"IN THE SPIRIT OF CRAZINESS" by Peter Matthiessen

Dear Supporters:

While preparing a previous Blog I once again picked up Peter Matthiessen’s, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse The story of Leonard Peltier and the FBI’s war on the American Indian Movement. This tome is the proverbial Bible, the touted bedrock of source material (along with the film, Incident at Oglala) by the LPDOC and a must read for anyone in Peltier’s camp. (My copy has been read at least a half-dozen times and referenced hundreds more. It’s dog-eared, with dozens of page markers, highlighted passages and marginal notes; it more resembles an old fringed pillow than a book at this point. It has been well examined.)

When I came across another familiar ITSOCH reference it begged for a formal reply.

Matthiessen was making the case for a new trial and supporting this he summarizes the defense issue surrounding the “Wichita AR-15” (trial Exhibit 34A) and the .223 shell casing found in the trunk of agent Coler’s vehicle (trial exhibit 34B). These were crucial pieces of Government evidence against Peltier. The AR-15 had been badly damaged when Robideau’s station wagon blew up on a Wichita Turnpike while he and others made their escape from Pine Ridge after the killings. The bolt mechanism, however, was functional and tested at the FBI’s Washington Laboratory in another similar weapon to determine if the “extractor” marks (those left on the ejected shell casing after the bullet is either fired or ejected) matched the casing from Agent Coler’s trunk. It did. The other essential step was to connect Peltier to this particular weapon at Jumping Bull and the point-blank murders of Agents Coler and Williams.

To support this premise Matthiessen states the following:

“The documents cited above are by no means the only ones that would justify an appeal for a new trial. Others cast light on the disputed contention between the damaged AR-15 rifle recovered from Robideau’s exploded station wagon on the Kansas Turnpike and the .223 shell casing allegedly found in the trunk of Coler’s car, which—keeping in mind that no evidence or testimony associated Peltier with that particular AR-15 in the first place and that even FBI expert Evan Hodge acknowledged that at least three AR-15s were involved in the shoot-out—represented the sum total of the ballistics evidence against him.” (p.484; Emphasis added)

Well, not quite.

So, we have two basic questions: Was there evidence or testimony connecting Peltier to this particular (essentially his) AR-15 at Jumping Bull? And did FBI firearms expert Evan Hodge testify that “at least three AR-15s were involved in the shoot-out?”

FBI Laboratory firearms expert, Special Agent Evan Hodge’s testimony at Peltier’s 1977 Fargo, ND trial is contained within 145 pages of trial transcript amounting to over 48,000 words.

It should come as no surprise that Agent Hodge never testified as Matthiessen claimed.

At no time does Agent Hodge make a statement in any manner that “at least three AR-15s” were involved at Jumping Bull. Defense attorney Lowe never posed that question to Hodge nor was it the subject of the many sidebar arguments before the Court. There was much direct and cross-examination of Hodge about a number of weapons and shell casings recovered both at Jumping Bull and other locations; none of which included another AR-15.

The closest these 145 pages of testimony came to the possible existence of any other AR-15s that day was the recovery of a total of fourteen, (two groups of seven), .223 shell casings (Lab items Q100-Q105, and Q130 located by the “green house” at Jumping Bull and Q2513-Q2519 located in the “tent city” area) that were eliminated as “not” being “extracted” from Peltier’s Wichita AR-15. (Trial Transcript 3323)

However, seven of those (Q100-105 and Q130) were identified as being military type ammunition and stamped with “LC” for “Lake City Arsenal,” a military manufacturer.  This is the same type ammunition issued to FBI agents and used after the shooting of Coler and Williams when other agents and law enforcement responded to Jumping Bull and engaged in fire-fight skirmishes as Peltier and others made their escape. (Trial transcript, 3320, 3384, 3389) In other words, the other AR-15s were brought there after the killings of Agents’ Coler and Williams—by FBI personnel.  

(Correctly so, that does not account for the other seven .223 shell casings, which were not further identified during Hodge’s testimony or during the trial; however, that still doesn’t negate Matthiessen’s error. These other casings may be the subject of a subsequent NPPA Blog.)

