A prosecutor portrayed FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita as a rookie on the elite Hostage Rescue Team who panicked and fired twice as refuge occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum nearly ran over his teammate at a police roadblock.

But Astarita lied to hide that he didn't hit his mark on Jan. 26, 2016, led by his ego and bravado as a "super agent'' - one who testified that he was trained to fire at a postage stamp 50 yards away, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Maloney argued Thursday.

One shot struck the roof of the truck and the other went astray as Finicum stepped out of his truck, his hands in the air, investigators said.

Astarita in 2010

"Putting rounds down range and missing is a big deal,'' Maloney said. "He lied to his superiors and he had to make that lie stick.''

Defense lawyer David Angeli countered that the government presented no witness over 11 days of Astarita's trial who either saw or heard Astarita fire any shots the day that state police and FBI agents arrested leaders of the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on U.S. 395 in eastern Oregon.

Prosecutors provided no forensic evidence that proved Astarita discharged his Colt AR-15, Angeli said as both sides delivered closing arguments.

Astarita had no motive to lie about firing the shots since he'd been informed that the Deschutes County district attorney had found all shots fired during the arrests to be justified, Angeli said.

"The question in this case is did Joe Astarita put that hole in Mr. Finicum's truck and then lie about it? And the answer is no, no, no,'' Angeli said, his voice growing louder as he addressed jurors from a lectern in front of the jury box. "The government has not come close to proving otherwise.''

Defense lawyers pointed to someone else who could have taken the shots: a state police SWAT officer, identified in court only as Officer 1over concern for his safety.

Officer 1's initial doubt that he may have fired the disputed shots when first told of the bullet strike to the roof of Finicum's truck should present enough reasonable doubt for jurors, Angeli said.

Astarita, 41, is accused of two counts of making a false statement, alleging he lied to his immediate FBI supervisor "B.M.'' at the scene and days later to FBI supervisor Tim Swanson when he told them he hadn't shot his rifle. He also faces one count of obstruction of justice during his initial interview with two state police detectives.

Two state police SWAT officers fatally shot Finicum moments after the two disputed shots as he walked away from his truck and reached into his jacket where police say he had a loaded gun.

The case is now in the hands of a jury of nine men and three women. They began deliberating about 2:30 p.m.

The prosecutor stressed the need to critically examine the actions of law enforcement officers who maintain positions of trust in the community and the importance of holding an FBI agent accountable for straying from the bureau's motto of "fidelity, bravery, integrity.''

"It's with no pleasure or glee, and it's with a heavy heart that the U.S. government has to ask you to convict one of its brightest stars because he's guilty,'' Maloney said.

Maloney argued that Astarita was the only officer who was standing in the spot where the bullet that struck Finicum's roof could have come from, based on government expert Michael Haag's analysis of the bullet's path.

He urged jurors to review FBI aerial video that captured Astarita's stance with his rifle shouldered, pointing at Finicum's truck as he stood beside the open passenger door of a state police pickup in the middle of the roadblock, at the time the two disputed shots were fired.

They must discount Astarita's own "self-serving'' testimony that he had no independent memory of where he was standing then, the prosecutor said. "He should know exactly where he was,'' Maloney said.

When FBI supervisory agent Ian McConnell asked Astarita at the scene if he had shot, and Astarita responded, "You don't got to ask me that bro,'' that was Astarita's attempt to stall after his panicked shots, the prosecutor said.

The rookie was "trying to blow him off,'' Maloney contended.

Prosecutors presented other circumstantial evidence: officers' testimony that Astarita appeared unusually "amped up'' and had to be told by an FBI supervisor to "quiet down'' immediately afterward; a state police officer's testimony that without any provocation Astarita knocked off the hat of Ryan Bundy, a passenger in Finicum's truck, as he was being placed in handcuffs; and the FBI's aerial infrared video that they said captured Hostage Rescue Team agents scouring the scene that night for evidence, bending down and looking under trucks and appearing to pick things up.

Angeli, though, described what he called "lots and lots of holes'' in the government's case, listing each beside generic images of holes in a Power Point presentation.

Among those, he ridiculed what he described as the government's attempt to use "circles and squiggles'' to identify precisely where officers were positioned at the time of the disputed shots. He cited problems with the government's forensic analysis of the bullet path, arguing that the so-called "rocker point method'' used by the government's expert was too subjective and unreliable. He likened another government expert's 3D shooting reconstruction model to a "cartoon'' diagram that didn't consider how Finicum's truck settled in the snowbank over time.

"The prosecution has lots and lots of holes in it and every one of those holes gives you reasonable doubt,'' Angeli said. "When you have poor quality evidence, you can't just ignore it and pretend that it is more precise than it is.''

Maloney shot back in rebuttal: "Closely look at the hole that matters, Impact W,'' referring to the investigators' label for the bullet strike to the roof of Finicum's cab.

The government portrayed the state police SWAT officers as doing things "by the book'' and owning their shots from the start. Maloney described Officer 1 as taking "decisive and courageous'' actions.

But Astarita's lawyer said it was the FBI that "kept its cool and held fire'' that day, while the state police lacked discipline, took an aggressive stance that escalated the arrests of the occupation leaders during the initial police stop a mile from the roadblock and at times acted recklessly.

A state police trooper fired a 40mm rubber bullet at refuge occupier Ryan Payne shortly after Payne had placed his hands and head out of the passenger window of Finicum's truck at the first stop on U.S. 395, prompting an FBI agent to turn and yell, "WTF was that?''

It needlessly ratcheted up the tension, Angeli said. And it was Officer 1 at the roadblock farther north on the highway in Harney County who "let loose with three rounds'' into Finicum's truck as it barreled toward the roadblock, even though he acknowledged that he couldn't see the driver or passengers, Angeli said.

He accused Officer 1 of lying on the witness stand, when he claimed that he had told investigators last year that he was startled by a loud noise to his right as he was moving from east to west across U.S. 395 at the time of the disputed shots, though not one investigator heard that claim until Officer 1 shared that with prosecutors a month before trial.

"His word cannot be trusted,'' Angeli said.

Joey Pollard, a state trooper at the scene who witnessed the fatal shooting, provided Officer 1 with updates on the investigation through text messages and calls, even providing him details about the forensic examination of the rooftop bullet hole, Angeli said.

Angeli called the prosecution's allegations that the Hostage Rescue Team agents picked up shell casing evidence from the scene "ludicrous,'' noting that the government hasn't charged any of the agents with such an offense and there's no evidence that they did.

Each of the federal agents testified they were conducting searches for remnants of flash-bang grenades or for lost gear.

Maloney said the agents acknowledged walking around the scene after the shooting and alleged that Astarita was seen scouring the fog line on the southbound lane of U.S. 395, to the right of where he had been standing, where his casings would have ejected.

"The significance of this is troubling,'' Maloney said.

He noted that Astarita picked up a magazine of ammunition, along with one round that had fallen out at the scene, but never told investigators that he had done so.

"Could it be that the hotshop HRT agent,'' lied to "leave OSP holding the bag?'' the prosecutor suggested.

"This case is about integrity. This case is about honesty," Maloney said. "This case is about accountability and owning your shots."

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian