EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a reprint of the June 1992 investigative report into the extradition request by the US State Department for Robert and Rochelle Manning.

The first printing was limited to a press run of about 4,000. Only a few copies of this limited Israeli edition remain. Because of widespread US interest in the Mannings’ extradition, this special Internet edition is now available.

The writer/editor was a senior member of the editorial staff at The Jerusalem Post, but wishes to make it known that The Jerusalem Post and its editors and staff have no association with this report or the investigation, which was done independently of the Post and on the writer/editor’s own time. Since it is now being more widely disseminated in the United States, and the writer is an American journalist, it also does not fall under the jurisdiction of and has not been reviewed by Israeli censors, who must review all editorial content in the Israeli press prior to publication.

The findings were presented before the Post editorial board, which was divided on whether to proceed with extensive and expensive efforts to obtain comments from government and prosecution figures in the US as to their version of the facts especially when some of those facts were sure to be censored because of the highly political and potentially inflammatory nature of this report.

Without regard to censorship and in the interest of “truth” and “justice” the writer/editor here presents the story “too politically sensitive” for the Israeli daily media. Government and prosecution sources are quoted to the extent they would comment but Manning had a lot to say and not a lot of time to say it.

Evidence Against Extradition

The Jerusalem Torah Voice & Investigative Report

JERUSALEM -- Robert Manning once admitted that his left thumbprint actually could have been on the flap of a box used to package a bomb that exploded in 1980 and killed a Los Angeles secretary.

"The device was in a box just like the ones we used in our office to pack books," said Manning during a March 30 interview at the Russian Compound Prison in Jerusalem . "If it was someone's idea to frame me, it would have been easy to do."

There is nothing particularly credible, noteworthy or even newsworthy about a man behind bars claiming to be framed. But in a four-month investigation of the events surrounding the pending extradition of Robert Manning and his wife Rochelle, the Jerusalem Torah Voice & Investigative Report discovered a trail of tampered evidence, innuendo, harassment and "outrageous US government conduct" aimed at the Jewish activist who claims his only crime has been defending Jewish causes and Judaism. Among the most surprising findings:

● "Suspect" if not "doctored" fingerprint evidence which shakes the US case against the Mannings in connection with the July 17, 1980, bombing death of Patricia Wilkerson, a secretary at a Los Angeles computer firm.

● A paper trail linking the Mannings' arrests and imprisonments to foreign policy objectives of US Secretary of State James Baker and the administration of President George H.W. Bush and the timing of Baker's first and second visits to Israel.

There is nothing out of the ordinary about that trail except that it indicates the political motive for wanting Manning -- pressure from the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and other members of the Arab lobby in Washington.

That lobby sandwiches the extradition of Robert Manning -- by name and by place of residence -- between U.S. recognition of Palestine (meaning the U.S. must press Israel to recognize a Palestinian State) and UN Resolution No. 242 (meaning no further Jewish settlements in the unannexed territories) as "necessary for initiating peace negotiations."

That lobby's influence in Congress appears to have been spearheaded by the ADC chairman who was a US congressman himself at the time and by a second congressman still in office who was on the ADC's National Advisory Committee. The latter congressman may have used his influence as chairman of the House Committee on Criminal Justice to order a congressional hearing into the 1985 pipe bomb death of ADC West Coast director Alex Odeh, in which Manning was a prime suspect.

● An airtight alibi that shows Manning to be in Israel 32 days continuously before Odeh's death in Los Angeles. The pipe bomb death of Odeh appears spontaneous since it occurred on the morning after Odeh had publicly praised PLO leader Yasser Arafat on ABC Television as a "man of peace."

The first part of this investigative report, `US prosecution is all thumbs,' will focus on the fingerprint evidence. Part two, `Pawns on a political chessboard,' will expose the politics and "outrageous US government conduct" behind the extradition request, which is itself shown to be in violation of the extradition treaty between the U.S. and Israel forbidding "political" extraditions. The concluding report, `WANTED: Dead,' will look in depth at Manning's numerous arrests, and his one conviction -- misdemeanor assault and possession of firecrackers. Manning's alibi, Israeli and American passports that show him to be in Israel 32 days continuously before Odeh's death, also will be examined.

The US State Department and the US congressmen who were contacted for "their side" of the story, did not take the investigation seriously, ignored written and oral questions posed to them and/or refused to reply to numerous written inquiries.

The Office of Israeli Justice Minister Dan Meridor also declined comment on any aspect of the investigation, citing Israeli statutes that prohibit discussing a case while it is before the courts.

