http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/171993/group/homepage/
A judge says an alleged murder confession and threat by American
Indian Movement leader and former Grand Forks resident Leonard
Peltier should be introduced as evidence in a decades-old South
Dakota murder case, but won't allow a note that prosecutors described
as an execution order.
By: Dave Kolpack
August 14 2010
A judge says an alleged murder confession and threat by American
Indian Movement leader and former Grand Forks resident Leonard
Peltier should be introduced as evidence in a decades-old South
Dakota murder case, but won't allow a note that prosecutors described
as an execution order.
John Graham and Thelma Rios are scheduled for trial in South Dakota
state court later this year on charges they participated in the
killing of fellow AIM member Annie Mae Aquash, 30, on the Pine Ridge
reservation in 1975. Prosecutors believe AIM leaders ordered Aquash
killed because they thought she was a government informant.
Investigators deny she was a snitch.
Graham faces one count each of felony murder in relation to
kidnapping, felony murder in relation to rape, and premeditated
murder. Rios is charged with one count each of felony murder in
relation to kidnapping, and premeditated murder. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Circuit Judge John Delaney ruled earlier this week on defense motions
to keep out several pieces of evidence for the Nov. 29 trial. The
judge said Peltier's reported confession to a group of fellow AIM
members, including Aquash, that he killed two FBI agents, as well as
witness reports that Peltier threatened Aquash at gunpoint, should be
heard by a jury.
"As to the confession by Peltier to Aquash, the disclosure of this
information to Aquash, if true, could provide a motive for members of
AIM to silence her," the judge wrote. "As to the threat by Peltier to
Aquash, this communication tends to show that members of AIM
suspected Aquash of being a government informant.
"These motives clearly are relevant and probative to the major theory
of the state's case that an 'order' for Aquash's murder was issued
by members of AIM," Delaney wrote.
Delaney ruled in favor of a defense motion to keep prosecutors from
introducing a note reportedly exchanged between some AIM members that
referred to Aquash as "baggage" and implied that she should be
killed. A key witness, Richard Marshall, will likely claim his Fifth
Amendment right and refuse to testify about the note, the judge said.
"Without direct testimony from Marshall as to the existence and
content of the note, the content of the note is simply double- or
triple-hearsay through the testimony of third parties," Delaney wrote.
Attorneys in the case have declined to comment about rulings in the case.
Authorities have said Graham raped Aquash at Rios' apartment in Rapid
City, and that he later fatally shot her near Wanblee. Delaney denied
a defense request to keep out testimony about the alleged rape.
Two other trials have been held in the case, which has been widely
publicized in Canada because both Graham and Aquash were members of
Canadian tribes. Arlo Looking Cloud was convicted in federal court in
2004 of being an accomplice to Aquash's murder and sentenced to life
in prison. A federal jury in April found Marshall not guilty of
supplying the murder weapon.
Aquash, a member of Mi'kmaq Tribe of Nova Scotia, was among the
Indian militants who occupied the village of Wounded Knee in 1973.
The 71-day standoff with federal authorities included an exchange of
gunfire with agents who surrounded the village.
Federal charges against Graham, who is from Yukon territory and
belongs to the Southern Tutchone tribe, were dropped after federal
courts concluded the U.S. did not have jurisdiction because he does
not belong to an American Indian tribe.
Peltier, who grew up on the Turtle Mountain reservation in North
Dakota, is serving two life sentences for the execution-style deaths
of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams during a June 26, 1975,
standoff. The trial was held in Fargo. Peltier has maintained his innocence.
Another hearing in the case is scheduled Sept. 8.
.
0 comments:
Post a Comment