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KON4M 99
September 1999
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Robalini's Note: With the recent news developments on Waco, now would be a good time to go back and look at other injustices. The Leonard Peltier case is a great place to start.
Help and Endorsement for Peltier Freedom Month
IT'S 1999. WHY IS LEONARD PELTIER STILL IN PRISON?
ENDORSEMENT AND SUPPORT SIGN UP SHEET FOR NOVEMBER 1999 FREEDOM MONTH
DEAR FRIENDS,
There are many ways that you can support and contribute to the November 1999 Freedom Month for Mr. Leonard Peltier. The following is a list of some of the forms of assistance we most urgently need. Please check the boxes for the activities you would like to be involved in, and return this note to us. Your response will greatly help us through the initial organizing phase for this event. THANK YOU!
____________________________________________________________________________
________
Name of person or organization
________________________________________________________________________
Address
________________________________________________________________________
Telephone number , fax number and e-mail address
We wish to financially contribute to costs of the November 1999 Freedom Month for Mr.Leonard Peltier. Enclosed is a check to the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee for this purpose.
We wish to support this event by organizing or participating in the regional telephone banks for the November 1999 national call in campaign to the White House. Please send us information.
We live in the Washington D.C. area and would like to help by offering our homes to participants in the prayer ceremonies, and/or by providing transportation to and from the local airports.
We would like to help by organizing a cultural or religious ceremony for Lafayette Park during the month of November. Please contact us for details.
We would like to organize fundraising activities or otherwise help to raise funds to help cover the cost of the November 1999 Freedom Event. Please contact us about this.
We wish to travel to Washington D.C. participate in this event and show our solidarity.
We would like to help organize a busload of people to come to Washington D.C. in November to participate and show our solidarity.
We have a vehicle and would be willing to carpool with other participants in travelling to Washington D.C.
We would like to help with artwork for the November 1999 event.
We cannot travel to Washington D.C. but would like to help organize teams to address our Congresspeople in their local district offices.
We would be interested in training to participate in the dignified re-enactment of the massacre at Wounded Knee.
We would be willing to participate in the dignified re-enactment of the massacre of Wounded Knee , even if it involved civil disobedience.
Other : (Please specify)
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
PO Box 583
Lawrence, KS 66044
785-842-5774
To subscribe, send a blank message to < lpdc-on@mail-list.com >
To unsubscribe, send a blank message to < lpdc-off@mail-list.com >
To change your email address, send a message to < lpdc-change@mail-list.com with your old address in the Subject line
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http://members.xoom.com/freepeltier/index.html
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THE CASE OF LEONARD PELTIER
Leonard Peltier could be you, me, anyone who stands up for his family, friends, community, and beliefs. Leonard is a Native American serving two consecutive life sentences in a federal penitentiary, even though there is NO CREDIBLE EVIDENCE that he is guilty of anything.
On June 26, 1975 two FBI agents allegedly searching for a young Indian accused of stealing a pair of used cowboy boots spotted several men enter a red pick-up truck. They followed the truck briefly. The occupants of the truck pulled over. Shots were fired though no one knows who fired first. Soon the situation exploded into a firefight involving 30 or so Indian men, women, and children and over 150 FBI agents, BIA police, US Marshals and the local police known as GOONs. Two agents and a young Indian activist died.
Within hours of the shootout, according to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights which labeled it "a full scale vendetta", hundreds of paramilitary equipped, combat-clad FBI agents and US Marshals staged a dragnet through the reservation in a fever of revenge in which men, women, and children were terrified and properties and homes were ransacked. There was no investigation into the death of the Native American.
Leonard had been previously identified as an AIM leader by the FBI and targeted by their notorious COINTELPRO program which "neutralized" people by slander, attack, and arrest. Fearing no possibility of a fair trial and at the request of his elders, he fled to Canada where he was later arrested and extradited by affidavits manufactured by the FBI that the government now concedes were false and fabricated. Four men were initially accused of the murders. Two were acquitted and the government dropped all charges against the third to concentrate their "full prosecutorial weight...against Leonard Peltier." He was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.
The handpicked judge, favored by the FBI for his anti-Indian reputation, refused evidence of self defense. Information from the acquittals of his co-defendants was also ruled inadmissable. Jurors were convinced by the court that AIM "snipers" would kill them at any time. In short Peltier was convicted before his trial even began.
The government has subsequently changed its theory on who killed the agents and today admits they have NO IDEA WHO KILLED THEM. This change of theory came about during an appeal when a judge suggested to the prosecution that the evidence was, at best, merely circumstantial. The government then argued that they had tried Leonard as both the murderer and aider and abettor.
