John Kelly, lead author of Tainting Evidence, has charged FBI Director Louis

Freeh with the moral equivalent of murder for placing Roy Moody on death row

with no valid evidence. Kelly has made his charge on radio programs around the

country and a national television program to be aired in September. Moody was

wrongly convicted of the bombing of Judge Robert Vance in Alabama and is

expected to be executed in 1999 unless Freeh comes clean, according to Kelly.

In his book, written with Phillip Wearne, it is documented that Freeh violated

FBI lab protocol in allowing FBI lab agent Tom Thurman to testify in areas

beyond his expertise. Thurman was convinced of Moody's guilt long before the

trial, had provided erroneous information for affidavits justifying search

warrants and had personally led raids on Moody's property. He was the only lab

agent with incriminating evidence, and it was false, according to the book.

On the stand, Thurman testified under oath that a bomb found in Moody's home

17 years prior was identical to the bomb the blew up Judge Vance. Thurman was

not qualified to perform comparative analyses of the bombs, and his testimony

was false. The book reveals that two legitimate experts did compare the bombs

and concluded that they were not unique nor were they even similar. Freeh had

their reports but did not inform the jury and allowed Thurman to testify

falsely. This was the crucial "evidence" that led to Moody's wrongful

conviction. Former FBI lab chemist, Dr. Frederic Whitehurst, did an intense

study of the Moody case and concluded that Moody had been denied due process

and his Constitutional right to a fair trial because of the machinations of

Freeh, Thurman, and lab agent Roger Martz.

"It will be a terrifying precedent and set-back for justice and law

enforcement in this country if Roy Moody is executed in the electric chair,

and I challenge Director Freeh's courage and integrity to come forth before

it's too late," said Kelly.