To make it absolutely clear, defense attorney Lowe never asked Agent Hodge whether there were “at least three (or any other number of) AR-15s” at Jumping Bull, nor did Agent Hodge testify to that effect.

However, as a finding of fact, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded:

“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.” (Eighth Circuit, September 11, 1986)

Thus, Matthiessen reinforces the folklore with just another erroneous myth of Peltier’s feigned innocence.

Also, contrary to Matthiessen’s claim, it was established during the trial and recognized by the Eighth Circuit Court that among the AIM participants during the shooting that morning Peltier was the only one with an AR-15, a weapon he was known to carry. (Eighth Circuit Court, September 11, 1986; see also NPPA Editorial Essay #55 Critical Witnesses against Peltier.)

(It would be fair to point out, yet again, that Matthiessen’s reporting was biased from the beginning because he was on Peltier’s payroll when doing his extensive research for the book. In exchange for full access to Peltier and the many others involved, Matthiessen had agreed to share the profits.)

HAVING IT BOTH WAYS:  It is reasonable for Peltier supporters to make an observation, or criticism, that the NPPA wants it both ways; at once attacking Matthiessen’s reporting and then using ITSOCH to provide proof of Peltier’s guilt.

But that wouldn’t be a fair criticism. Here we point out a deliberate falsehood…not just an error of fact or sloppy reporting from the trial transcript, but that Matthiessen was completely wrong: Possibly deliberately so. This is an entirely different scenario when, during the lengthy research for his book and his access to Peltier and many others, Matthiessen “quotes” Peltier and others. For an author to “quote” someone he has interviewed is more than merely significant, it provides first-hand proof.

That’s precisely why we can have it both ways, pinpointing Mathiessen’s errors of fact and then throwing at Peltier some of his own significant statements. And we are grateful to Matthiessen for providing perhaps the most critical quote from Peltier in the entire 600-plus pages of ITSOCH:

“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.” (See July 8, 2012 Blog for complete details.)

And for that we thank Peter Matthiessen for helping everyone understand Peltier’s guilt beyond any doubt.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”

Ed Woods

(P.S. All references are available on the No Parole Peltier website; the trial transcript is available on Peltier’s website, whoisleonardpeltier.info.)

Ronald A. Williams; Rest in Peace; July 30, 1947-June 26, 1975 (& Kuzma)

Dear Supporters:

Ron was robbed of his opportunity to reach his 65^th birthday and live a long, happy, productive and successful life. His chance meeting on a sultry morning at Jumping Bull and his bravery and heroic efforts to aid his critically wounded partner are a matter of record and FBI legend. Ron’s memorable sense of humor, charm, warm and outgoing personality, intelligence and dedication are acknowledged among those who had the privilege to personally have known and worked with him.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Williams’ family. May he continue to rest-in-peace and be assured that his sacrifice in the line-of-duty will never be forgotten.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”

Ed Woods

Postscript: At times like this we have never mentioned Peltier, this being the only exception when just days ago Peltier suffered yet another blow to his enduring frivolous lawsuits. A federal judge rejected the argument by Buffalo, New York attorney and Peltier apologist Michael Kuzma regarding Frank DeLuca (a.k.a Frank Black Horse) who was arrested with Peltier in Canada in 1976. Kuzma (albeit with Peltier and the LPDOC) in some perversely distorted way believe that FBI documents regarding this  “shadowy figure,” “may help vindicate Peltier.” As if all the evidence, all the many statements from Peltier himself will remove Peltier and his murderous actions at Jumping bull in 1975. Let’s remind Kuzma of Peltier’s only real alibi; that someone else killed the agents, someone they all knew, the fabricated Mr. X Peltier offered for many years and that his own cohort, Dino Butler publically said was a lie, and while his own biographer, Peter Matthiessen (In the Sprit of Crazy Horse, p.547) didn’t believe either. Or, Peltier’s own statement that “the person who was responsible for our arrest was the old man Yellow Bird who we learned later was paid for his work by he RCMP…” (ITSOCH p. 403). Perhaps, during those dark nights in Kuzma’s delusional paranoia DeLuca is on the grassy knoll in Dallas as well.  In a very parochial sense Kuzma is clogging the court system with fabrications that DeLuca, or anyone else for that matter, would minimize, or least of all, vindicate Peltier. 