According to the final decision of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, Peltier's trial and previous appeals had been riddled with FBI misconduct and judicial impropriety including: coercion of witnesses, perjury, fabrication of evidence, and the suppression of exculpatory evidence which could have proved his innocence. The Court called the FBI's misconduct "a clear abuse of the investigative process". Yet they ruled against a new trial for Leonard Peltier because they were "reluctant to impute further improprieties to them (FBI)." Recently it was discovered that a terrible error had been made during the appeal by Leonard's own attorney during which he mistakenly agreed with the judge regarding the testimony of Norman Brown.
What the attorney and the judge did not realize was that Brown had recanted his testimony at trial and stated he had been coerced by the FBI. He further stated that he never saw Peltier anywhere near the bodies of the agents.
We also now know that other agents were stationed around the area prior to the start of the firefight, in direct contradiction to their testimony at trial.
This was discovered in September, 1995 following the release of radio communications from the South Dakota Attorney General's office. A document has been unearthed stating that almost two months prior to the day of the shoot-out, the FBI was planning "paramilitary law enforcement... on Indian land", specifically, Pine Ridge. It may also be noted that the highest buildup of agents to civilians occurred just six days prior to the tragic incident.
It is obvious to anyone with a conscience that the government was planning to attack the AIM encampment, perhaps in the hopes of diverting attention from an illegal land transfer, or perhaps as a way to stop Senator Frank Church's Committee from investigating the FBI's Cointelpro program in regard to Native struggles. That investigation was initiated just prior to the shoot-out. It was halted the day after "due to the deaths of the agents."
With recent developments in Washington, DC proving the FBI grossly participated in illegally doctoring and manufacturing evidence to ensure criminal convictions, more attention MUST be paid to this renegade organization's past misconduct. Congressional hearings/investigations are critical!
During a parole hearing in December 1995, US prosecutor Lynn Crooks admitted again that no evidence exists against Peltier. He further stated that he government never really accused him of murder and that if Peltier were retried, the government could not reconvict. The Parole Board, however, decided not to grant parole because Peltier continues to maintain his innocence (they stated that Peltier had not given a "factual and specific account of (his) actions...consistent with the jury's verdict of guilt") and because he was the only one convicted. As ridiculous as this reasoning sounds, it has thus far held up. A petition for executive clemency remains unanswered 5 1/2 years after being filed with the Department of Justice.
The delay has been excused by government officials as a lengthy revue of a complex case. 1999 NEEDS to be the year of JUSTICE for LEONARD PELTIER. FREE LEONARD PELTIER!
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP
Write, phone, fax, and email:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington, DC 20500
(202)456-1111 (hit 0 to avoid survey)
fax (202)456-2461
Join a local Support Group. Contact LPDC for locations. If no Support Group exists in your area, consider starting one.
Contact your elected officials and ask that they support the call for clemency.
Lobby city councils as well as local educational, religious, social, and cultural organizations in generating resolutions and proclamations.
Copy and distribute this information.
OTHER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TO CONTACT
Also email Al Gore < vice.president@whitehouse.gov >
cc your clemency letters to:
US Pardon Attorney
Roger C Adams
500 First Street NW Suite 400
Ref: Leonard Peltier #89637-132
Washington DC 20530
202-616-6070
Also cc your clemency letters to:
Charles Ruff
G1
725 17th St. NW
Washington DC 20503
HEALTH
Deputy Attorney General
Mr. Eric Holder
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20530
Phone (202) 514-2000
Fax (202) 514-0467
Ms. Kathleen Hawk
Director, Bureau of Prisons
320 First St. NW
Washington, DC 20534
Fax: (202) 514-6878
Phone: (202)307-3198
khawk@bop.gov
Warden Booker
Leavenworth Federal Prison
Box 1000
Leavenworth, KS 66048
EXTRADITION REPORT
The Honorable Anne Mc Clellan, Member of Parliament
Minister of Justice
The House of Commons
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0A6
(613) 992-4524
fax (613) 996-4516
CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIONS
To reach your Congressperson or Senator by Phone Call 202-224-3121
Write the Congressperson from your district
HOUSE WEBPAGE for addresses and contact numbers
The Honorable (full name )
United States House of Representatives
Washington DC 20515
Write the Senators from your state
SENATE WEBPAGE for addresses and contact numbers
The Honorable (full name )
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Write to Leonard Peltier (he can receive US postal money orders, photos-not Polaroid, and paper back books)
USPL
Leonard Peltier
#89637-132
PO Box 1000
Leavenworth, KS 66048
For More Information:
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
PO Box 583
Lawrence, KS 66044
phone (785) 842-5774
fax (785)842-5796
email us at: lpdc@idir.net
Questions or problems regarding this page are welcome.
Inquiries can be directed to comet182@bigfoot.com.
