Wednesday, September 17, 2014

PELTIER UPDATE: A broken record with missing pieces; "I'm 70, send more money," Yet another admission of guilt

Dear Supporters:

Peltier’s latest, August 28th “Indian Summer” missive from Coleman is more of the same with some carefully crafted omissions (Footnote #1).

He gives thanks for donations to “my legal fees.” Legal fees? Fees he claims to have but will never disclose. Peltier supporters, Peltierites, are a clueless bunch, blindly following and accepting this little piece of unending deceit. There have been capable attorneys who have devoted many hours, some, even years to exploring every facet of Peltier’s conviction, through numerous appeals, and well beyond. They have donated their valuable time, pro bono (that’s without charge), to find something, anything, that could have opened the door to further hearings, a retrial or overturning his conviction. The Peltier case has withstood the test of time and scrutiny. Peltier is guilty and his claims of a wrongful conviction and “constitutional violations” are as weak as his claims of innocence (Fn. 2). So, if as he claims that “none of them (committee workers) take a salary or pay,” and “All the funds that have been donated will be used exclusively for (his) legal fees,” then the solution is very simple. Prove it! He won’t and that’s the dirty little secret Peltier has pandered for decades. Besides, if he ever did, even the Pelterite diehards would be aghast at the con they’ve been duped into and even more will walk away leaving no money and no support.

As for the alleged Constitutional violations, had there been one (and there was one issue that did lead to the ballistics hearing), we would not be having any conversations about, Peltier the inmate, today. The definitive word(s) have been written many times (in the final analysis; “…the direct and circumstantial evidence of Peltier’s guilt is strong…” 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, September 14, 1978). Besides, Peltier’s own statements and admissions have convicted him well beyond the legal system establishing not just his factual, but actual guilt. “And really, if necessary, I’d do it all over again, because it was the right thing to do,” he’s told the world. And he would. There’s a word for that kind of personality. Recidivist.

Rambling on, lamenting that he may die in prison “…if Obama does not free me…” he’s pointing to his last and only hope. As he is well aware, parole is off the table and the President has many more pressing matters to consider than the unrepentant, cold-blooded murderer who has lied his way through the last four decades (Fn. 3). Peltier has contradicted his own feigned innocence with public statements that he was at once a warrior that day protecting his people (by instigating a vicious attack on two agents attempting to serve an arrest warrant), then brutally killing those agents as he and the other cowards of Jumping Bull fled. Then he plays the race card, the poor persecuted Indian, The Last of the Mohegan’s (no pun intended) who had to be punished for these crimes. Peltier has consistently pushed to have it both ways. But you can’t be a warrior (hero) and a victim (persecuted minority) at the same time, especially, when his own versions of the events have changed as often as the seasons. The President is aware that it wasn’t the phantom Mr. X, as Peltier claimed for many years, as the actual killer, and that with two dead and mutilated federal agents at his feet he acknowledged the smile from Joe Stuntz as he stole and put on the dead agent’s FBI jacket. No, the record is clear; even if the claims are true that no one knows who fired the fatal killing shots (which isn’t true because at least Dino Butler and Bob Robideau—and perhaps others—were there at that moment), he was also convicted of “Aiding and Abetting” in those murders. So, there in Coleman he shall sit until his sentence is complete (two life sentences plus seven consecutive years for the armed Lompoc escape) until he can walk out, or be carried out.

A ponytail does not an Indian make. This past week the disgraced Ward Churchill made his first television appearance in many years and submitted to questioning regarding his warped philosophy of America. Any reasonably informed person, no matter the education, or even high schoolers, have to walk away from Churchill’s comments recognizing that the man is a babbling fool. As difficult as it was to force oneself to watch this pathetic exhibit there was one positive note. Churchill is (or was) a Peltier supporter. And if that’s the quality of Peltier support, then bring them on. Putting Peltier in the same boat with the likes of Ward Churchill can only widen Peltier’s credibility gap with the rest of mankind. (Fn. 4)

Like a jackass lost in a canyon Peltier is bawling a new slogan, pilfered and adulterated from a true Native American warrior, Chief Joseph. “I will fight some more…forever,” is a hackneyed attempt to try to legitimize his own cowardly and marginalized past. It would have been more accurate for Peltier to have said, “I will lie forever…even to myself.”

