Just a reminder... Leonard Peltier is STILL in jail.

garybeck

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri Jun-08-07 11:35 PM
Original message

Just a reminder... Leonard Peltier is STILL in jail.

Edited on Sat Jun-09-07 12:04 AM by garybeck

11445 days of ILLEGAL IMPRISONMENT

http://www.leonardpeltier.net

Leonard Peltier is an imprisoned Native American considered by Amnesty International, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, National Congress of American Indians, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Rev. Jesse Jackson, amongst many others, to be a political prisoner who should be immediately released.

Leonard Peltier was convicted for the deaths of two FBI agents who died during a 1975 shoot-out on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Mr. Peltier has been in prison for 27 years.

The Wounded Knee occupation of 1973 marked the beginning of a three-year period of heightened political violence on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The tribal chairman hired vigilantes, self titled as "GOONS," to rid the reservation of American Indian Movement (AIM) activity and sentiment. More than 60 traditional tribal members and AIM members were murdered and scores more were assaulted. Evidence indicated GOON responsibility in the majority of crimes but despite a large FBI presence, nothing was done to stop the violence. The FBI supplied the GOONS with intelligence on AIM members and looked away as GOONS committed crimes. One former GOON member reported that the FBI supplied him with armor piercing ammunition.

Leonard Peltier was a talented AIM organizer in the Northwest and was asked by traditional people at Pine Ridge, South Dakota to go to Pine Ridge to support and protect the people being targeted for violence. Mr. Peltier and a small group of young AIM members set up camp on a ranch owned by the traditional Jumping Bull family.

On June 26, 1975 two FBI agents in unmarked cars followed a pickup onto the Jumping Bull ranch. The families immediately became alarmed and feared an attack. Shots were heard and a shoot-out erupted. More than 150 agents, GOON's, and law enforcement surrounded the ranch.

When the shoot-out ended the two FBI agents and one Native American lay dead. The agents were injured in the shoot-out and were then shot at close range. The Native American, Joseph Stuntz, was shot in the head by a sniper bullet. Mr. Stuntz's death has never been investigated.

According to FBI documents, more than 40 Native Americans participated in the gunfight, but only AIM members Bob Robideau, Darrell Butler, and Leonard Peltier were brought to trial.

Mr. Robideau and Mr. Butler were arrested first and went to trial. A federal jury in Iowa acquitted them on grounds of self-defense, finding that their participation in the shoot-out was justified given the climate of fear that existed. Further, they could not be tied to the close range shootings.

Leonard Peltier was arrested in Canada. The U.S. presented the Canadian court with affidavits signed by Myrtle Poor Bear who said she was Mr. Peltier's girlfriend and she saw him shoot the agents. In fact Ms. Poor Bear had never met Mr. Peltier and was not present during the shoot-out. Soon after, Ms. Poor Bear recanted her statements and said the FBI terrorized her and coerced her into signing the affidavits.

Mr. Peltier was returned to the U.S. where his case was mysteriously transferred from the judge who tried his co-defendants to a more conservative federal judge in North Dakota. Key witnesses like Myrtle Poor Bear were not allowed to testify and unlike the Robideau/Butler trial in Iowa, evidence regarding violence on Pine Ridge was severely restricted.

An FBI agent who had previously testified that the agents followed a pickup truck onto the scene, a vehicle that could not be tied to Mr. Peltier, changed his account, stating that the agents had followed a red and white van onto the scene, a vehicle which Mr. Peltier drove on occasion.

Three teenaged Native witnesses testified against Mr. Peltier, all admitting later that the FBI terrorized them and forced them to testify. Still, not one witness identified Mr. Peltier as the shooter.

The U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case emphatically stated that they had given the defense all FBI documents. To the contrary, more than 18,000 had been withheld in their entirety.

An FBI ballistics expert testified that a casing found near the agents' bodies matched the gun tied to Mr. Peltier. However, a ballistic test proving that the casing did not come from the gun tied to Mr. Peltier was intentionally concealed.

The jury, unaware of the aforementioned facts, sentenced Mr. Peltier to two consecutive life terms.

Following the discovery of new evidence obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, Mr. Peltier demanded a new trial. The Eighth Circuit ruled, "There is a possibility that the jury would have acquitted Leonard Peltier had the records and data improperly withheld from the defense been available to him in order to better exploit and reinforce the inconsistencies casting strong doubts upon the government's case." Yet, the court denied Mr. Peltier a new trial.