NPPA Presentation

PELTIER: Great Start...Typical Finish: Stuntz & "Oglala Confrontation"

Dear Supporters:

On those rare occasions when Peltier says something constructive and positive it has been acknowledged.

Here, in his “Leonard Peltier 2012 Statement” he encourages people, especially the young and disenfranchised, to set personal goals to improve their condition and focus on both their heritage and future. To educate themselves and search for the knowledge that will bring them to understanding and living a better life. He properly warns of the dangers of yielding to boredom and a lack of direction with the debilitation of alcohol and drugs. His message is clear, concise and meaningful for all youths, especially Native Americans whose heritage was systematically robbed from them.

Peltier ends with this lesson; “…remember the sacrifices of those who lived and died for you. Remember Joe Stuntz…”

Yes, this is vintage Peltier. Really? Remember Joe Stuntz for helping Native American youth to connect with their heritage? Not quite.

Yes, Joe Stuntz (who Peltier speciously renamed “Killsright”), who stood over the mutilated bodies of two murdered human beings after he was one of the ones who shot at them to begin with, and then stealing a dead agent’s FBI raid jacket from the trunk of a bullet ridden vehicle. Stuntz, who wore that stolen jacket as he later fired on law enforcement responding to the aid of Jack Coler and Ron Williams (they had no way of knowing that it was already too late). And the same Joe Stuntz who was drilled in the forehead by a BIA officer, and thanks to Peltier, never left the Reservation alive that day. This is not made up; we know all this from Peltier himself “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.”

Stuntz gives a “smile” yet. What a wonderful role model for Peltier to pick for Native American youth. Thankfully the vast majority of Native Americans, young and old, recognize how destructive Peltier and AIM was to any legitimate cause for equal rights and justice. But in his “prison setting” where the “…days go by oh so slowly,” and his nightmares are in his “waking moments,” it’s certain that any lucid moments, (like an otherwise good message to his dwindling followers), evaporates quickly into the remorseless personality Peltier has always had.

He did though, seemingly for the first time, introduce yet another fabrication into the lexicon of Peltier folklore, “Oglala Confrontation.”

“Confrontation?” Is that now what he wants to call it? Shooting and severely wounding two human beings and then destroying their faces at contact range: A confrontation? No, Leonard, and anyone who would listen to him, that wasn’t an argument, disagreement, quarrel, altercation or conflict, that’s what society calls, murder.

It would be compelling to suggest Peltier confront his own conscience, but that died a long time ago…if it ever existed at all. It will be better for him to try that line with The Creator when the time comes. The Creator won’t buy that sorry excuse either.

Peltier also said to the young who may listen “I hope and pray that none of the young people will ever end up in any prison situation.” Good advice.

Better advice: Don’t for a second believe that Peltier is a role model for anyone.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods

June 26, 1975: Peltier at New Orleans

June 26, 1975, Pine Ridge. Peltier at New Orleans, May 24, 2012:

Today marks thirty-seven years since the brutal murders of FBI Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Our thoughts and prayers remain with their families. We will continue to honor their memory and sacrifice in the line of duty.
New Orleans, May 24, 2012: Peltier didn’t appear at the FBI Headquarters in New Orleans, but at the gracious invitation of the retiring Special Agent in Charge, Ed Woods, the founder of the No Parole Peltier Association, provided an hour-long presentation at an all-employee conference. Covered were the facts surrounding the wounding and then cold-blooded murder of Agents Coler and Williams, the RESMURS (Reservation Murders) investigation, the conviction, and the sentencing and appeals of Leonard Peltier.
The greater part of the presentation was devoted to what Peltier has said over the past three and a half decades concerning his alleged innocence. Direct quotes from Peltier established for the audience Peltier’s unequivocal and remorseless guilt. It was pointed out that Peltier has only abused his Native American heritage; he has adulterated an otherwise proud American Indian history and tradition. This has been demonstrated by the regular turnover of Peltier committee leadership and his dwindling support. As recent as a few days ago they were again begging for money to support their “meager resources.”
And, maybe not so coincidentally, there has never been an accounting for any of the money Peltier has collected or the sham of his alleged charitable activities.
Native Americans have witnessed that the disruption caused by AIM and Peltier’s actions did nothing to improve their condition and they have distanced themselves from him and that past. Peltier only hopes that the uninformed continue to cling to the myth, as well as the folklore built on a mountain of fabrications, lies and unsupported alibis.
It is not difficult to understand the basic facts and get beyond Peltier and his dwindling network’s (LPDOC) fairy tales when Peltier’s own words make his guilt unambiguous; “And really, if necessary, I’d do it all over again, because it was the right thing to do.” 