Peltier signs off this message like all the others with selling the myth, how to make donations (to a rent-by-the-week office in Lake Mary, Florida), those questionable quality artwork prints, T-Shirts and the like. Notice though they no longer claim that donations are “tax-deductible.” Wonder why? Peltierites are afraid to ask.

The missing pieces of the broken record are easily found at (Fn.5).

Then comes Peltier’s 9/12/14 “I’m 70, send more money” message (Fn. 6). This is just more of the same providing pained excuses that his actions were for others; his lame cry that his sacrifice  was for everyone else in the world. Peltier explains that he has hired the “best legal team we could get,” which essentially throws all those prior pro bono attorneys under the proverbial bus. But at least he was “very grateful they were trying to help me.” Really, is that all they did, “try” to help? Collectively all those earlier attorneys must be shaking their heads.

The new dream team must have an easier job ahead since Peltier tells us that; “I am singled out” and “often people cannot believe the sheer amount of constitutional violations and injustice,” while he “…paid a dear price attempting to uphold justice, fairness, and truth,” and fought “…the good fight…” Again, if there was but one  constitutional violation he would have been out a long time ago, but he can’t help himself with the I’m in this for you scam and singing the same rendition of the warrior-victim song.

Although, he does come close to the core of the “hell” he finds himself in suggesting that he “…wants (his) time to stand as an example to you all.” Finally, a moment of unsuspecting clarity. Yes, there is a Peltier message for others, especially the young and impressionable, if you don’t attack and murder law enforcement personnel, then you won’t spend the rest of your life rotting in prison. That’s a good take-away from the Coleman inmate.

Over the years there have been many times Peltier’s attorney’s wished that he would just keep his mouth shut. But that’s one of the central reasons why his attorneys and “committee” has changed so often, because he is incapable of suppressing that sociopathic bullying and his self-delusional belief in the myth that’s been festering around him. A myth that’s flawed and defies the reality of Jumping Bull. In other words, he simply cannot control himself or follow simple, valid advice.

Peltier has not identified his attorneys. Why is that? There isn’t a privilege to be concerned about, either someone represents a client or doesn’t. It’s quite simple. But maybe that’s part of the gambit…the ploy to keep the unsuspecting, unsuspecting. Keep them waiting in anxious excitement for the next revelation. Where’s the harm in saying, “these are my best attorneys,” and name them? Unless, of course, they don’t exist. But keep sending the checks because that money has been going somewhere over all these years. (By the way, unlike in the past, Peltier better make sure the income is claimed and taxes paid.)

Peltier has done it once again. Yet another admission of guilt. The February 6, 2010 public statement (mentioned above; he’d do it all over again because it was the right thing to do), is only prelude as he comes to us with this, “I don’t regret any of it for one minute.”

The key here, of course, is “any.” Without qualification, reservation, clarification or exclusion, this statement, by default must include the events of June 26, 1975 and the brutal attack and murder of Special Agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams. This is yet another public admission of unrepentant guilt that will surely be mentioned at his next parole-review hearing.

At this juncture a question that can be asked is whether or not a free Leonard Peltier would still present a danger (aside from whether he has yet to fully pay his debt to society). The answer is an unqualified, yes. He played the role of a tough-guy, a self-proclaimed warrior, but the facts and his own words have proven that he was one among the “yellow robes” that day at Jumping Bull (Fn. 7). Those details support the premise that he was, in fact, a coward, and cowards always remain unpredictable and dangerous.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”

Ed Woods

Footnotes:
This is a significant essay from 2001. The factual basis remains unchanged, however, given Churchill’s history over the past thirteen years, the generous comments regarding his status are withdrawn.
7) See Peltier’s FBI wanted flyer, I.O. 4681, dated 12/3/75 for Murder; Interstate Flight-attempted murder; National Firearms Act. Peltier also, ironically used the alias of Leonard Williams, as well as Leonard Littleshell, Luis Martinez and John Yellow Robe.