US vs LEONARD PELTIER TRIAL TRANSCRIPT EXCERPTS Case Number CR77-3003

The .223 casing claimed to have been found in Agent Coler's trunk was not listed in the evidence collected from the vehicle by Agent Cunningham.   Agent Cunningham received a pre-prepared affidavit from the Rapid City Bureau to sign which said the .223 had been found by him in the trunk of Agent Coler's vehicle.  He stated that he did not have his "302" which catalogued his findings as it was in Rapid City and simply signed the affidavit.  After spending over 12 hours collecting and cataloguing casings, fragments and cartridges in this vehicle where it had been towed to in Fall River County garage in Hot Springs, SD...THERE WAS NO .223 CASING RECOVERED.   After all evidence was collected, bagged and labelled, finger print expert, Agent Lodge than went through the vehicle and located it?
Agent Williams DKk Green Rambler, a red International Scout,  and the red and white van had been towed to BIA compound in Pine Ridge where they were kept in a fenced in lot.

Next..the AR-15

Excerpted from Leonard Peltier trial transcripts, Vol 11.  the following witness,  Michael Gammage is an agent with the ATF who examined and delivered the weapons found in the station wagon which burst into flames and exploded off I 35 in Wichita Kansas on September 10, 1975.  One of the weapons, an AR-15 is discussed below, purported to be the weapon which fired the casing found in Agent Coler's trunk.  Leonard Peltier was never in Wichita, KS with this vehicle.  Occupants included Dino Butler, Rob Robideau, Michael Anderson, Norman Charles, Jane Bordeau, Dennis Banks, Bernie Nichols and 1-1/2 year old infant Kashima Banks

GOV ATTORNEY: MR. SIKMA
PELTIER'S ATTORNEY: MR. LOEWE
WITNESS: MICHAEL GAMMAGE, ATF
"COURT": THE JUDGE

having been previously duly sworn, resumed the stand and testified further as follows:
**MR. LOWE:  May I continue my voir dire, your Honor?
THE COURT:  You may,
MR. LOWE:  I believe at the close of the day yesterday I may have started to discuss an exhibit. I am going to start at this point rather than take a chance that {2192} something might not have been said, and I will show you what has been marked as Defendant's Exhibit 135, Mr. Gammage, and ask you if you have seen that document before and are familiar with it?
THE WITNESS:  (Examining) Yes, I have.
MR. LOWE:  And will you tell the jury just generally what the nature of the document is?
THE WITNESS:  This is a laboratory report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to our office in Wichita, Kansas. It specifically mentions four items of evidence that were submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory for their examination.
MR LOWE:  All right. Now, there are four weapons there which are designated K-39, K-40, K-41 and K-42, and they are listed and described in the document, are they not?
THE WITNESS:  Yes, sir, they are.
MR. LOWE:  And are those four items which you either personally found or had delivered to you by somebody else at the scene of this explosion on the Kansas turnpike?
THE WITNESS:  (Examining) Without referring to my notes, regarding K-41 and K-42, I would say, yes, they are
MR. LOWE:  I am not trying to trick you.
Did you personally deliver those four weapons to the {2193} FBI laboratory in Washington, D. C.?
THE WITNESS:  I personally delivered the four weapons to our laboratory in Washington, D.C.
MR. LOWE:  All right, and did you receive any of those weapons back again from your laboratory or from someone else at a later time?
THE WITNESS:  I personally did not.
MR. LOWE:  Did your office in Wichita?
THE WITNESS:  I believe that -- without referring to my notes, Mr Lowe, I believe only -- we only received K-41 and K-42 back; and according to this it says, the report, K-40 was received in our office. I am sure we got it back. I just don't remember right now.
MR. LOWE:  The point I am making though is these weapons that you found at the scene of the explosion are the ones that are referred to in this report, certainly that is true of K-41 and K-42, and you believe it is also true as to K-39 and K-40, is that correct?
THE WITNESS:  Yes, sir.
MR. LOWE:  I ask you to read down to the result of the examination, and the second full paragraph under that; and ask you if that does not state that none of the ammunition components recovered at the RESMURS scene -- and I don't think it has been brought out what the RESMURS means. Do you know?
{2194}
THE WITNESS:  Only by what I have been told.
MR. LOWE:  Can we stipulate that RESMURS is an abbreviation used by the FBI to mean Reservation Murder Scene, or some similar description of the area on Exhibit 71?
MR. SIKMA:  Yes.
MR. LOWE:  This letter states:  None of the other ammunition components recovered from the crime scene could be associated with specimens K-40 through K-42 -- that says that in that report, does it not?
THE WITNESS:  Words to that effect, yes, sir, it does.
MR. LOWE:  All right.
{2195}
MR. LOWE:  All right. On the basis of this information, Your Honor, we would renew, or I would state that my objection, which I made yesterday to any questions being asked about K-40, K-41 or K-42 be sustained since this report (1) shows on its face that no ammunition components recovered at the crime scene could be associated with those weapons.
Now, at this point the Government has not laid a foundation for asking any questions about those three weapons beyond what they've already elicited, and that is just a general description of all of the items that were observed at the scene of the explosion. And at this point we believe that there is no proper foundation for having any questions asked or any introduction of K-40. And even if the Government does not offer K-40 or 41 or 42 at this time into evidence, we believe that even asking questions about it would not even be proper.