The U.S. Department of Justice did issue this statement: "In the matter of the United States vs Robert and Rochelle Manning, prosecutors have requested the U.S. Department of State to expedite extradition procedures. It is the State Department's jurisdiction.”

I. US prosecution is all-thumbs

The Jerusalem Torah Voice & Investigative Report

Robert Manning now claims his left thumb print was never on the flap of that box that contained a bomb disguised as a "new invention" mailed to Patricia Wilkerson's boss, Brenda Crouthamel Adams. Neither does he believe that his wife's right thumb print was on an accompanying letter of instructions.

Among the dozens of prints found on the box in which the device was mailed, an inspector with the US Postal Service Crime Lab claimed on April 18, 1988, to have identified Robert Manning's left thumb print under the packaging tape on one flap and Rochelle Manning's right thumb print on the accompanying letter of instructions.

Mrs. Manning was arrested by the FBI and US Postal Inspection Service agents eight years after Wilkerson's death as she stepped off of her plane from Israel with her two children on a family visit two months later on June 22, 1988. She was tried on the murder charge in January 1989 and freed after a hung jury. The prosecution surprisingly decided against retrying Mrs. Manning, even though the jury was hung 10-2 in its favor.

Mr. Manning, also charged in the Wilkerson murder, remained in Israel the entirety of his wife's trial because he claimed an FBI agent assigned to the Odeh case had made numerous threats on his life during his last visit to the States in 1986. He had complained about those threats to the American Civil Liberties Union in a five-page letter dated February 21, 1987.

The letter, obtained during the Torah Voice's inquiry, relates his claims of FBI harassment because of his high profile as a Jewish activist and activities in support of the late Kach party leader Rabbi Meir Kahane. It was Kahane's books, Manning said he was packing in boxes identical to the one that contained the bomb that killed Wilkerson.

Both Mannings were arrested at their home in Kiryiat Arba by Israeli Police on March 24, 1991, more than 10 years after the Wilkerson death. They have been in prison at the Russian Compound for more than a year, awaiting the final outcome of the extradition request, which is now under review by the High Court.

Israel's lower court ruled in December 1991, that Mr. Manning's thumb print on the box and Mrs. Manning's thumb print on the letter together showed prima facia evidence and granted the extradition.

The Mannings, maintaining their innocence, appealed and decided to seek other expert opinions about the fingerprints since it seemed that the prints "were the only real evidence against us," Manning said. The High Court on May 19 took under advisement whether to allow these experts' affidavits -- disputing the fingerprint evidence -- to become part of the Court record.

Michael Bennett of Pikesville, Maryland, who describes himself as a "friend of the Mannings" said he secured the affidavits from five experts, to whom he paid a total of $1,250.

Bennett told the Torah Voice that he attended the same synagogue as the Mannings when he lived in the Los Angeles area in the late 1970s.

"Based on my knowledge of Bob and Rochelle, I could not take at face value the claim against them. The nature and history of the evidence begged for serious questioning. After receiving authorization from the Mannings' attorney to act as a third party, I requested and received the evidence and submitted it to these experts. My attitude was to `let the chips fall where they may' and so I did not tell these five men of the nature of the case until after they had concluded their work so as not to prejudice them," Bennett said.

The Torah Voice interviewed each of the five men after receiving copies of their affidavits in January.

The five each stand by their reports despite pressure from US prosecutors against two of them. Alan Bookoff and Louis Schreiberg, retouching experts in the Baltimore area, each told the Torah Voice they were asked by the California prosecutor assigned to the Manning case, Dean Dunlavey, to "tone down" or "alter" the statements in their affidavits.

Bookoff and Schreiberg also said that each was contacted independently and asked to sign another affidavit discrediting the earlier affidavit of the other. Dunlavey faxed a copy of the affidavit critical of Schreiberg to Bookoff, who in turn mailed it to the Torah Voice.

"I never signed it and told Mr. Dunlavey I would not sign it," Bookoff said. The other experts said they were not contacted by Dunlavey or anyone who asked them to change their statements.

In a faxed statement, Dunlavey declined comment on any aspect of the Manning case and why he attempted to have Schreiberg and Bookoff change their opinions, because he wrote, federal laws prevented him "from making any statement concerning evidence or argument in the case, whether or not it is anticipated that such evidence or argument will be used at trial.'"

A photocopy of a fax cover sheet obtained by the Torah Voice from the office of Justice Minister Dan Meridor marked ‘Dahuf,’ or (URGENT), indicates that Dunlavey's apparent attempts to discredit the two experts came within hours after that office transmitted a fax to Dunlavey detailing the affidavits to him..

