[news] Peltier Pleads For New Hearing

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From: Ytzhak <Ishaq1823 at telus.net>
To: Redwire <redwire at lists.resist.ca>
Subject: [Redwire] [BlackIndianActivists] Peltier Pleads For New Hearing
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 13:26:23 -0700

Peltier pleads for new hearing

Posted: September 29, 2003 - 2:38pm EST

DENVER - Some 250 supporters of Leonard Peltier gathered in support
outside the federal courthouse in Denver during recent court
proceedings. High level government officials, a vast number of attorneys
and thousands of supporters from across the country and in foreign
countries have called Peltier a political prisoner.
  

Leonard Peltier has served more than twice as long in prison than
federal guidelines require.

The parole commission denied parole once and determined based on faulty
evidence that Peltier would not be considered for parole until 2008.
That prompted Peltier to put the case up to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court
of Appeals.

Peltier is hopeful that the Appellate Court will direct the Parole
Commission to provide information that would substantiate the reason for
not conducting the parole hearing.

"When the commission puts off a hearing for more than 48 months it has
to be supportable," said Barry Bachrach, Peltier attorney.

The argument before the Appeals panel was that the federal government
has shown that it cannot provide evidence that proves Peltier was in the
immediate vicinity when two FBI agents were killed at point-blank range
on June 26, 1975, near Oglala on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

In 1996, the commission went against the federal parole guidelines when
it concluded that Peltier fired the fatal shots that took the lives of
Special Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams. That fact was never
proven in court.

"The decision must be reversed if the facts are incorrect and
unsupported by the record," Bachrach told the court.

Peltier’s role in the upheaval that occurred on the Pine Ridge
Reservation from 1973 to 1975 and somewhat beyond was identified by many
as a war zone. It came to a head in 1975 with the FBI agents’ deaths and
with the 1976 discovery of the body of Ana Mae Pictou-Aquash, a member
of AIM and a participant in the activities on the reservation.

The government’s argument, given by Erick Melgren of Wichita, Kan. said
the commission was very clear in its decision that Peltier should not be
paroled whether or not he actually pulled the trigger. He was also
pessimistic that the commission would change its mind should another
hearing be ordered.

Bachrach asserts that the commission neglected to consider the testimony
of former U.S. Attorney Lynn Crooks told a U.S. Circuit Court earlier
that the government could not absolutely prove that Peltier was the
shooter. A lynchpin that supports that argument is the fact that a rifle
said to be Peltier’s did not match the ballistics test of the bullets
removed from the agents. That evidence was never presented in court and
didn’t come to light until a few years after Peltier was in prison.

And if Peltier is in jail for aiding and abetting he should have been
paroled more than 11 years ago, Bachrach said.

The parole commission’s position that Peltier deserved to spend so much
time in prison because he helped ambush the agents, which gives reason
that he is in prison for aiding and abetting, But the commission also
added its opinion, not substantiated by fact, that he pulled the
trigger.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1995 was not persuaded by arguments
that missing evidence, inaccurate facts and false testimony should allow
Peltier a new trial.

According to federal guidelines at the time Peltier was convicted and
sentenced he should have been paroled in 1986. President Bill Clinton
was lobbied heavily by members of the FBI that also purchased full-page
newspaper advertisements to not issue a clemency order for Peltier
before he left office.

That was a political issue at the time, Bachrach said, and for the FBI
to get involved with a judicial issue, which is the case now, would be
fraudulent.

Bachrach said he was pleased with the court appearance and that the
three judges on the 10th Circuit were responsive to arguments in support
of Peltier, but there is not speculation when a decision will be issued.

(By David Melmer and Associated Press reports)

This article can be found at http://IndianCountry.com/?1064860818
  
  

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