Perhaps, twelve years from now, in July 2024, at his next parole hearing, we can convince Peltier otherwise.
“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods

NPPA 12th ANNIVERSARY: FBI Minneapolis Dedication

Dear supporters:

Monday, April 30, 2012 marked the twelfth anniversary of the creation of the No Parole Peltier Association and the NPPA website.

In the past year the NPPA has continued to update the Peltier matter with monthly Blogs. The last and crucial Editorial Essay “Critical Witnesses Against Peltier (#55 in the Debate Continues section) provides an in-depth analysis of the four witnesses who the jury had to rely on to come to their conclusion that placed Peltier, Butler and Robideau at the agent’s vehicles when the initial shooting ended—and the agents lay critically wounded—when the final killing shots were administered to their faces: Jack Coler, perhaps, and hopefully unaware of what was about to happen and Ron Williams, hand raised in defense, as Peltier shot him, and as later testimony quoted, “the …-… begged for his life but I shot him anyway.” So much for Peltier’s feigned bravery as an alleged “warrior.”

Last year’s Blogs updated a number of topics:

 Destroying (compliments of “Feather”) the LPDOC’s “Analysis of Constitutional Violations.” (Alleged violations, that is.)

 The young would-be filmmaker, Preston Randolph, who’s film, “Wind Chases the Sun,” (if it ever is produced) will hardly be fair-and-balanced but more in the genre of Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (Preston could only pray to be that talented) and merely more Peltier propaganda for uninformed supporters. It will be only a minor challenge to factually destroy it.

 Pointing out the conspicuous contradiction of Peltier folklore where in the film “Incident at Oglala” Robideau claims that their first intent was to “…capture these two agents” and then segues into one of the biggest Peltier lies, the fable of Mr. X.

 “They attacked the village” blog goes into great detail and specifics of how Peltier, at this late stage is trying to reinvent the facts. It’s as if he has finally, as the expression goes, gone stir crazy. But some of the statements he makes go far beyond that. Now he’s just story telling. Please see the 12/27/11 Blog for some very real revelations about Peltier the fable-maker.

 Thanksgiving: Some comments on what Peltier called genocide and a list of actual facts from the record of his case and conviction that cannot be disputed.

 Peltier whines because he got the top bunk: The LPDOC uses a very dangerous word, “Lobbying,” in furtherance of the Leonard Peltier Political Action Committee (satirically, LEO-PAC), which is unlawful, along with their constant pleas for cash and refusal to document where any of those funds have gone. And comments on a couple of Appalachian State University students who haven’t used their research skills to discover the truth about Peltier’s guilt. One said he was “…prepared to sit out here as long as it takes to give him freedom.” That was November, and it would be logical to predict that he’s not still sitting there.

 A review of Peltier’s clemency efforts and correcting the LPDOC’s continuous out-of-context quotes: They find the complete quotes to be pesky impediments to their ultimate purpose to obfuscate Peltier’s actual guilt. This was where Peltier made the statement that any parole board would love to hear to make their decision that much easier: “And really, if necessary, I’d do it all over again, because it was the right thing to do.” Yes, Leonard Peltier actually said that. Peltier’s petition for clemency, blindly signed by the unknowing, was a disgraceful fabrication of the actual events and facts. (Blog 10/22/11) 

 The NPPA offered Peltier a $1,000 donation in support of their constant plea for any money from anyone or anywhere. Peltier and his network essentially admitted they were broke. All he had to do was put his tax returns on his website and a check would have been willingly sent. Of course neither happened.

