Dear Supporters:
To date there has there has been no personal drivel from
inmate #89627-132.
1) Peltier likely
remains in the fetal position, sucking his thumb in the corner of his USP
Coleman cell still bewildered over January 18, 2017. Here’s a revealing thought;
the President understood that the unrepentant murderous Peltier had his day(s)
in court and should continue to serve the remainder of his lawful conviction
and consecutive life sentences. (Thank you, President Obama.)
Since April 30, 2000, the stated purpose of the No Parole
Peltier Association was, and continues to be, to honor the memory and sacrifice
of FBI Agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams who were brutally murdered in the
line of duty; to ensure that justice is served and their convicted killer
serves his consecutive life sentences and to challenge decades of Peltier myth,
folklore, falsehoods and lies with the facts and truth.
Dedicated and committed to justice, the facts and truth do
not a vendetta make.
2) Nonetheless, Peltier
and his sycophantic apologists continue to throw around buzzwords like willful,
malicious, oppressive, staggering hyperbole, reckless and the like, along with tired
folklore because they mistakenly believe that if they repeat it enough times it
will magically turn out to be true. But…
Any criticism of Peltier is based on
undeniable facts derived from documented sources: trial transcripts, numerous
court decisions, statements from the Peltier “Defense Committee” (and all its
manifestations over the years), co-defendant statements (most notably Bob Robideau
and Dino Butler), Peltier media interviews and a film in which he appeared, books
contributed to or co-authored by Peltier, and Peltier’s self-incriminating
public statements.
Upon that foundation, logical
inferences have been drawn.
For example: Is it appropriate to
conclude that Leonard Peltier is a coward?
Based on the facts and history of
June 26, 1975 we have an eyewitness who over the FBI radio told a number of Agents
they were about to come under fire. That witness was Ron Williams as he and
Jack Coler were attacked and severely wounded. Jack Coler and Ron Williams
faced a clear and present danger from Leonard Peltier and the other AIM
members. Leonard Peltier admitted a number of times, and during a filmed
television interview, that he fired at the agents. That was a cowardly act by
Peltier and the other AIM protagonists. Ron Williams waved his shirt as a sign
of surrender then gave aid to his critically wounded partner. Jack Coler,
probably in shock and unconscious was shot twice in the face, killing him instantly.
Ron Williams was alive, evidenced by a defensive wound to his hand, which then
went through his head. Leonard Peltier was tried and convicted for murder and
aiding and abetting. Killing two wounded and defenseless human beings is a
cowardly act. At a later unrelated trial, sworn testimony quoted Leonard
Peltier describing the killing of the agents and claiming that “The M-----
F----- was begging for his life, but I shot him anyway.”^ A cowardly act and statement by Leonard
Peltier. Recounting the crime scene, Leonard Peltier made the following
statement; “I seen Joe when he pulled it out of the trunk and I looked at him
when he put it on, and he gave me a smile.” ^^ In
addition to aiding and abetting those involved, Peltier himself stole the dead agents’
weapons, (Jack Coler’s service revolver was found in a paper bag with Leonard
Peltier’s thumbprint on it)—a cowardly act that would shock the conscience of
any reasonable person. Agents’ Coler and Williams were shot at point blank
range in the face, yet their bodies were discovered rolled-over, facing the
ground. A cowardly act by Leonard Peltier and those he aided and abetted. (However,
it is not known which of the cowards of Jumping Bull, “counted coup” on the
dead agents and turned them over to face the ground.)
By all accounts and reasonable
conclusions, Leonard Peltier is a coward.
Peltier has made himself a public figure
which raises the bar considerably higher when it comes to allegations of
criticisms that allegedly are willfully untrue, malicious, oppressive or
reckless. As to this public figure, people are entitled to offer their opinions
based on their own First Amendment rights of free expression and the recorded,
documented public sector facts to counter the four decades of misinformation
that has been the bedrock of the Peltier myth and folklore. Inaccurate, often
contradictory, outrageous and unsupportable written and public statements by
Peltier are entitled to a meaningful public response and it is up to Peltier to
show that those responses are provably false.
3) Peltier has
falsely claimed that the NPPA was government funded. There is nothing that can
substantiate this assertion. When the No Parole Peltier Association and its
companion website was launched in 2000 it included seventeen (17) Frequently
Asked Questions. One of those FAQs was:
How Much Taxpayer Time and Money Go Into
the NPPA and its website?
None.
This site was created on the personal time of the author and others and engaged
the services of a professional website designer.
Further, on March 13, 2013 the NPPA’s financial records were
published to the website as Editorial Essay #58 documenting that personal time
and money went into the creation and maintenance of the NPPA association and
website. (This was done as a challenge to Peltier to finally come clean regarding
his alleged “tax deductible” fundraising and charitable activities. Of course
there was no response.)*
Coincidentally, this past March 29th, the $155
payment for web hosting for 2017 was paid by the NPPA founder, again, from
personal funds.
