Closed hearing sought in Wales probe

A special prosecutor wants the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to hold an extraordinary closed hearing in Seattle next week in connection with the grand-jury investigation into the 2001 slaying of federal prosecutor Thomas Wales.

The hearing, set for 9 a.m. Wednesday, involves Albert Kwok Leung Kwan, a Bellevue gun dealer who has been called to testified before the grand jury several times and once was jailed for 23 days as a material witness in the case.

Kwan's lawyer, Joseph Conte of Washington, D.C., said he opposes the government's attempt to close the hearing to the public. Conte said he could not comment further.

The request for secrecy was made by Steven Clymer, the New York-based special prosecutor overseeing the Wales investigation. The move is rare but not unprecedented, said Dave Madden, a spokesman for the appeals court, which is based in San Francisco.

A three-judge panel is expected to rule on Clymer's motion on Monday, Madden said.

Kathy Morris, the assistant deputy clerk for the court's offices in Seattle, said the motion "involves a grand-jury matter." All of its court filings are sealed, and the issue involved could not be determined.

The 9th Circuit hearing stems from an appeal of a ruling made in secret by a federal district-court judge in Seattle. But the nature of the appeal and who brought it are part of the sealed court record because it involves the grand jury.

Kwan has been a recurring figure in the Wales homicide investigation, but he is not considered a suspect in the Oct. 11, 2001, shooting death of Wales. The 18-year federal prosecutor was killed as he worked at a computer in the basement of his Queen Anne home.

The FBI and Seattle homicide detectives have focused on a Bellevue airline pilot, who once was prosecuted by Wales, as a prime suspect. No charges have been filed despite a $1 million reward, a special prosecutor, an FBI task force and six years of investigation. The Seattle Times is not naming the man because he has not been charged.

If Wales was killed because of his work, he would be the first U.S. federal prosecutor killed in the line of duty.

Kwan, a former Army sergeant and a gun collector and dealer, has refused to testify before the Wales grand jury and was jailed for 23 days in 2005 as a material witness.

At the time, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives raided his Bellevue home and found hundreds of firearms, most of them legal collectors' pieces.

Prosecutors and FBI agents have repeatedly questioned Kwan about his alleged purchase of two aftermarket barrels for a Makarov handgun, the weapon agents say was used to kill Wales. The FBI has evidence that Kwan purchased two of the unusual barrels. He has admitted one purchase, but he claimed no recollection of the other. When Wales was killed, Kwan and the airline pilot, also a gun collector, lived a few miles from each other.

Kwan was charged and convicted of owning an illegal short-barreled rifle, although that conviction was thrown out by a federal judge and Kwan granted a new trial. The government appealed that ruling.

The last time 9th Circuit judges closed a hearing was in August, when a three-member panel, over objections by watchdog groups and the media, heard a case related to the corruption investigation into former California congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham in San Diego, Madden said.

Staff reporter Steve Miletich contributed to this story.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com