 Peltier gets shot. Well, as the prison slang goes he got punished (a shot) and wound up in the hole (solitary) for six months. Around the same time he was transferred from FCI Lewisburg, PA to FCI Coleman, FL.

 In a video, former Leavenworth Bureau of Prison’s guard Bruce Smith proves that his love affair with Peltier has nothing to do with the facts.

 Imagine the horror, “Yesterday another prisoner was moved into Leonard’s cell.” So said the LPDOC. Peltier’s self-imposed privilege as allegedly America’s political prisoner carries little weight outside a small circle of fringe supporters. Of Peltier’s greatest sins, first and foremost is the remorseless murder of two wounded agents, second is adulterating the legacy of brave Indian warriors. He has hijacked and cheapened a proud and storied past. But Peltier knows that mainstream Native America doesn’t support him and does understand that neither he nor the American Indian Movement contributed nothing but turmoil and anguish to their culture.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012 marked the dedication of the FBI’s newly constructed Minneapolis headquarters building named in memory of Special Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams.

The Minneapolis Division covers Minnesota, North and South Dakota, which, of course, includes the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the Jumping Bull property and the site where Agents Coler and Williams were murdered in the line of duty.

The morning ceremony, attended by many including those responsible for completing the massive two-year project, elected officials, local law enforcement, representatives of the Department of Justice, current and retired FBI agents, and family members and relatives of the slain agents.

Later there was a formal dedication of the office recognizing five Minneapolis agents who had died during the course of their official duties; two in a plane crash and one by a drunk driver. The office’s executive conference room was named in memory of Special Agents Trentwith S. Basford, Mark A. Kirkland and Lee E. Morrow.

The new building was dedicated and named in honor of Jack and Ron. Their memory and sacrifice will be forever immortalized in the Minneapolis Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods

RETRY PELTIER? CAN'T BE DONE! "THE TRIAL OF LEONARD PELTIER: ANALYSIS OF CONSTITUTIONAL VIOLATIONS"

Dear Supporters:

On the LPDOC’s home page is a statement, “Analysis of Constitutional Violations,” which, if accurate and legitimate, could have some significance in the Peltier debate. But since it is based on a fundamental ignorance of the judicial process, misguided claims and blatant factual errors, it amounts to no more than tortuous Peltier rhetoric.

What they are attempting to do is re-litigate and retry Peltier, which is not possible…that ship has sailed. Analyze all you’d like, but first make it accurate; then set it aside.

They also failed to identify one of only two arguably potential Constitutional violations in the Peltier trial. The Analysis mentions “Brady,” but neglects “Bagley.”

---The Analysis relates in part:

“Prosecutors and federal agents manufactured evidence against him (including the so-called “murder weapon”); hid proof of his innocence; presented false testimony obtained through torturous interrogation techniques; ignored court orders; and lied to the jury. People are commonly set free due to a single constitutional violation, but Peltier—faced with a staggering number of constitutional violations—has yet to receive equal justice.”

Staggering? My goodness. The link to constitutional violations leads to an eight-point Analysis that is so skewed and inaccurate it would take a 75-page Editorial Essay to correct how it misconstrues the reality of both the judicial process and facts of Peltier’s conviction and appeals.

(Author’s note: there are over sixty Editorial Essays on the NPPA website, all of which, including proper sources, references and footnotes, in one manner or another address all the issues raised in this “Analysis.” So, there is no point spending many hours crafting yet another reply. There is a search feature on the NPPA home page that can take a reader to any topic. But for now an appropriate response will be in the form of a conversational addition to the NPPA Blog.)

This Analysis, signed by a “feather,” instead of, as usual, the LPDOC writer taking ownership of his/her work product, assumes the premise that every legal argument in a criminal proceeding is in some manner a violation of the Constitution. It also ignores that it is not just the Constitution (and the Bill of Rights) but the interpretation of those provisions over many decades by the U.S. Supreme Court and applied to the judiciary through voluminous procedural rules of evidence that jurists apply to each legal question raised by the prosecution and defense.

