When I wrote this several years ago, I had no idea that this injustice would still be continuing with no end in sight these many years later.  Read it please.  Do whatever you can to make it stop.  Even little rocks will eventually add up to a mountain.  Thanks for taking the time.

And Justice for All

When I typed the first word of this essay, Leonard Peltier had been in prison for 10,719 days, 15 hours, 35 minutes, and 17 seconds for something he did not do. The American public seems to have forgotten about him, and his ongoing struggle to receive justice through our judicial system.

Our judicial system in the states shows more and more bias towards those with money and privilege every year – the case of OJ Simpson is a prime example – but it has always been a system that those with money, those who can afford the best and brightest attorneys, can manipulate with ease. Unfortunately, if you are arrested for a crime in the United States, unless you are able to shell out more money than most make in a year, more times than not your best option may be to take a plea bargain, whether you're actually guilty of the crime or not.

The police and the prosecutors know exactly how to work the system to get what they want, and usually what they want is a solid conviction record. Depending on the people involved, it can happen just as easily that true justice for one accused of a crime doesn't make the slightest bit of difference. Officers are coached on what to testify to, and there's no pity shown for a defendant who may actually be innocent. If you're arrested, then you're as good as guilty to some. I know there are many, many honest and hardworking police officers and prosecuting attorneys in our country, but what about those that aren't? What if you get caught up in something much bigger than you are, and the supposedly blind eye of justice turns in your direction?

That's what happened to Leonard Peltier

Leonard Peltier, a great-grandfather, artist, writer, indigenous rights activist, citizen of the Anishinabe and Lakota nations, and Nobel Peace Price nominee has been unjustly imprisoned since 1976 for the deaths of two FBI agents who died during a 1975 shoot-out on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

The Case

During the early to mid-70's there was a rise in grass roots activism here in the United States. One of the groups that became very active during that time is the American Indian Movement, or AIM. The flip side of that coin is the paranoia of the FBI about the grassroots groups that were springing up.

Many people not involved in the shootout at Pine Ridge have testified and written articles about the events leading up to the deaths of the two FBI agents and one tribal member, and most have documented the climate of fear that existed on the Pine Ridge Reservation at that time, and how the FBI turned a blind eye to the way AIM members and others were being treated by a squad of "enforcers" employed by Mr. Dick Wilson, then the Tribal Chairperson. This group, known as the Guardians of the Oglala Nation, or literally the "GOONs," was quite open about its activities. The vigilantes had a close and friendly relationship with the FBI., in fact, they were armed by the FBI with M-16s as a part of the domestic COINTELPRO. (1)

Although there was a massive FBI presence on the reservation during this time period, the officers ignored illegal and often violent GOON roadblocks, and even calls for protection from residents under attack by GOONs, as occurred in the town of Wanblee.(2) GOON leader Duane Brewer has admitted that the FBI officials shared intelligence with the vigilantes about AIM activities, ignored their illegal possession of highly dangerous weapons, and even gave them ammunition on one if not more occasions. Mr. Brewer has specifically mentioned receiving armor piercing ammunition.

During the three years of the "reign of terror" while the GOONs were in power (1973 – 1976), 64 Indians were murdered, all of them American Indian Movement (or "AIM"} supporters or members, or their friends and relatives. Still more were threatened, intimidated, injured and harassed, in some cases with the cooperation of the FBI. None of these murders have been investigated. None. The FBI did, however, find the time and resources to file numerous charges against AIM leaders and supporters. Few had sufficient evidence to result in convictions, and in some cases, the courts rebuked the FBI officers involved for tampering with witness testimony and similar misconduct. Far more serious crimes were being committed by the GOONs, but those were swept under the rug and never investigated. The traditionalist Lakotas of Pine Ridge were allied with AIM, and as a result, suffered under both the GOONs and the FBI during three long years that has been called the reign of terror.

Early in 1975, Leonard Peltier and other AIM members were asked by traditionalists to come to Pine Ridge to help and support the people that were being targeted for violence by the GOONs. He, along with Dennis Banks, Bob Robideau, and Dino Butler, set up camp on a ranch owned by the traditional Jumping Bull family. It was in this atmosphere of fear and oppression that Peltier stepped up to the plate, and did what he thought he needed to do to help those who needed him – he offered support and protection against the GOONs, who by this time were almost literally running things. Much like the Tonton Macoutes of Baby Doc Duvalier in Haiti, the GOONs were Wilson's personal militia to put down dissent by intimidation. The situation was an explosive one, liable to be set off by any small spark, and of course, within a short amount of time, it was.