"Only two of the experts were contacted by Dunlavey, because these were the only opinions we had obtained at that time. Hence, theirs were the only names that Ms. (Ruth) Rabin (Meridor's assistant) transmitted to the US." Bennett said adding that he felt Dunlavey had "attempted to use his office as a vehicle to intimidate these experts."

The affidavits signed by the five alleged experts are dated December 19, 1991, to January 6, 1992. They base their opinions on their independent examinations of contact photographs of the incriminating prints and enlargements of those prints compared with the Mannings' actual fingerprints. Both sets were supplied by the prosecution to Alan Rubin, Mrs. Manning's attorney in her 1989 California trial.

Here are the experts' surprising findings:

● Robert Groden, an expert witness before the Rockefeller Commission, the US Senate Intelligence Committee and the US House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations, concluded "there appears to be some form of deception in the evidence as presented. The government's chart enlargements appear to have been photographically altered."

Groden, was staff photographic consultant to the House committee reviewing evidence in the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy.

"I am amazed there are so few prints on the suspect letter. If Mrs. Manning had actually handled the letter in the prescribed way (as alleged in the court testimony of the postal inspector), "there would be, beyond question, many more of her fingerprints on the letter.

"The evidence as I see it, makes me believe that the fingerprints are probably not those of the Mannings."

● Louis Schreiberg stated that the photograph exhibit identified as "left thumb of Robert Steven Manning, allegedly found on a flap of the box under a piece of packing tape, "had been altered by some way. My reason for drawing this conclusion is based on the fact that this photograph showed some light lines that divided some detail masses in a continuous way unlike the detail in other parts of the photograph."

He said he found similar signs of "retouching" on exhibit 29A, right thumb of Rochelle Ida Manning, allegedly found on the letter.

● Allen Bookoff, who said he has more than 20 years experience in the study of photography and retouching of negatives, prints and transparencies stated the government's enlargements "contain images not found in the original contact prints (photos) that I examined."

● Michael Kradz, certified as a teacher of fingerprint classification and identification by the Maryland State Police Training Commission, also reviewed the 130-page transcript of the postal examiner's expert testimony during Rochelle Manning's earlier trial.

"I do not agree with the Postal Examiner that the left thumb print of Robert Manning and the right thumb print of Rochelle Manning on the bomb letter contained 12 and 15 points of identification." (At least 12 points are needed to show a match under California law).

"This examiner lacked the experience of examining latent prints." Kradz said the transcript shows that the examiner had gone so far as to misidentify the incriminating thumb print of Manning as a “partial palm print” during his investigation.

● Stephen Schneiderman, trained 35 years in the detection of retouched negatives, multiple negative printing and negative manipulation states: "All of the government chart enlargements were photographed with uneven lighting and by selective exposure of the images. The charts do not accurately represent the detail shown in the contact prints. The exhibit 26A marked `left thumb print of Robert Steven Manning,' shows areas of suspect quality that could possibly be the result of negative manipulation. The fingerprint evidence is not reliable and is subject to suspicion from a photographic standpoint."

In attempting to reach the Washington US Postal Service examiner who testified that the prints were the Mannings', the Torah Voice learned from an employee at the office of the International Association of Identifiers who requested anonymity, that the examiner, Billy Dotson, has been decertified by the Association.. Doug Dutcher, a private investigator hired by Bennett, later confirmed that Dotson is no longer working as an identifier and could not be located by standard investigative techniques. IAI secretary-treasurer Ashley Crooker informed the Torah Voice that he had no address for Dotson.

During March 30 and April 13 interviews in the visitors center at the Russian Compound lockup, Manning filled in some of the details of the Torah Voice investigation into the fingerprints. Specifically, he was asked why neither he nor his wife had earlier contested the fingerprint evidence. Here is his answer:

"From the first day my wife was arrested, I wanted to get fingerprint experts. Her attorneys in America said it would cost somewhere around $25,000. They knew we were having a hard time paying their fees, so they told me, `No.'

"Since only one left thumb print supposedly identified as mine was found on the edge of the box where it folds over and then is taped and none of my prints were found on the other side of the flap, it is conceivable that I came into contact with the carton before it was folded ... while it was still flat, if it was taken from my office, where we were packing Rabbi Kahane's books. But there were dozens of other prints found on the box, and as far as I know, none of them have been identified as being mine."

"And ... I guess we thought the case was so clearly a frame that we did not spend the time and the money to check the fingerprints. Her attorney said it doesn't matter whether or not they are your prints, they are in a place where it doesn't show intent to commit a crime so we are not even going to look to see if they are your prints. They (the prosecutors) have to prove there was knowledge and intent to commit a crime."