The following is offered to clarify just of few of the Analysis’s errors submitted by “Feather.”

---Extradition: Peltier’s extradition from Canada and the Poor Bear affidavits:

To make it crystal clear, the final word from the Canadian Government was; “All three of the Poor Bear affidavits were before the Minister, as were extensive written and oral submissions made on Mr. Peltier’s behalf.” “I (Canadian Minister of Justice, A. Anne McLellan, October 12, 1999) have concluded that Mr. Peltier was lawfully eradicated to the United States. In my opinion, given the test for committal for extradition referred to above, the circumstantial evidence presented at the extradition hearing, taken alone, constituted sufficient evidence to justify Mr. Peltier’s committal on the two murder charges.” (Footnote #1)

What part of “all three,” “lawfully extradited,” “taken alone,” and “sufficient evidence,” doesn’t Feather quite understand?

---Myrtle Poor Bear, subpoenaed but not allowed to testify:

Really? Then can we also quote Peltier’s own attorney who stated during his opening argument to the jury (trial transcript at 47, by Defense attorney John Lowe) “And finally, we believe that you will find a witness, at least one witness whose mental imbalance is so gross as to render her testimony unbelievable.”

So, Feather wants it both ways to prove nonexistent Constitutional violations: First use the alleged improper use of Myrtle Pool Bear’s affidavits during the extradition proceeding and then, throw Poor Bear under the proverbial bus by calling her mentally imbalanced and not wanting her to even testify. Which is at once, neither politically correct, nor an intelligent evaluation.

---Whose mistakes? Feather said that one of the Constitutional grounds, based on “seven grievous mistakes,” included that; “Angie Long Visitor heard a series of firecrackers. (See had testified she only heard one shot).”

Really, just one shot? According to her trial testimony (transcript at 2566), she was asked “All right. What was it that came to your attention that morning for the first time?” Answer: “Well, we heard something, firecracker or something.”

Heard one shot? No. Heard a “firecracker or something.”

Long Visitor also then very critically added “I looked over and seen them two FBI cars standing there.”

Two FBI cars that no one had to point out to her and that she readily recognized as such, which dispels another Peltier fallacy that the two they were shooting at were “interlopers” or “Goons.” She clearly established that everyone knew the FBI when they saw them.

---Unduly prejudicial testimony allowed: Unrelated collateral criminal acts by Mr. Peltier allowed.

(First, evidence of flight is circumstantial evidence of guilt for a jury to consider.)

---Feather claims “Mr. Peltier’s alleged flight based on circumstantial evidence, from a motor home in Oregon, despite the fact that he was never actually seen there (p.2223-2232).”

So, based on that, Feather wants us to conclude that Peltier was never actually seen there…implying that he wasn’t in the motor home and fled?

Referencing trial transcript 2223-2232, as Feather does to make the point of “alleged flight” is more than disingenuous, it is incredibly sloppy analysis.

At the end of that referenced testimony, Oregon State Trooper Ken Griffiths was asked “All right. When you shot the two shells or shot, did you observe anything to indicate to you from your own knowledge whether or not you had hit the individual? Griffiths’ answered, “No.”

The backdrop is that on November 13, 1975 while fleeing north with others in a motor home (registered to Marlon Brando), and being follow by others in a station wagon, they were all pulled over. As things developed, a shot was fired. One individual, who Trooper Griffiths had already ordered out of the motor home, believed that this individual had fired the shot at him and he returned fire with two shotgun rounds, not knowing whether he hit the fleeing individual.

On November 14th a ’71 Ford pickup and a .30-30 rifle were stolen from a house a few miles to the south and “That day, a relative in the Portland area received a phone call from Peltier, saying that he had been shot and needed help; he was taken to a doctor who had been helpful at the time of Wounded Knee…Peltier rested for three days near Portland while travel arrangements were made; then he headed north, crossing the border into British Columbia…”

That, by the way, is a quote from In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen on pages 230-231. And why is that a valid source of Peltier material? Well, because, at the bottom of the website page of the “Analysis” there’s this notation: “Much of the information on this site is from In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen, the definitive work on the American Indian Movement (AIM) and the Peltier case.” (Fn. 2)

So this is where Peltier made his way into Canada, but there was one other piece of critically relevant physical evidence; under the seat in the motor home was a paper bag containing Jack Coler’s service revolver. On the bag was found a latent fingerprint belonging to none other than, Leonard Peltier.