On June 26, 1975 two FBI agents in unmarked cars, Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, drove at full speed onto the Jumping Bull ranch, following a pickup truck in which they ostensibly thought a minor thief was riding. The families that lived there became alarmed and feared an attack from the agents. Shots were heard and a shoot-out between the FBI and the men there at the Jumping Bull ranch erupted. More than 150 FBI agents, U.S. marshals, BIA police, GOONs, and law enforcement surrounded the ranch almost immediately, seriously outnumbering the approximately 35 AIM members and Jumping Bull family members on the ranch (some of those women and small children). Many of the agents had been in place nearby at least 20 minutes before, according to FBI documents that were released years later.

When it was over, the two FBI agents, Coler and Williams, and one AIM activist, Joe Stuntz Killsright, were dead. The two agents had been wounded during the shoot out, and then later killed at close range by shots to the head. Joseph Stuntz was shot in the head by a sniper. His death has never been investigated. Leonard Peltier and others managed to get off the Jumping Bull ranch, and flee, believing their lives to be in danger.

In the confusion, the FBI didn't know who had actually shot the two agents, but set it's sights on three high-profile AIM leaders: Dino Butler, Robert Robideau, and Leonard Peltier.

Dino Butler and Robert Robideau were arrested very quickly, but Leonard Peltier made it into Canada, where he thought he might claim asylum. Butler and Robideau went to trial first, in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The jury there acquitted both men on the grounds of self-defense, finding that their participation in the shoot out was justified given the climate of fear in which it had taken place. Neither man could be tied to the close range shootings of the FBI agents. As an interesting side note, an FBI agent suggested the AIM members had threatened the jurors. Jurors disagreed, explaining that it was the FBI they feared when the verdict was read.

Peltier was eventually arrested in Canada, and extradited when the United States provided Canada with affidavit signed by Myrtle Poor Bear, a woman who was known to be mentally ill, which said that she had seen Peltier shoot the two FBI agents. The FBI put her forward as a witness because they said she was Peltier's girlfriend. In fact, Myrtle Poor Bear had never even met Peltier, and she wasn't present at the shoot out. She later recanted her testimony, saying that the FBI had terrorized and coerced her into signing the statement. Peltier was illegally extradited.

Once the FBI had Peltier back in the United States, they had his case transferred from the court in Iowa where his codefendants had been acquitted to a more conservative federal court in North Dakota. Myrtle Poor Bear was not allowed to testify about her experiences with the FBI – the judge barred her testimony on the grounds that she was mentally ill - and the information about the heightened climate of fear on the reservation during the time leading up to the shoot out was severely restricted.

The FBI's behavior up until this point was reprehensible, but it was about to get much worse.

During the trial, the FBI lied, coerced statements from witnesses, and repressed evidence from the defense, consistently, simply to convict someone, anyone, for the shooting of the two agents at Pine Ridge. Guilt or innocence didn't matter in the least; someone had to pay, and it didn't matter who, as long as it was an AIM member. Leonard Peltier fit the bill perfectly.

• 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. In fact, Agents Coler and Williams had radioed in that they were following a truck, not a van at all.

• The FBI couldn't find a single witness to identify 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 FBI ballistic expert, Evan Hodge, testified that he had been unable to perform the best test, a firing pin test, on certain casings found near the agents' car, because the rifle in question had been damaged in a fire. Instead, he stated that he had conducted an extractor mark test, and found the weapon and casing to match. Documents obtained years later under the Freedom of Information Act showed that in October 1975, a firing pin ballistics test had indeed been performed on the rifle, and that the results were clearly negative.

• Three adolescent boys gave vague testimony, contradicting their own testimony and that of each other, as to what they had seen the day of the shoot out. All three witnesses later admitted they had been threatened into testifying by the FBI.

• The Court did not permit the jury at the trial to hear about the FBI's practice of using false affidavits and intimidating witnesses in previous cases.

• During the trial, the Prosecutor claimed in summation that, "we proved that he went down to the bodies and executed those two young men at point blank range…" but at the appellate hearing, the government attorney stated, "We had a murder, we had numerous shooters, we do not know who specifically fired what killing shots … we do not know, quote-unquote, who shot the agents." They also stated that he was equally guilty whether he actually killed the two agents or not, simply the fact that he participated at a distance in the shoot out made him guilty. Peltier's two co-defendants participated in the shoot out at a distance, and were acquitted.