Manning claims the sequence of events since shortly before his wife's arrest when compared with the court transcript of her trial, also raises suspicion.

The court transcript states that the left thumb print, which Dotson mistook as a partial palm when first examining the packaging in 1980, was "too fragmentary" to be entered into the FBI's national crime computer. But Manning claims that eight years later, two months before his wife's arrest, "Dotson was able to look at a set of his prints and say, `its a perfect match with the left thumb print of Robert Manning.' He says the left `thumb' print of Robert Manning."

The court transcript states that the prints from which Dotson made his identification were given to Dotson in March 1988 by Postal Inspector G.M. Porter, who assisted the FBI in the arrest of Mrs. Manning three months later.

"In May, a month after Dotson claimed to have identified my thumb print, they requested fingerprints of my wife. They supposedly checked fingerprints on the letter and they said it's a match with the right thumb print of my wife. In 1980, Dotson has a partial palm print too fragmentary for the computer, but in 1988, he has an identical thumb print! And all of this transpired within two months after the FBI had been tipped off by someone in Kiryiat Arba that Rochelle was coming to the States to visit her family."

"All of these little things sounded so unbelieveable to us, with modern equipment today and since my fingerprints were already available on the computer in America ... why they couldn't have just put it in the computer index system and found it in 1980 ... if it was really on the box to begin with."

II. Pawns on a political chessboard

DELL GRIFFIN / Copyright 1992

The Jerusalem Torah Voice & Investigative Report

US Secretary of State James Baker's first and second visits to Israel in the spring of 1991 had dire consequences for Robert and Rochelle Manning.

Within two weeks of Baker's first visit the Mannings were arrested to face a hearing on whether they should be held until the Israeli courts ruled on their extradition to face murder charges. The day Baker made his hastily announced return, newspapers in Israel carried the story that the Mannings were behind bars without bail.

A four-month Torah Voice investigation has determined that the Mannings' arrests and imprisonments appear linked to foreign policy objectives of Baker and the administration of President George H.W. Bush as well as the timing of Baker's visits.

As Secretary of State, Baker would be privy to all extradition requests. But linking the Mannings' extradition to foreign policy objectives appears to be a ploy to appease the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and other members of the Arab lobby in Washington. This is because officials of that Arab lobby sandwich the extradition of Robert Manning -- by name and by place of residence -- between US recognition of Palestine and acceptance of UN Resolution 242 as "necessary for initiating peace negotiations." Those proposals -- and a hard line on terrorist activity -- comprise the basic platform Baker has urged in his dealings with the Israeli government.

The Arab lobby has made no secret that it wants Robert Manning because it believes he is a prime suspect in the pipe bomb death of ADC regional director Alex Odeh on October 11, 1985, the morning after Odeh had praised PLO leader Yasser Arafat as a "man of peace" on national network TV.

Israel's extradition treaty with the US forbids the US to extradite Manning in connection with Odeh's death, since Manning and his wife became Israeli citizens four years earlier in 1981 and the treaty protects any Israeli citizen from a political extradition in any way, shape or form. And, Manning has an airtight alibi that makes it impossible for him to have planted the pipe bomb that killed Odeh. (See Part III: `WANTED: Dead')

But in its zeal to return the Mannings to the US and thereby placate the Arab lobby, the State Department has revived a yet-unsolved murder case -- the death of a secretary at a computer marketing firm in the Los Angeles area in 1980, before the Mannings became Israelis. In reviving this case to extradite the Mannings, the State Department has left uncovered political tracks not to mention suspect fingerprints. (See Part I: US Prosecution is all thumbs)

The secretary died when she plugged into a wall electrical socket a bomb disguised as a "new invention" that was received in the mail and which was intended for her boss. The owner of the computer company, Brenda Adams, was involved in a longstanding real estate dispute with William Ross, a Los Angeles area real estate broker, and his brother. On the day the bomb intended for Adams killed her secretary, the Ross brothers were to give depositions in a lawsuit stemming from the dispute.

No mention of the Mannings was made in connection with the Wilkerson case until 1988, eight years after Wilkerson's death. But Manning was immediately the prime suspect in the FBI investigation of Odeh's death, according to FBI Agent Larry Wack. However, internal memos that surfaced during the Torah Voice's investigation, show the FBI had no direct evidence linking Manning to Odeh's death until the case was reopened by pressure on the Justice Department, the State Department and key members of Congress.

Moreover, the Mannings had moved to Kiryiat Arba. Extradition of territorial residents by the Israeli government was not in the best interest of the ADC since it would have set a documented, legal precedent recognizing Israeli authority in the administered territories, something the Palestinians wanted to avoid at all costs.