Judge affirms ruling to name undercover officers

A Philadelphia judge yesterday affirmed an order requiring prosecutors to disclose to defense attorneys the names of two police undercover officers involved in a 2007 altercation with protesters of a purported Ku Klux Klan rally in Center City.

Common Pleas Court Judge Frank Palumbo denied the district attorney's appeal of a ruling last Dec. 12 by Municipal Court President Judge Marsha H. Neifield.

Palumbo gave prosecutors until Jan. 12 to decide if they will appeal to the state Superior Court.

Cathie Abookire, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's Office, said Palumbo's ruling was being reviewed.

The three antiracism activists - Jared Schultz, 30, and Thomas Keenan, 24, both of Frankford, and Jason Robbins, 30, of West Philadelphia - were arrested July 23, 2007, near LOVE Park after they followed undercover officers they believed were neo-Nazis.

When the officers got into a waiting SUV, police said, the trio and others kicked the vehicle's sides and broke a rear window.

The unmarked vehicle belonged to the FBI's Philadelphia antiterrorism task force. The car was driven by two task force members who said they went to the KKK rally - which never happened - to observe hate groups.

As the case against the three moved toward a Municipal Court trial on conspiracy, criminal mischief and related charges, defense attorneys Paul J. Hetznecker and Lawrence S. Krasner filed motions asking for the undercover officers' names.

Contending that the undercover officers provoked the incident, the defense attorneys last December called one independent witness, a law student who happened to be present when antiracism protesters arrived at LOVE Park.

No KKK members showed, but the witness said the undercover officers walked into the park dressed like skinheads.

When one activist asked if the two were Klan members, one officer purportedly replied, "So what if we are?"

Witnesses said protesters began heckling the officers, calling them fascists and asking, "So you like to lynch black people?"

"We can lynch whoever we want," one officer reportedly replied.

An FBI agent who drove the SUV said the undercover officers - whom he recognized - approached the SUV and motioned to the protesters and said, "These guys want to fight us."

The city prosecutor argued last December that divulging the undercover officers' names would endanger them.

But Neifield noted that even the prosecutor acknowledged that the officers' names had previously been disclosed when they testified in drug trials.

Though concerned with the undercover officers' safety, Neifield said she was offended that police did not even anonymously mention the officers' presence in arrest reports for Schultz, Keenan, and Robbins.

Without that information, which Neifield said was mandatory for prosecutors to disclose, it would be impossible for defense attorneys to prove their claim that undercover officers precipitated the confrontation.