Dear Supporters:
(Please feel free to forward this blog.)
‘More of the same with some added misinformation’
What follows is a continuation of a review from the “Leonard Peltier Political Prisoner Podcast.” (Footnote 1)
The podcast is pure boilerplate that originated in 1977 with the initial Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC), which morphed into the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee (LPDOC) that shape shifted into the International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (ILPDC). Along the way there were several large time lapses where the Peltier message was dormant or almost nonexistent.
The LPDC began its mission hyping their primary sources: Matthiessen’s In the Spirit of Crazy Horse (Spirit), Redford’s (Michael Apted’s) Incident at Oglala (Incident), Peltier’s autobiography Prison Writings, and countless subsequent public statements by the ‘committees,’ Peltier, other protagonists and Peltierites.
Even with all the later legal history the foundation of the Peltier Myth and Folklore began to grow, yet at the same time dissembled as the facts and bogus allegations were placed under the proverbial microscope and systematically discredited.
The Podcast simply repackages the same tired and skewed rhetoric and ignores the over forty-year history of the Peltier saga.
In the meantime the No Parole Peltier Association (NPPA) has addressed every spurious allegation made by the various ‘committees,’ Peltier and others, through a series of over 70 Editorial Essays and over 225 Blogs that provided references to primary and relevant sources dispelling the underpinning of the Peltier illusion.
This further review of the podcast will be limited to the more egregious claims or unsupported new assertions to the Peltier narrative. (This will avoid repeating—once again—lengthy research but instead provide those references in relevant footnotes.)
* * *
Season 1, Episode 2, June 26, 2020:
(Stated by a Peltier attorney): “Even people who want to support Leonard talk about this in the wrong way because everyone’s confused. ‘You know, he was convicted of shooting and killing two FBI agents.’ No he wasn’t. By the time it comes out that the ballistics test—what we’d refer to as exculpatory evidence—was hidden; it’s a Brady violation. It should be over.”
It is baffling to believe that after all these years Peltier, the committees, supporters and now podcasters have read the entire Peltier legal history. And if they did, why is there a continuing misrepresentation of the facts and issues that have long been addressed and resolved? Unless, of course, it’s for a transparent agenda.
“No he wasn’t!”
Really?
“…Peltier was tried by a jury, was convicted on both counts (§§ 2, 1111 and 1114; Aiding and Abetting and Murder) and was sentenced to life imprisonment on each count, the sentences to run consecutively.” “Secondly, the direct and circumstantial evidence of Peltier’s guilt was strong…” “The judgment of conviction is affirmed.”(See, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit {8th CoA}, September 14, 1978; Direct Appeal showing no Brady violation. {This court statement is restated in many subsequent decisions}.) (Fn. 2)
“It’s a Brady violation!”
Well no, actually it wasn’t.
Referencing a prior decision:“We then held that the evidence was sufficient for the jury to find Peltier responsible for the murders.” “There is a possibility that the jury would have acquitted Leonard Peltier had the records and data improperly withheld from the defense been available to him in order to better exploit and reinforce the inconsistencies casting strong doubts upon the government’s case. Yet, we are bound by the Bagley test requiring that we be convinced, from a review of the entire record, that had the data and records withheld been made available, the jury probably would have reached a different result. We have not been so convinced.”(8th CoA, September 11, 1986)
“…the ballistics test.”
This falls under the dead-horse theory, or more accurately the matter of illusory truth as the myth purveyors believe a false narrative after nearly endless repetition. Peltierites are yet to comprehend that the October 2, 1975 FBI Laboratory Teletype (the ballistics evidence) has been resolved and cannot mutate into anything else.
“When all is said and done, however, a few simple but very important facts remain. The casing introduced into evidence had in fact been extracted from the Wichita AR-15.” (8th CoA, September 11, 1986. See also http://wwwnoparolepeltiercom-justice.blogspot.com Section 2)
Nevertheless, one podcast detail does have a ring of truth among Peltier supporters, “because everyone’s confused.” That is, they do not want to be confused by the facts.
* * *
Why Mr. X cannot be resurrected or altered
The narrators sought to provide context and background, albeit with a liberal quantity of editorializing without documentation. As well they should regarding the Peltier matter and the 1973 – 1975 period on Pine Ridge. (The podcast mentioned Angie Long Visitor, who will be discussed later.) (Fn. 3)
However, the Podcast rather quickly segues into the legacy of the phantom protagonist, the infamous Mr. X: The individual who, according to legend and Bob Robideau, murdered the agents and drove off in the infamous red pickup. This fable was detailed for about six minutes by Robideau in Redford’s Incident at Oglala. (Incident, by the way, was certainly not a ‘documentary’ as the podcast asserts, but simply a screenplay of Matthiessen’s book.) Following Robideau, as the podcast correctly recounts, is Leonard Peltier gazing forlornly into the camera; “This story is true!” Well, it wasn’t, not then or ever. Peltier was accurate though that it was a “story,” but a story that was publically refuted as a falsehood by another protagonist, Dino Butler in 1995, and even publically admitting that Mr. X was a lie by one of Peltier’s own attorneys. (Fn. 4)
(Much has been written exposing the fallacies of the Mr. X fable. Fn. 5)
In a borderline effort to blaze new ground in the Peltier myth the narrator offers this:
“There’s a lot more to the Mr. X story. In fact, we may dedicate an entire episode to him: who he is, or as Jean Roach just alluded to, whether he exists or not. But for now, it’s much less important to prove that Mr. X killed the agents, and much more important to show that Leonard was, quite, literally, framed by the FBI.”
