[Donald E. Pauly]

Contumacyman is still missing in action and I am having to fill in for him. The recorder is disguised as a keychain fob and downloads its file thru a USB port to a host computer. It is normal procedure to delete the file after it has been downloaded so that the recorder can be reused.

Steele's scumbag lawyer makes a fool of himself thru his ignorance of digital technology. A tenth generation copy of a digital file may be better in all respects than the so called original. As long as the file can be read without error, all copies are EXACTLY the same. The original analog to digital converter changes the sound to a sequence of ones and zeros. These are stored in on the recorder's semiconductor memory that has no moving parts.

2-389-16 denotes 2nd trial day, page 389, line 16 on the transcript
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2-389-16

BY MR. McALLISTER:

Q. Agent Sotka, you placed a recording device or like a microphone that could record sound on Mr. Fairfax; correct?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. All right. And that device did not transmit the conversation to you; correct?
A. No, sir.
Q. So nobody could hear the conversation; it was just being recorded, correct, sir?
A. Yes, sir.

2-390-1

Q. All right. So you listened to it after the fact, later that evening, June 9th; correct?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And I think you said that you took the recording -- and I'm assuming it was on a disk or a CD?
A. The recording was on the device.
Q. Okay. It was on the device. You took it from the device and put it into a computer; correct?
I plug it into a USB adapter that goes into this device.
Q. Okay. So you're transferring to a computer; correct?
A. I'm not sure if it's transferred to the computer or directly to the disk. I'm not really sure.
Q. Okay. Your intent is to put it on another disk, to make a copy; correct?
A. To make the original download, yes.
Q. Okay. And then you erase the original conversation that was recorded; correct?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Before listening to it; correct, sir?
A. I'm not sure if I listened to it first.

2-391-1

I would have assumed I listened to it, to make sure there was something on the disk. So I believe I listened to it first. Once I confirmed there was a transfer of data to the disk, I deleted it.

Q. Okay. And so, therefore, no one is able today to listen to or examine the original recording; correct?
A. What the FBI considers the original recording is the first download. So that can be examined.
Q. Agent Sotka, I don't know if you understood my question, but it was: The defense doesn't have an opportunity to listen to or examine the original recording; isn't that correct, sir?

A. To answer your question, the way I understand it, the original recording is a download. We don't listen to it from the device. So the original recording is available.

Q. Well, actually, a copy is available; correct, sir?
A. I have to answer how I understand it. The original disk is sent down to our office in Salt Lake City and kept in an L-sure, and that is considered the original copy.
Q. But it's not the original, is it? It's a copy.

MS. WHELAN: Your Honor, objection. Asked and answered.

THE COURT: Counsel -- you know, I think we're somewhat arguing semantics, but I think counsel is entitled to go ahead and make sure the jury understands what happened. And perhaps I'll give you one more stab at it. There may be just a disagreement as to how you characterize a copy versus the original, but I think counsel is entitled to some leeway. Go ahead.

Q. What you sent to your Salt Lake FBI office, you called just now an original copy; correct?
A. We call it the original. It's stamped that. Copies are everything after that point.
Q. Okay. But it's not the original. The original was in the recording device; correct, sir?
A. I have to disagree with you on that, because we call that the original.