Carie Neighbors said they threatened to take away her son. Jerry Rooks said they warned him he&#8217;d get a stiffer jail sentence. Alan Bethard said they charged him with a more serious crime.</p><p>Now, those witnesses and up to 12 others &#8212; many speaking publicly for the first time &#8212; have told <em>The Kansas City Star </em>that a federal investigator in the firefighters&#8217; explosion case pressured them to lie.</p><p>Five who testified in the case admit they lied to the federal grand jury that indicted the defendants or later at their trial. The other witnesses said they refused to change their stories.</p><p>&#8220;You want me to fabricate some lies, and I don&#8217;t want any part of it,&#8221; Dave Dawson said he told federal investigators in the case. &#8220;That&#8217;s when they told me to have a good life in the penitentiary.&#8221;</p><p>Legal experts said that if investigators used improper pressure, that could mean the five defendants were wrongly prosecuted and convicted, and that a new American Bar Association rule should prompt the prosecutor to reinvestigate the two-decade-old case.</p><p>In response to <em>The Star&#8217;s </em>findings, a federal judge in Kansas City and a local congressman called for an investigation.</p><p>&#8220;I think this is something the Justice Department really ought to look into,&#8221; Senior U.S. District Judge Scott O. Wright said recently. Wright did not preside over the 1997 trial of the five defendants. But he excoriated federal authorities when they used his courtroom to try to retaliate against an uncooperative witness.</p><p>U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver said he would ask other area representatives to join him in an effort to begin a new inquiry.</p><p>&#8220;We need to go to the attorney general and request that the investigation surrounding that explosion be reopened, and that if it is necessary, that we go back to trial,&#8221; Cleaver said.</p><p>The federal prosecutor in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Becker, insisted that none of his investigators used improper tactics.</p><p>&#8220;We routinely threaten people with their loss of freedom&#8221; if they&#8217;re in trouble with the law and refuse to cooperate in solving crimes, Becker said.</p><p>Yet he added that if a federal agent knowingly pressured witnesses to lie at a trial, &#8220;it would be suborning perjury, and that would be a crime.&#8221; Legal experts, however, said the statute of limitations has run out on suborning perjury in the firefighter&#8217;s case.</p><p>Witnesses told <em>The Star </em>that excessive pressure often came from Dave True, now a retired agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which helped investigate the case.</p><p>Two witnesses said that True enticed them with reward money for their testimony at a time they were vulnerable or addicted to drugs. Some said True told them he would do whatever it took to solve the case before he retired.</p><p>In an interview last year, True maintained that he did not coerce or intimidate witnesses and said, &#8220;There&#8217;s no question in my mind the right people are in jail.&#8221; True declined to comment directly on <em>The Star&#8217;s </em>latest findings. ATF spokesman Mike Schmitz said he didn&#8217;t believe True would use such tactics.</p><p>Indeed, hundreds of people were interviewed by the ATF, and many said they never were pressured. One witness, Kathie Marburger, said that &#8220;anyone who said True coerced them is lying. Dave True was never like that.&#8221;</p><p>Pete Lobdell, a former ATF agent who worked with True on the case, said claims by witnesses that they were intimidated are &#8220;ridiculous.&#8221; As for witnesses at the trial, Lobdell said, &#8220;they were asked on the witness stand if they were coerced or intimidated in any way, and they denied it.&#8221;