Sipsey Street Exclusive: Little Jimmy Vann raises his ugly little head, again, in the most unlikely of places. Friesen Case -- the ATF self-inflicted wound that continues to be a running sore on their legitimacy. Who is Delbert Knopp?

Doug Friesen, the Oklahoma attorney that the ATF tried to send to federal prison for his opinions. His case still haunts them.

When we last left the case of the United States vs. Doug Friesen, it was "Groundhog Day" while ATF's James P. Vann searched frantically for his "lost" documents, and the ATF folded because, as I was cautioned by someone familiar with the case at the time, "You don't have the half of it in this case." In order to protect themselves from further discovery, the ATF cut a deal with Doug Friesen and he paid a tiny fine on a paperwork violation.

Little Jimmy Vann slipped out of town back to the rock he lives under at the ATF Chief Counsels Office, having once again done his best to waste taxpayer dollars in pursuit of an agenda. End of story, right? Not so fast. It seems there is much more to the Friesen case that remains worth hiding to the ATF.

Doug Friesen, still considerably damaged economically by the case and more than a little curious how and why the ATF came to target him, filed a civil suit against Charlie Erb, the guy who manufactured the weapon at issue. And who comes running back to town, but Little Jimmy Vann. He hastened there because Doug Friesen, not without reason, had sought to lift the discovery protective order which had been agreed to as part of the now closed case. There is, it seems, a whole lot the ATF still doesn't want known about the case and they are circling the wagons around Charlie Erb.

Nolo Contendere is doing a fantastic job of keeping up with the case (as well as U.S. vs. Clark) over at ARFcom and he first posted this from PACER:

Little Jimmy's motion in opposition to Friesen's request. And here is Friesen's response to Vann.

Let me draw your attention to a few points from the response:

7. On February 22, 2012 USAO Mark Yancey communicated to the undersigned via telephone that the USAO had forwarded Exhibit 1 to BATFE attorney James Vann and that the USAO no longer considered itself involved in the matter of the disclosure discovery materials in this matter.

Paraphrase: I don't want any part of this turd and you need to talk to the designated sewer maintenance worker, Little Jimmy Vann. ("The Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.")

8. To date, Rowe has not received any communication from BATFE regarding its request for redacted versions of those documents surrendered to the USAO.

Paraphrase: Little Jimmy ain't going to hand over anything you don't force him to, your Honor.

9. On February 15, 2012 the undersigned received from attorney Joe Wells (“Wells”), attorney for Charles Erb, Jr. (“Erb”) in the civil case, certain materials upon which Delbert Knopp, an expert witness listed by Wells in the civil case, had relied upon to formulate the expert opinions he intends to offer in trial in that matter.

Delbert Knopp. Expert witness. Yes, well, let's talk about that. Nolo has also provided us with a list of Erb's designated expert witnesses. And as he comments, incredulously, "this is an expert designation in which the defense is calling ALL these ATF agents to testify on his behalf. The question is why and who is calling the shots here. WHY would all these ATF agents testify on behalf of Erb? And WHO is ordering them to do this? AND! They have designated as an EXPERT a US Attorney! holy shit! I guess that destroys Holder's opinion that "line attorneys" should not have to testify as witnesses re: Fast & Furious."

Delbert Knopp has a somewhat checkered past with ATF, having once sued then director John McGaw over a transfer after another employee filed an EEOC complaint against him. Ole Delbert happens to have been the SAC who targeted Doug Friesen for compliance inspection in the first place. Rumor has it that Knopp didn't like Friesen for a variety of reasons, including comments that Friesen made on his local radio law talk show as well as embarrassments that Friesen, a lawyer himself, had wreaked upon Knopp and Friends in court.

So, what is it that Little Jimmy is trying to protect here by this amazing circling of government-paid wagons around a plaintiff in a civil suit? Delbert's misuse of power to target someone he didn't like? The ATF's agenda as it applied to the Friesen case? Or is there something deeper? The only thing that seems certain, gentle readers, is that if Little Jimmy Vann is involved, there's government misconduct they're trying to hide.