Dear Supporters:
If Leonard Peltier is paying for legal representation from
the likes of Martin Garbus, Cynthia Dunne and Carl Nadler, he should demand a
refund.
Why would attorneys allow a client to make a formal petition
for clemency to the U.S. Department of Justice Pardon Attorney, the Attorney
General and the President of the United States that included an admission of
guilt?
Why would these attorneys make that petition public so all
the flaws could be exposed and scrutinized? [i]
In Part 1 of the petition, entitled Remorse, Peltier states (and his attorneys publicize):
I
did not wake up on that June 26 planning
to injure or shoot federal agents, and did not gain anything from participating in the incident. I was on
the Jumping Bull property to protect its residents, not to cause harm. At the
end of the day, three young men lost their lives, many others were injured,
families were traumatized, and lives were destroyed. (Emphasis added; see
below for the additional comments [ii])
We absolutely cannot ignore the timing of this admission,
coming on the heels of Peltier’s only opportunity to leave USP Coleman as a
free man. The petition and Peltier’s statement is dated February 17, 2016.
2016! That’s forty-one years after the brutal murders of Special Agents Jack R.
Coler and Ronald A. Williams. Forty-one years later Peltier can make yet
another admission of guilt that’s endorsed and publicized by attorneys who are
certainly not looking out for his best interests, nor his legal protection
under the law. That is, under the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination.
Yet, here Peltier is penning the words, ‘planning’
and ‘participating.’
PLANNING: No, Peltier wasn’t planning that morning to “injure
or shoot federal agents.” There was no grand conspiracy (although Peltier
claimed there were several on the government’s side[iii])
for an AIM ambush. Peltier and other AIM cowards weren’t lying in wait for
federal agents to approach the Jumping Bull property or enter their camp along
White Clay Creek.
The fact remains that neither the
FBI nor Jack Coler or Ron Williams knew of the existence of the AIM camp or
that Peltier had returned to Pine Ridge.
Although, what Peltier did know was
that he was then a fugitive for the attempted murder of a Milwaukee police
officer. [iv]
Some have suggested that it was an ambush, but we disagree.
It was a spontaneous, cowardly reaction when Peltier mistakenly believed that
the two late model sedans that followed him from Highway 18 were the FBI coming
for him. Peltier panicked and the rest of the AIM cowards, with rifles, pinned
down Coler and Williams in an open field and fired the first shots. How do we
know this? Ron Williams told us. On the radio he described exactly what was
about to happen before the first shot was fired, at them. Those listening on
the radio even heard Ron get hit.
PARTICIPATING: Exactly what part of “participating” is
difficult to understand? Peltier, pathetically supported by his own attorneys,
admits to taking part in the “incident.”
In 1977 Peltier was convicted of murder and aiding and
abetting, the elements of which are:[v]
1. That the accused had specific intent to facilitate
the commission of a crime by another: Peltier and other AIM cowards took
two federal agents under rifle fire and gunned them down in an open field.
2. That the accused had the requisite intent of the
underlying substantive offense: Shooting at federal agents shows intent to
harm. One hundred and fourteen (114) shell casings were matched to Peltier’s “Wichita
AR-15.”[vi]
3. That the accused assisted or participated in the
commission of the underlying substantive offense: Over 125 bullet holes were
found in Coler and Williams’ vehicles.[vii]
4. That someone committed the underlying offense:
Peltier was charged, indicted tried and convicted of murder and aiding and abetting.
That charge was even listed on Peltier’s 1975 FBI wanted poster.[viii]
Two critically wounded agents were brutally murdered. The government argued at
trial that Peltier personally shot Agents Coler and Williams, and if he did
not, then he was equally guilty as an aider and abettor in their deaths. Five
people know who fired the final three killing shots. Three are dead, Jack, Ron
and Bob Robideau.[ix] Dino Butler
has remained relatively silent.[x] Peltier has
been lurking behind a falsity that in some insubstantial way he was a warrior
that day. Peltier cowers behind that façade and denigrates an otherwise proud
Native heritage.
Peltier has created a spectacular fiction concocted with
a gullible audience in mind, as we watch it unravel like a cheap blanket.
Peltier wasn’t planning
to injure or shoot federal agents
that day, but he did, and with the blessing of his legal team admits to participating, and that’s enough, even
now in 2016, to sustain aiding and abetting.
“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods
[i] Three-part
blog dismantling the alleged facts of the cover letter and petition: http://wwwnoparolepeltiercom-justice.blogspot.com/2016/05/peltier-clemency-application-thank-you.html,
http://wwwnoparolepeltiercom-justice.blogspot.com/2016/05/peltier-clemency-application-thank-you_25.html,
[ii] There is
only a grain of truth in Peltier’s perpetual folklore. AIM was allegedly at
Pine Ridge to “protect” its residents but in the process was escalating the
tension and violence. Three young men lost their lives. Two where attacked (and
there was an eyewitness), severely or mortally wounded and then brutally
murdered. Joe Stuntz participated in the initial shooting, stole Jack Coler’s
FBI raid jacket from the trunk of his vehicle—gave Peltier a smile—and then
proceeded to shoot at responding agents and officers until his deadly force was
met in turn. Many others were injured? This is a new addition to Peltier
fabrications/folklore. There were no other reports of anyone else being injured
that day, unless Peltier wants to provide a name or make one up. Families were
traumatized? That’s arguably true since Angie Long Visitor and her family fled
away from the Jumping Bull area towards Highway 18. Certainly they were fearful
over an action precipitated by AIM. Lives were destroyed? Peltier’s, yes,
self-induced; Stuntz, yes, because he followed Peltier to his own death:
Others? Peltier will have to come up with some specifics and more fabrications
for that one.
[iii] The
Sanctioned Memo: http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#critic
The old cowboy boots story: http://www.noparolepeltier.com/faq.html#17
Prison Writings: http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#amazon
[iv] Yes,
Peltier was acquitted, but there is more to that story as well; better saved
for another day.
“Later
examinations of the remaining .223 bullet casings submitted in connection
with {F. Supp. 1150} the RESMURS case resulted in approximately 114
positive identifications with the Wichita AR-15. Thirty-nine of these were
introduced into evidence at Peltier‘s trial as part of the exhibit 34 series.
One of these was the bullet casing found in the trunk of Agent Coler’s car (Q#
2628; Trial Ex. 34B).”
"The trial witnesses unanimously testified that there was only one
AR-15 in the compound prior to the murders, that this weapon was used
exclusively by Peltier and carried out by Peltier after the murders."
U.S. v. Peltier, U.S. Court of Appeals,
Eighth Circuit, 800 F.2d 772, 21 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. (Callaghan) 1017, 1986;
U.S. App. Decision, September 11, 1986: Sections: “The .223 Casing,” and “The
AR-15.”
[x] http://www.noparolepeltier.com/lie.html
Butler came out publicly stating that Peltier’s only alibi—that the infamous
Mr. X. killed the agents and drove off in a pickup, was a lie.
