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FOREWORD Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti, by an official memorandum dated January 16, 2000, created a Board of Inquiry which performed an investigation into the murder of William H. Gates III, Chairman of Microsoft Corporation, on December 2, 1999. The District Attorney directed the Board to evaluate all the facts and circumstances surrounding that homicide, as well as the subsequent deaths of a police officer and of the alleged assassin of Mr. Gates. Immediately after the assassination, local law enforcement officials devoted their resources to the apprehension of the assassin. Within three minutes of the shots that killed Mr. Gates, a Los Angeles Police Department officer had located Alek Hidell in the basement of the hotel from which the fatal shots were fired. The officer was compelled to fatally shoot Mr. Hidell, thus precluding an arrest, grand-jury inquiry, formal charges or trial, the usual methods by which the justice system of the United States arrives at a determination of factual matters and the guilt or innocence of accused parties. In the weeks following the death of Mr. Gates, the district attorney's office recognized that the lack of formal adversarial proceedings, as well as significant international press coverage of rumors and speculations related to the events of December 2, had led to demands for an official explanation. The Board of Inquiry, headed by the district attorney and containing many of the most prominent and credible members of the district attorney's office and the police department, private attorneys and specialists in a variety of fields, has been ably assisted in the production of this report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a variety of regional law enforcement agencies, and the Board extends its gratitude to all who contributed to the investigation, hearings and writing of this report. With this report the Office of the District Attorney is submitting the complete testimony of all witnesses who appeared before the Board or gave sworn depositions or affidavits, the accompanying documentary exhibits, and other investigative materials which are relied upon in this report. While the bulk of this material will remain under seal for reasons including respect for the families of the deceased, the public can be assured that the portions being released for public review accurately and adequately reflect the underlying evidence. The Office will commit all of its reports and working papers to the Archives of the State of California, where they can be permanently preserved under the rules and regulations of the Archives and applicable state law.
GIL GARCETTI
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