What are the podcasters trying to do? Minimize, soft sell, ‘delete,’ or pretend that in some perverse way Mr. X was a distraction to deceptively spin in some other direction?
Not a chance. No matter what the follow-up podcasts may offer, this is a documented and provable lie that Peltier and his supporters must live with.
And why is that?
Because, it was Peltier’s only real alibi for nearly two decades.
These are just some of the explanations that are just too obvious to ignore:
1) An innocent man would not have to invent a fictitious killer or alibi. “This story is true,” he asserted. A simple truth would be easily remembered and repeated. If he didn’t lie he would never have to remember anything else or make up other fictions; and there were many others over the years.
2) None of Peltier’s attorneys would touch this fantasy because they couldn’t defend it. They knew better because it would not pass the smell test.
3) Peter Matthiessen, who wrote about and even interviewed the fully disguised Mr. X, didn’t even believe it and characterized Bob Robideau as having a “lidded ex-con look that reveals nothing” and that “He (Robideau) gives the impression of bare honesty even when to protect others he is not telling the truth; that you suspect he may be lying does not bother him (Spirit p. 547).
Matthiessen, to his credit, offers the following which provides a great deal of context to the unprovoked attack on Agents Coler and Williams and the falsity of Mr. X: “…if there is another persuasive explanation of the location and position of their cars, I cannot find it. (Spirit p. 544)
4) Redford himself bought into the Mr. X fantasy by including it in Incident, but even years later when the lie was evident, he ignored the fact that he had been conned by Peltier. So much for Hollywood credibility.
5) Peltier, in Prison Writings offered many outrageous claims nurturing his feigned innocence, but what he never recounted in his autobiography was his legacy alibi, Mr. X. Wonder why?
“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods
Footnotes:
1. http://leonard.buzzsprout.com The podcast is well organized and presented. The podcast team obviously put a lot of time and energy into their collective passion and cause. Providing a transcript of the podcasts is an efficient feature. (The original NPPA intent was to summarize all the podcasts in one blog, however, there was too much material to challenge and future blogs may address each podcast separately. See Blog re Season One, Episode Seven: http://wwwnoparolepeltiercom-justice.blogspot.com/2020/09/peltier-podcast.html)
2. Peltier legal history and decisions: http://www.noparolepeltier.com/court.html
Peltier: Important reminders:
http://wwwnoparolepeltiercom-justice.blogspot.com/2018/03/peltier-important-reminders.html
3) (No one with any understanding of the treatment of First Americans can, or should, dispute their horrible treatment by the government. From the very beginning of the NPPA and its website, on the homepage since April 30, 2000, is a statement regarding ‘Correcting the Wrongs of the Past.’ All the history must be acknowledged. The broken treaties, the early belief that one needed to kill the Indian to save the man and events like the Indian Removal Act of 1830 that resulted in Native Americans being forced from their homelands, and the infamous Trail of Tears. But we should not forget either that before the Europeans landed and settlers steadily pushed westward that this continent was not a Valhalla. There was a great deal of Indian on Indian turmoil as stronger, more aggressive tribes killed, captured and enslaved weaker Nations. As dreadful as the Trail of Tears was, unarguably a stain on American history, the Cherokee left the south for Indian Country bringing with them their own black slaves. We simply cannot forget, ignore or erase any of our collective history. We cannot, or should not, turn back the historical clock but endeavor to understand the errors of the past and strive not to repeat them. )
4) Peltier attorney Michael Kuzma admits the lie of Mr. X:
http://wwwnoparolepeltiercom-justice.blogspot.com/2012/12/peltier-kuzma-closes-circle-much-more.html (It should also be noted that early on the LPDC tried to back away from the Mr. X. fallacy; that quote is available.)
5) Mr. X, the Movie: http://www.noparolepeltier.com/movie.html
Mr. X, The Interview: http://www.noparolepeltier.com/interview.html
Mr. X, The Lie: http://www.noparolepeltier.com/lie.html
Really? Mr. X is back? http://wwwnoparolepeltiercom-justice.blogspot.com/2019/09/peltier-really-mr-x-is-back.html
Really? Mr. X is back, Part II: http://wwwnoparolepeltiercom-justice.blogspot.com/2019/10/peltier-really-mr-x-is-back-part-ii.html
6) There are many other falsehoods from Peltier that have been repeatedly addressed. To list just a few; the phony ‘Sanctioned Memo,’ that the Agents were deliberately set up by the government, that Jumping Bull was surrounded by hundreds of police and SWAT teams, that a family was caught in the cross fire, that the Agents’ came onto Jumping Bull firing their weaons, etc., etc.