• Federal appellate court judge William Webster who sat on the panel that heard Peltier's case was later elected to head the FBI.

The jury, kept in the dark about so many pertinent facts in the case, sentenced Leonard Peltier to two consecutive life terms.

Since then, Peltier's legal team has been fighting almost full-time to right the wrong that has been done to him by our government, and has faced obstacle after obstacle thrown up in their way by the FBI.

After the Freedom of Information Act went into affect, Peltier's legal team filed suit to recover information from the FBI that was not presented to them during the trial. When some of that information was turned over to them, they asked for a new trial for Peltier, citing new evidence had been discovered.

Under current law, Peltier should have been granted a new trial once new evidence had come to light. 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." His request for a new trial, however, was denied. Judge Heaney, who authored the decision denying a new trial, has since been very vocal in his support for Peltier's release, stating that the FBI used improper tactics to convict Peltier, and that the FBI was equally responsible for the shoot-out that resulted in three deaths.

Currently, Peltier's legal team has been involved in a long, drawn out fight to secure the documents that they are legally entitled to under the Freedom of Information Act. Before June 2002, the FBI stated that there were only 6,000 undisclosed documents relating to Peltier's case. In June, when they were ordered to start turning over documents, the amount received by Peltier's team was 30,000 documents. The FBI's estimate of the documents currently being withheld is more than likely just as off. FOIA requests are currently submitted to 30 FBI field offices and are pending. Similar requests have been submitted to the CIA.

There has been a large outcry from the Native American community, Amnesty International, and the U.S. Civil Rights Commission for Congressional hearings to investigate the FBI and it's behavior during this, and other cases, but to date, none have been held.

Normally, a prisoner convicted of homicide serves 200+ months under the Parole Commission Guidelines. Base on those guidelines, Leonard Peltier should have been released from prison on parole over ten years ago. The Parole Commission has repeatedly refused to set a parole date for Peltier until 2008. By then, he will have served nearly double the normal amount of time prisoners serve for homicide. The Parole Commission has stated that its reason for not setting a date is that Peltier has not confessed, or "owned up to" the crime he was convicted of. Should he confess to a crime he didn't commit simply to get out of prison? Some would obviously say "yes;" get it over with and get out. I have to admire the strength and moral fortitude of a man who refuses to confess to a crime he did not commit, even if he could be released by doing so.

The Man

While in prison, Leonard Peltier has proved over and over again what type of man he is. He has:

• Helped several prisoners rehabilitate themselves by advocating drug and alcohol-free lifestyles while encouraging pride and knowledge in their cultures and traditions.

• Worked with Dr. Selkin of New York on efforts to restructure health care on reservations. A pilot program on the Rosebud Reservation was implemented to document needs and requirements of care (The Leonard Peltier Health Care Reform Package). Substance abuse programs are also part of this package.

• Worked with Prof. Jeffery Timmons on a job creation/job training program to stimulate reservation-based economies to end the appalling poverty that affects most of those living there.

• Also established, with Prof. Timmons, a youth entrepreneur program for youth on the reservations to teach them how to establish and run their own businesses.

• Established a scholarship in 1992 at New York University for Native American students seeking law degrees.

• Established and raised funding for a Washington state Native American newspaper run by and for Native youth.

• Sponsored two children in Childreach; one in El Salvador, and one in Guatemala.

• Worked to have prisoners' artwork displayed around the world in art galleries in hopes of starting art programs for prisoners to increase their self-confidence.

• Sponsored clothing and toy drives for reservations every year.

• Distributed funds and goods to Head Start, halfway houses, and women's centers.

• Sponsored a Christmas gift drive for the children of the Pine Ridge Reservation every year.

• Served on the board of the Rosenberg Fund for Children.

• Donated his artwork to human rights and social welfare organizations in order to help them raise funds, including the ACLU, Trail of Hope (a Native American conference dealing with drug and alcohol addiction), World Peace and Prayer Day, the First Nation Student Association, and the Buffalo Trust Fund.

• Donated his paintings to the Leonard Peltier Charitable Foundation to supply computers and educational supplies to libraries and families on Pine Ridge. He was also able to raise the funds for supplies for Pine Ridge after a devastating tornado.

• Won several human rights awards, including the North Star Frederick Douglas Award, Humanist of the Year Award, and the International Human Rights Prize.

• Been nominated for the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.

The fact that a man such as Leonard Peltier remains in prison, despite the outcry for justice from such people as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Mikail Gorbachov, and Nelson Mandella, can be laid at the door of an FBI that is corrupt to the core, only concerned with convicting someone, whether that someone is actually guilty or not. It is an organization that has resisted turning over documents, even when ordered by the court. If the FBI is so convinced of Peltier's guilt, what have they got to fear by turning those documents over?

There is still the question of the over sixty murders that occurred during the reign of terror that have never been investigated, and it seems that they never will be. Apparently, the FBI thinks that the women and children that died there at Pine Ridge while they turned a blind eye don't merit justice, yet they are willing to keep an innocent man in prison, saying that any AIM member works as well as another for their system of justice.

Peltier suffered a stroke in 1986 that left him almost blind in one eye, and he suffers from diabetes and a heart condition. Despite these health problems, he continues to offer support, both emotionally and financially, for the Native American community from behind the prison walls where he is still confined unjustly. There is no doubt that he will continue to offer his support to the community, whether he is released or not. It is an American tragedy that an innocent man is still in prison simply because an agency of our government doesn't care who actually committed two murders – any Indian will do for their purposes.

Division in the Law Enforcement Community

Mr. Wesley Swearingen (author of "FBI Secrets: An Agent's Expose") stated, "I was an FBI agent in Los Angeles when Leonard Peltier was convicted, and I know from FBI documents that I read, and from statements made by fellow FBI agents, that Peltier was wrongfully convicted of murdering two FBI agents just because the agents investigating the case wanted someone to pay for killing the two FBI agents. I know, for a fact, that the FBI is also covering up its culpability in the death of the two agents."

Robert Newbrook, a retired Canadian police officer who arrested Peltier in Alberta in 1976, stated that he's "haunted by the fact that I now think we seized an innocent man, with no valid Canadian arrest warrant, based on false evidence from the U.S."

Representative Don Edwards was the long-time chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights (it had oversight over the FBI). He is a former FBI agent, himself, and has stated publicly that he was convinced that Peltier never received a fair trial. He said that "in light of the government's admission that the theory it presented against Mr. Peltier at trial was not true, and the fact that the FBI continues to deny its improper conduct on the Pine Ridge Reservation during the 1970's (as well as in the trial of Leonard Peltier), Mr. Peltier should be set free." He also stated that Peltier's release "would recognize past wrongdoing and the undermining of the government's case since trial."

It's long past time to right this wrong done to a good man, a man that was doing the best he could under horrendous circumstances, a man that was hunted down for a crime he didn't commit, and has spent the last 10,719 days, 20 hours, 12 minutes, and 11 seconds in prison.

(1)COINTELPRO is an acronym for a series of FBI counterintelligence programs designed to neutralize political dissidents. Although covert operations have been employed throughout FBI history, the formal COunter INTELligence PROgram, or COINTELPRO, of the period from 1956 to 1971 was the first to be both broadly targeted & centrally directed. The stated goals of COINTELPRO were to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize those persons or organizations that the FBI decided were enemies of the State.

The FBI used COINTELPRO tactics against AIM, including the wholesale jailing of the Movement's leadership. Virtually every known AIM leader in the United States was incarcerated in either state or federal prisons since (or even before) the organization's formal emergence in 1968, some repeatedly. After the 1973 siege of Wounded Knee, for example, the FBI caused 542 separate charges to be filed against those it identified as key AIM leaders. This resulted in only 15 convictions, all on such petty or contrived offenses as interfering with a federal officer in the performance of his duty. Organization members often languished in jail for months as the cumulative bail required to free them outstripped resource capabilities of AIM and supporting groups.

(2) Al Trimble, a reform candidate, defeated Dick Wilson for the tribal presidency in 1975. Trimble faced physical violence, including an attack in a restaurant where he and his wife were eating dinner. Later, two of his high school-age sons were pistol whipped, according to reports, at the hands of the GOONs. His car and that of his wife were tailed constantly, and were often stopped for perceived violations or non-violations. Evenings at home for the Trimbles were shattered by gunshots from passing cars, apparently driven by GOONs.

In the four month interim between Trimble's victory and his inauguration, the tribal government offices and treasury were sacked. GOONs were dispatched to Wanblee, a traditionalist stronghold and the Trimble family hometown, in a punitive raid to "straighten out" loyalists there. The straightening out included a hail of automatic weapons fire, and a car chase that left one dead and another severely injured.