So Feather, “despite the fact that he was never actually seen there,” it’s not to hard to conclude, then for the jury, and now for us, that Peltier was there.

---Flee: The Analysis emphasizes a convoluted argument that for some reason testimony wasn’t allowed “…tending to show that Mr. Peltier has reason to flee,” “to show reason for flight.”

Then where is the logic? If there were efforts to prove that Peltier had a reason to flee; why didn’t he? Instead, he engaged in assault, murder, desecration and theft…before he decided, to use his own words, “We gotta get out of here.”

---Feather mentions the critical witnesses, but for a straight-forward review of exactly what the jury had to consider regarding those four very crucial witness, please see the Editorial Essay “Critical Witnesses against Peltier.” (Fn. 3)

---Reports of the Red pickup truck: It’s embarrassing that at this late stage the Peltier camp would make any reference to the red pickup. Whether there was either some confusion or conflicting testimony about the description of a red pickup-like vehicle in the area (which was for the jury, not Feather, to decide), does not remove the fact that the red pickup had but one purpose; it was a canard, a defense diversion to create confusion among the jurors, but the historical truth of the matter is that this alleged vehicle is forever inextricably linked to just one thing, the phantom killer, the lie of Mr. X. And without belaboring the mater for the umpteenth time, suffice to say that you should all recall “Incident at Oglala” (available on Peltier’s website), where Bob Robideau provides great detail as he points off into the distance and describes how someone they knew, killed the agents and drove off in the infamous red pickup. And in the very next scene Peltier stating “This story is true.” Remember that, Peltier supporters and Feather? Or would you just like to pretend it never happened or that Dino Butler came out publically, and said it was, in fact, a fabrication, a lie to divert attention from what really happened.
(Fn. 4)

---Most crucial evidence was completely fabricated: The history of this issue is that Peltier received, among other documents, an October 2, 1975 FBI Teletype concerning ballistics evidence. (This related to forensic matching of the Wichita AR-15 {associated only with Peltier} and the .223 shell casing located in the trunk of Agent Coler’s vehicle.) Peltier claimed this was improperly withheld “Brady” material. The trial court (District Court, Judge Benson) disagreed. Peltier appealed to the Eighth Circuit, which remanded the matter back to the District Court and a three-day evidentiary hearing was held in October 1984. The District court ruled against Peltier and he appealed that ruling again to the Eighth Circuit.

After all this additional legal argument and judicial review, the Eighth Circuit concluded: “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 it own ballistics expert, it offered no contrary evidence.” (Fn. 5)

That was a finding of fact by the appellate court.

There are many more faults in the “Analysis,” but we’ll end here for now.

So exactly what kind of feather is Feather? Obviously it’s intended to be an Eagle feather, a proud and symbolic bird of prey (far from the cowardly Peltier); or more possibly a turkey feather, an animal that is weak, fat, not agile, can’t run very fast, can’t fly and is not very bright; or a vulture, picking on the putrid remains of what’s left of Peltier’s rotting folklore, or more likely the proverbial chicken, afraid to face or understand the facts but runs away from the obvious fact—no matter how they try to retell or spin this case—it cannot retry Peltier or ignore his guilt.

In either case Feather’s Analysis is nothing more than fodder for weak-minded Peltier supporters, too pre-occupied with the myth to explore and understand the facts surrounding his conviction and the unmistakable depth of his remorseless guilt. Add to which, Peltier is playing the Native American race card to a narrow audience, and the gullible are buying into it.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed woods

(Footnotes)
1- http://www.noparolepeltier.com/canadaletter.html
2- Matthiessen p.230-231
3- http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#critical)
4- http://www.noparolepeltier.com/lie.html)
5- http://www.noparolepeltier.com/800.html at “The .223 casing” section.