Press Release for Peltier
jonto (jonto@falcon.cc.ukans.edu)
Fri, 19 May 1995 18:28:17 +0200
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE LEONARD PELTIER DEFENSE COMMITTEE: FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
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Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist who is serving two
consecutive life sentences for the deaths of two FBI agents on the Pine
Ridges Reservation in South Dakota on June 26th, 1975, has filed a May 15th,
1995 motion with the United States Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit
requesting an opening of his appeal.
The basis for the Court's 1986 denial for relief has come into question
as it has been discovered that a serious misstatement of the trial record
may well have caused the three judge panel to falsely believe that witness
testimony had placed Leonard Peltier near the two FBI agents at the time of
their deaths. In fact, though a witness gave this testimony to the Grand
Jury, he recanted at trial, testifying that he had been coerced by the FBI
to lie. This misconception was not corrected by either Peltier's lawyers or
the government.
Peltier was one of four Native Americans charged. Two of his
co-defendants were acquitted in 1976 in Cedar Rapids, IA to which their
case, as well as that of Mr. Peltier, had been transferred because of
anti-Indian prejudice in the Dakotas. Charges against the third individual
were dismissed so that the "full prosecutorial weight of the government"
could be used against Leonard Peltier. Following the Cedar Rapids
acquittals, Peltier's case was mysteriously transferred to Fargo, ND, and
assigned to a judge know for extreme prejudice against Native Americans.
On April 18th, 1977, Leonard was convicted by a Fargo jury and sentenced
to two consecutive life terms. Later it was discovered that the FBI had
unlawfully suppressed firearms reports stating that a rifle ostensibly
attributed to him could not possibly have fired the fatal bullets, totally
contradicting the trial testimony of an FBI firearms expert.
There has never been an eyewitness produced placing Peltier near the
bodies of the two FBI agents. The ballistics investigation and evidence
caused the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to state that agents involved
"may not have been telling the truth" and that key, exculpatory ballistics
evidence had been "withheld from the defense." The government prosecutors
have conceded in court and to the media that they "don't know who killed the
agents." No direct evidence exists against him, yet Leonard Peltier
approaches the twentieth year of his incarceration.
Now the appellate court which affirmed his conviction on the basis of a
misconception is being asked to open the appeal so that the record may be
corrected and justice finally granted.
Leonard Peltier is currently represented by Ramsey Clark and William
Kunstler of New York; Carl Nadler of Washington, D.C.; W. Lee Hill of
California; and Bruce Ellison of South Dakota.
For More Information: Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, Box 538, Lawrence,
KS 66044 or call at (913) 842-5774