During oral arguments, the U.S. Prosecutor conceded that the government does not know who shot the agents, stating that Mr. Peltier is equally guilty whether he shot the agents at point blank range, or participated in the shoot-out from a distance. Mr. Peltier's co-defendants participated in the shoot-out from a distance, but were acquitted.

Judge Heaney, who authored the decision denying a new trial, has since voiced firm support for Mr. Peltier's release, stating that the FBI used improper tactics to convict Mr. Peltier, the FBI was equally responsible for the shoot-out, and that Mr. Peltier's release would promote healing with Native Americans.

Mr. Peltier has served 27 years in prison and is long overdue for parole. He has received several human rights awards for his good deeds from behind bars which include annual gift drives for the children of Pine Ridge, fund raisers for battered women's shelters and donations of his paintings to Native American recovery programs. However, the parole commission will not release him unless he admits to a crime he did not commit.

Recently, Mr. Peltier's attorneys filed a new round of Freedom of Information Act requests with FBI Headquarters and various FBI field offices in an attempt to secure the release of additional documents concerning Mr. Peltier. Although the FBI has engaged in a number of dilatory tactics in order to avoid the processing of these requests, 30,000 additional FOIA documents were released in June 2002. Previously, according to the FBI, more than 6,000 full documents remain undisclosed. The 30,000 documents released in 2002 reveal the FBI's prior estimate to be a significant undercount of actual documents still withheld. Currently, FOIA requests submitted to 30 FBI field offices around the country are pending. Similar FOIA requests have been submitted to the CIA. More dilatory responses following the recent requests have resulted in FOIA Complaints filed by Peltier's attorneys against the FBI, CIA and the Executive Office of United States Attorneys.

The FBI has disseminated false and inflammatory statements to members of the U.S. Congress, the Department of Justice, the White House, and the public, thus denying Mr. Peltier his right to fair clemency and parole reviews and Congressional oversight. Despite repeated calls for Congressional hearings by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, Amnesty International, and individual members of Congress, no Congressional committee has yet had the courage to provide a forum by which to air the truth and bring closure to this case.

Mr. Peltier suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure, and a heart condition. Time for justice is short.

Statement from Leonard Peltier:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This year will mark more than three decades of my unjust imprisonment. Behind bars I have aged from a youth myself, into an elder. As an elder I have become increasingly encouraged by the potential and promise of indigenous youth from all First Nations. Today indigenous youth have greater opportunities than possibly ever before in our peoples history. However, these opportunities were not attained without sacrifice. They arose from great struggle. They came from ordinary men and women; your relatives who made extraordinary sacrifices. These warriors’ struggle to ensure a better future for generations to come can never be taken for granted.

I am especially pleased to hear of the rising numbers of indigenous youth who are graduating from high school and entering institutions of higher learning; universities, colleges, and technical schools. Other youth are taking advantage of social programs that will assist them in each of their respective futures. These are all opportunities that as a youth I could have only dreamed of. Yet, even though we have made much progress and advances for our people we still have a long path ahead to attain justice for First Nations.

I strongly believe that the first step on that path is to always be conscious of our people’s history. Irregardless of what nation we belong to we have shared a combined history of struggle against a more than 500-year long genocide. It has been a genocide focused not only on the death of our relatives, but of our spirituality, culture, and language. All will be lost if we do not honor our ancestors by learning about their sacrifice so that the people may live. We must never forget our ways, our traditions, and our wisdom.

Each one of you must acknowledge your capacity and ability to bring about positive changes for our people. This is done not only by bettering yourself, but by helping your brothers and sisters who have wondered off the Red Road. I am deeply pained by the numbers of youth who have prematurely lost their life to gang violence and suicide. It is just as troubling to hear of those who continue to suffer from drug and alcohol abuse. I ask you to bring your brothers and sisters who need guidance and medicine to our ceremonies. It is our spirituality that has always sustained us as a people.

Throughout history there have been countless attempts to rob us as a people; our lands, our history, our language, and our culture. However, they have never been able to take our future from us. The future belongs to the Creator only and it is the Creator who gives it to the youth. As a youth it is your responsibility to honor all your relations, our Mother Earth, and the Creator by committing yourself to the struggle for a future of justice and a better tomorrow for all peoples.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier