[IPSM] fwd: John Graham extradition updates

[mandeep]

To write to John Graham, imprisoned at Pennington
County Jail, address envelope as follows:

John Graham
307 St. Joseph Street
Rapid City, SD 57701
USA

To write or call the jail:

Pennington County Jail
307 St. Joseph Street
Rapid City, SD 57701
(605) 394-6116

To contact the sheriff's office:

Don Holloway, Sheriff

Pennington County
Sheriff's Office
300 Kansas City Street
Rapid City, SD 57701
(605) 394-6113

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Graham pleads not guilty in Aquash slaying

Dec 7, 2007
Associated Press

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) Four years after he was arrested
for the 1975 killing of a fellow American Indian
Movement activist, 52-year-old John Graham pleaded not
guilty today at his first appearance in Rapid City
federal court.

Graham is charged with first-degree murder for the
slaying of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash (PEEK’-too
AHK’-wash) on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Her
body was found in February 1976.

Graham, a Canadian, had been in custody in British
Columbia since June. He was extradited to the U.S.
yesterday.

His court hearing took less than 15 minutes. A
prosecutor told a magistrate judge that Graham is a
flight risk and needs to be detained. Graham was sent
to the Pennington County Jail.

Rapid City lawyer John Murphy was appointed to
represent Graham.

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Family of 1975 slaying suspect shocked by swift
extradition

Friday, December 7, 2007
CBC News Nova Scotia

The family of B.C. resident John Graham, who is
accused in a decades-old murder in the U.S., say they
are shocked and angry he was extradited without notice
hours after the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal to
stay in the country.

His daughter told CBC News she doesn’t understand why
the family wasn’t given a chance to say their
goodbyes, especially since he was already in custody.

“We weren’t given anything. Nobody would hear
anything. We just wanted to see our dad at least
before he was extradited,” said Naneek Graham, one of
his eight children in Canada.

Early Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to
hear Graham’s appeal of a lower court ruling granting
extradition. The top court did not provide a reason,
as per usual for such applications.

Graham’s lawyer, Greg DelBigio, told CBCNews.ca that
there has been no formal confirmation, but he believes
Graham was whisked from the North Fraser Pretrial
Centre around 9 or 10 a.m. PT to South Dakota, hours
after the court decision.

Graham, a former Yukoner who now lives in Vancouver,
is accused of killing Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash, a
Mi’kmaq activist from Nova Scotia, in 1975 during a
time of protests in South Dakota by the American
Indian Movement (AIM).

Graham’s daughter says her father is being kept at
Pennington County Jail in Rapid City, S.D., and he was
scheduled to appear in court Friday afternoon.

U.S. prosecutors allege the 30-year-old woman was
killed on orders from AIM because they believed she
was an FBI informant.

Earlier in protests by the group, two FBI agents had
been killed by the demonstrators who had seized
control of the village of Wounded Knee.

U.S. authorities say Pictou-Aquash fled to Denver out
of fear for her life, but then was allegedly abducted
by Graham and others and brought back for questioning
by AIM members.

Another man, Arlo Looking Cloud, was convicted of
first-degree murder in Pictou-Aquash’s death in 2005
and sentenced to life in prison.

Looking Cloud told FBI agents that he saw Graham kill
the woman, but later recanted. Graham has maintained
his innocence.

——————————————————————————————

PRESS CONFERENCE BY FAMILY OF JOHN GRAHAM, YUKON
TUTCHONE NATIVE EXTRADITED TO THE UNITED STATES

==> Saturday December 8, 2007 @ 10:30 am at the
Vancouver Art Gallery (Robson Side)
==> Press Conference with Statements from the family
of John Graham and supporters

Friday December 7, 2007 – The family of John Graham
and supporters of John Graham will be making
statements to the media about John Graham’s
extradition to the United States on Thursday December
6, 2007 after a refusal by the Supreme Court of Canada
to hear Graham’s appeal.

His supporters continue to criticize the unjust
extradition process and the allegations that Graham
murdered Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Anna Mae Pictou. Former
FBI regional director Norm Zagrossi has himself stated
it “looked like a cover-up” (CBC The Fifth Estate).
Rex Wyler, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and
author, has raised many doubts about the evidence
against John Graham.

John Graham has received support letters from a wide
range of organizations including Canadian Labour
Congress, Native Youth Movement, Chief Capilano of the
Squamish Nation, BC Teachers for Peace and Global
Education, BC Hospital Employees Union, Stopwar.ca,
Council of Yukon First Nations, BC Federation of
Labour. Amnesty International has also stated concern
about the lack of a fair trial.

Both the B.C. Supreme Court extradition judge and the
B.C. appeal court ruled there were deficiencies in the
record of the case given to the courts by U.S.
officials. However the 1999 Extradition Treaty between
the United States and Canada lowers the burden of
proof to include hearsay evidence, which would not be
admitted in a Canadian criminal court. Graham and his
lawyers have previously stated they would welcome a
trial in Canada, where the fake evidence could be
exposed.

A key witness Arlo-Looking Cloud recanted his
testimony stating that he was coerced and under the
influence of alcohol. Another prosecution witness
Kamook Banks admitted she was paid $43,000 to
cooperate with the FBI. One witness Al Gates that U.S.
Attorney Robert Mandel stated would be available for
trial had been dead for nine months. Another witness
Frank Dillon has denied making any incriminating
statements against Graham.

Supporters claim there are parallels to Leonard
Peltier, who was extradited from Vancouver in 1976
based on FBI affidavits signed by Myrtle Poor-Bear,
who claimed to be Peltier’s girlfriend. It is now
widely reported that Poor-Bear had never met Peltier
and had been intimidated by the FBI. In 1979 former US
solicitor general Warren Allmand acknowledged this and
formally apologized. 50 Canadian MPs have since
submitted an amicus curiae recognizing the grave
mistake made in Peltier’s extradition.

Between 1973-75, an estimated 67 American Indian
Movement members or associates were killed in South
Dakota by Bureau of Indian Affairs police and a
paramilitary squad- Guardians of the Oglala Nation
(GOON’s). By this time, the FBI had also targeted AIM
with a counter-insurgency campaign entitled
COINTEL-PRO (Counter-Intelligence Program).
COINTEL-PRO was also used to target communist &
socialist groups, the anti-Vietnam War movement, and
the Black Panther Party.

- 30 -

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http://ourfreedom.wordpress.com/

"Jails are not a solution to problems."
- Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, Mi'kmaq Nation, AIM warrior


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