USDC Oregon Case 3:16-CR-00051-BR 

Motion to Compel Discovery Regarding Government Informant or Agent 1

Tiffany A. Harris OSB 02318

Attorney at Law

333 SW Taylor St., Suite 300

Portland, Oregon 97204

Tel: (503) 782-4788

tiff@harrisdefense.com

Standby Counsel for Shawna Cox

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON

PORTLAND DIVISION

 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff,

v. 

 SHAWNA COX.

Defendant.

3:16-CR-00051-BR-7

MOTION TO COMPEL 

DISCOVERY REGARDING 

INFORMANT OR AGENT 

Shawna Cox, by and through standby counsel, Tiffany A. Harris, moves the Court for an 

order compelling the Government to furnish discovery concerning the identity and other 

information relating to a government informant / agent who infiltrated the refuge on January 23, 

2016 using the alias, “John Killman,” and posed as a weapons instructor and tactical trainer. Mr. 

“Killman” is believed to be the same person who appears in discovery as “CHS 2.” As set forth 

in the detailed proffer below, defendants have established Mr. Killman’s status as a percipient 

witness to the events depicted in Government Exhibit 73 and his role as a participant and leader

in the firearms training and defensive, military-style maneuvers described in co-defendant Jeff 

Banta’s testimony (and the proffers of others in discovery).

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USDC Oregon Case 3:16-CR-00051-BR 

Motion to Compel Discovery Regarding Government Informant or Agent 2

Various reports provided in discovery, along with defense witness interviews, document 

the arrival, on January 23, 2016, of a weapons instructor, expert in “hand to hand training” and 

leader in defensive drills at the refuge. “John Killman”-- as he was known to the refuge 

occupiers-- spoke with a French or South African accent. His training exercises were described 

briefly in Jeff Banta’s direct testimony, then emphasized during Banta’s cross examination. For 

example, the Government pressed Mr. Banta for details about whether part of the training he 

received included how to stop an approaching car, flatten its tires with a nail studded hose, 

forcibly remove the driver, and subject him to interrogation. The point of that line of questioning

was two-fold: to suggest that these exercises could yield newfound skills that could be used to 

secure the refuge through force, threat, and intimidation and to insinuate that every charged 

defendant acquiesced to and agreed with Killman’s approach. 

During another part of the Government’s case-in-chief, an FBI investigator identified 

Exhibit 73-- a video (extracted from Blaine Cooper’s cell phone) depicting a group of men in the 

boat launch area of the refuge, firing various handguns and semi-automatic rifles as part of some 

sort of drill or target practice. 

A Facebook profile for a “John Killman” remains viewable to the public. The profile 

does not contain any likeness or photo of Mr. Killman-- only an image of a military style rifle. 

The majority of the Facebook “friends” claimed by Mr. Killman are individuals who occupied 

the refuge, along with their family members or associates. The profile was created in January of 

2016, after the occupation commenced. 

A series of reports of contacts with “CHS 2” document the activities of an informant 

believed to be the same person posing as “Killman.” CHS 2 arrives in Burns on January 23 

2016, discusses the presence of a shooting range, documents various types of classes that are 

now occurring there, and estimates the number of rounds fired. Another CHS (apparently 

uninformed of Killman’s activities) observes on January 25, that there is “much more shooting at 

the refuge” than before.

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Motion to Compel Discovery Regarding Government Informant or Agent 3

Within the last two weeks, defense investigators located and subpoenaed an individual 

living in Las Vegas who speaks with a French accent and has since admitted to:

• Traveling to the refuge, staying for three days (in a hotel for two nights and in the 

bunkhouse for one night), and leaving on January 26, 2016 after the arrests of the 

Bundys and others;

• Using the alias “John Killman”1;

• Offering firearms “safety” classes to refuge occupiers;

• Being born in Switzerland and serving in the Swiss army for 20 years;

• Being trained in “psy-ops,” weaponry, and martial arts;

• Being present for and witnessing the events depicted in Government Ex. 73. 

Mr. Killman is now in Portland and was interviewed by two defense counsel and a 

defense investigator. Immediately following that interview, defense counsel sent a detailed 

proffer to the Government and asked for confirmation of Mr. Killman’s status as an informant 

or agent. The Government has declined to answer. In the meantime, Mr. Killman is under 

subpoena and hoping to leave Portland by tomorrow afternoon to resume his training as a 

police recruit with tribal authorities in Arizona. Defense counsel has communicated with a 

detective leading the academy training who has confirmed Mr. Killman’s need to return to 

Arizona as soon as possible in order for Mr. Killman to preserve his eligibility to graduate from 

the tribal police academy. 

In order to facilitate Mr. Killman’s prompt testimony tomorrow morning, the defense 

requests that the Government provide the following information and materials in discovery:

(1) Confirmation of Mr. Killman’s status as an agent or informant;

(2) The form and amount of any compensation he received;

(3) The agency that arranged for Mr. Killman’s work at the refuge;

 1 The defense served Mr. Killman under what we believe to be his true name, which we have already proffered to 

the Government. For purposes of this motion, we will continue to refer to him by his alias, in the event that he is 

not, in fact, a Government agent or informant.

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Motion to Compel Discovery Regarding Government Informant or Agent 4

(4) Any photographs taken by Mr. Killman during his work as an informant or agent 

on this case;

(5) Unredacted versions of all of reports in discovery pertaining to Mr. Killman. 

The presence and number of spent rounds in the boat launch area became an important 

and dramatic part of the Government’s case in chief. The Government pressed the issue of Mr. 

Killman’s trainings during Mr. Banta’s cross examination. None of the charged defendants, and 

perhaps no one else who occupied the refuge, had the level of expertise necessary to conceive of 

the training exercises instituted by Mr. Killman. The defense must be permitted to tell the jury 

that some of the most dramatic evidence of force, threat, or intimidation in this case was created, 

at least in part, by a paid government informant or agent. If Mr. Killman was dispatched to the 

refuge, in the waning days of the occupation, to encourage refuge occupiers to engage in mock 

tactical drills and trainings and to fire weapons on refuge property, then the jury should be able 

to consider that fact. It is surely relevant to the broader question of whether these defendants 

assembled at the refuge with the intent to engage in a protest or to prevent federal employees 

from discharging their duties through a show of military-style force. It’s not clear that any 

defendant, other than Mr. Banta ever participated in Killman’s exercises, and Banta, himself, 

describes it as a one-time lark or diversion that he had never considered before—an explanation 

that is more plausible when one considers how and why those activities were introduced into the 

refuge environment.

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Motion to Compel Discovery Regarding Government Informant or Agent 5

Therefore, the Court should order disclosure of the requested information because it is 

necessary and material to the defense case, exculpatory under Brady v. Maryland, and central to 

conducting a fair trial and meeting the demands of Due Process.

Respectfully submitted,

/S/ Tiffany Harris

Tiffany A. Harris 

Standby Counsel for Defendant Shawna Cox

Reviewed and approved by

/S/ Shawna Cox

Shawna Cox

Pro Se Defendant 

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