest him right now, probably enough to prosecute him, but you always want to have enough to convict him as well. There are still some holes in this case.” The network agreed to pay Jewell $500,000.
Jay Leno also apologized during a Tonight Show episode on October 28, 1996.
On July 23, 1997, Jewell sued the New York Post for $15 million in damages, contending that the paper portrayed him an “aberrant” person with a “bizarre employment history” who was probably guilty of the bombing. He eventually settled with the newspaper for an undisclosed amount.
Jewell filed suit against his former employer Piedmont College. The college settled for an undisclosed amount.
Released in late 2019, the movie got caught up in the hubbub of the COVID pandemic and the shutdown of theatres, but it is a worthwhile reminder of what happens when the media acts as a lynch mob and politicians and law enforcement go along for the ride. Richard Jewell was never the same after what he went through. He died a broken spirit.
Recently, in Sussex County, leaders of the Democrat Party – including former candidates, the former Party Chairwoman, and the current Democrat State Committeewoman – have been making defamatory accusations against their neighbors and the residents of their county. In concert with former candidate Kristy Lavin, Democrats like former Party Chairwoman Katie Rotondi have used public meetings to make unfounded accusations of criminal behavior against county residents.
Democrat operative Michael Schnackenberg has posted violent threats against political opponents – specifically targeting women with lurid, sexual insults – while Democrat Congressman Josh Gottheimer used the resources of his incumbency to make unfounded accusations of criminal behavior against political opponents. Before creating more innocent victims, in the way that Richard Jewell was a victim, the Democrats should think about it and perhaps embrace the historic liberalism they once possessed.
"Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense."
Article 11
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
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