Any claim that government funds in any manner supported the
NPPA is a libelous allegation without merit.
4) Peltier has
claimed he has suffered monetary loss as a result of actions by the NPPA. In
order for that to be true, the presumption would be that Peltier is running a
business from prison.
As early as 2004, even a member of Peltier’s inner sanctum
publicly admitted that Peltier was violating, at the very least, prison
regulations:
In a heated exchange between Bob
Free and Cathy McCarthy, airing their dirty laundry in the public domain, Free
stated, “It is very troubling that she is
suggesting that Leonard himself is directing a Non Profit organization while
still incarcerated. This is potentially a legal problem for Leonard and the
LPDC.”
Perhaps Peltier should review USP Coleman’s Inmate Handbook,
specifically page 40, which states in part, “Inmates cannot engage in any type of
business and will be sanctioned for doing so.”
5) Peltier has
falsely claimed that the U.S. government allegedly lied to Canadian authorities and provided false witness testimony to secure Peltier’s extradition.
To the contrary, Peltier and his cronies are doubtless referring
to Myrtle Poor Bear. Here’s a surprise, repeated for the umpteenth time for the
uninformed Peltierites; Myrtle Poor Bear did
not testify during Peltier’s extradition.
However, even more significant is that at Peltier’s 1979
Fargo trial, when the government appeared to be ready to call Poor Bear as a
witness, Peltier’s own attorney described her as a “…witness whose mental imbalance is so gross
as to render her testimony unbelievable.” ** So, there’s that, Peltier trying to have it
both ways.
Nonetheless, the Canadian government, reviewing Peltier’s
complaint after the fact, made it very clear he was lawfully extradited:
"As I
indicated above, I have concluded that Mr. Peltier was lawfully extradited to
the United States."
"The
record demonstrates that the case was fully considered by the courts and by the
then Minister of Justice. There is no evidence that has come to light since
then that would justify a conclusion that the decisions of the Canadian courts
and Minister of Justice should be interfered with." ***
6) Peltier has
claimed that the government was forced to admit that the weapon (the Wichita
AR-15) associated with Peltier did not match the ballistics results. This
premise is utterly untrue.
After a three-day evidentiary (ballistics) hearing in October 1984
and a subsequent appeal, the Court of Appeals stated as a finding of fact:
“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. This point was not disputed; although the defense had its own
ballistics expert, it offered no contrary evidence.”
(Emphasis added) ****
7) Peltier
claimed that the government’s case against him deteriorated to the point that the
U.S. Attorney changed the basis of Peltier’s prosecution to indicate that
Peltier was simply just there and thus deserved to be convicted. This is a
fictitious argument that had been made previously and reached, again, the Court
of Appeals, which ruled:
“Peltier’s arguments fail because
their underlying premises are fatally
flawed. (A) The Government tried
the case on the alternative theories: it asserted that Peltier personally
killed the agents at point blank range, but that if he had not done so, then he
was equally guilty of their murder
as an aider and abettor.” (Emphasis
added) *****
8) In the matter
of a claim of defamation, as Peltier has alleged, it must be based on a
statement that is provably false.
Peltier is a murderer. True. He was tried, convicted and
sentenced for murder and aiding and abetting in the brutal killing of FBI
Agents Coler and Williams. Peltier’s numerous appeals have never altered that
conviction.
Peltier lied about his only real alibi. True. Peltier
claimed that someone they knew, but would not name, the infamous Mr. X in the
red pickup, killed the agents. Even on film (Redford’s, Incident at Oglala), Peltier utters the words, “This story is
true.” It wasn’t. It was a lie for the better part of two decades. So said
co-defendant Dino Butler and one of Peltier’s own attorneys. ******
In 2016 Peltier admitted participating
in the killing of Agents Coler and Williams. True.
As incredible as it may seem, Peltier’s attorneys allowed
him to make this stunning admission in his latest clemency petition to the
President of the United States: “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.” (Emphasis added) ******^
Peltier remains an unrepentant convicted murderer. True. Peltier’s
shallow claims of innocence, superficial lip service to the families of the
dead Agents, and his own public statements, reveal that he remains unrepentant:
“And really, if necessary, I’d do it all over again because
it was the right thing to do.”
(Leonard Peltier, February 2010)
“I don’t regret any of this for a minute.” (Leonard Peltier,
August 2014)
“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams:
Ed Woods
^ Looking Cloud trial transcript at 144-145; In
reference to a statement made to the witness by Leonard Peltier: Prosecutor:
“Exactly what did he say?”
Witness: “He said the M----- F----- was begging for his life but I shot
him anyway.”
^^ Peter Matthiessen, In the Spirit of Crazy
Horse, p.552
****
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.” http://www.noparolepeltier.com/800.html
