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

 DRU McCULLUM
{BENCH}  GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES SUBPOENAED FOR DEFENSE  B

MR. HULTMAN:  The plaintiff calls Dru McCullum, Your Honor.
 DRU McCULLUM,
being first duly sworn, testified as follows:
 DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. SIKMA
 Q  Would you please state your name for the jury.
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 A  Dru McCullum.
 Q  Where do you live?
 A  In Ada, Oklahoma.
 Q  And was that your home during September of 1975?
 A  Yes, sir.
 Q  Do you remember a particular date, the 10th of September, 1975?
 A  Yes, sir.
 Q  And where were you on that afternoon?
 A  I was returning from Wichita.
 Q  And on what route were you traveling?
 A  We took the Kansas Turnpike and then on 35.
 Q  I would draw your attention to about 3:30 on that afternoon on the turnpike north of the Wellington exit and ask you whether or not you observed anything unusual at that particular time?
 A  Yes, sir, I did.
 Q  Would you tell --
 THE COURT:  Excuse me. Would you speak a little closer to the microphone.
 THE WITNESS:  Yes, sir.
 Q  (By Mr. Sikma) Would you advise the jury what it was that you, that you observed?
 A  Yes, sir. I was traveling south. I was a passenger in a southbound car and about a mile and a half to two miles north of the Wellington exit the car immediately in front of me {1642} exploded.
 Q  And about how far in front of you was that vehicle at that time?
 A  When it first exploded it was about a quarter of a mile in front of us.
 Q  And did you drive on up to that vehicle?
 A  Well, we put on the brakes immediately and waited for some of the smoke to clear, and then we drove around the car very slowly.
 Q  Okay. Did you have an opportunity to observe that vehicle as to what kind of car it was?
 A  Yes, sir. It was an older model, light beige, tan station wagon.
 Q  I will show you what is marked as Government's Exhibit 62 for identification and ask you just to look at these photographs if you would on page 1, or excuse me, on page 2, 3 and 5 and ask you whether or not you recognize what you see in those photographs?
 A  Yes, sir. It's the same car.
 Q  Okay. Would you tell the jury what you did at that time.
 A  Pulled over to the side of the road as soon as we heard the explosion and we stopped and we waited there for about, oh, maybe forty-five seconds and drove on around the car very slowly.
 We pulled over into the center median because there debris in both lanes of traffic, and we pulled around very slowly {1643} and looked. We thought someone might still be in the car and need help.
 Q  Did you see anyone around the vehicle?
 A  Not around the vehicle, sir.
 We saw some people, oh, maybe forty-five yards away from the car running in the field. It was right next to the highway.
 Q  And in what direction were they running?
 A  They were running to the southwest.
 Q  Did you observe what they were wearing?
 A  Not really, sir. It was a bright casual clothing.
 Q  Could you tell whether or not the people who were, you saw running along the side of the road saw you?
 A  I believe they did, sir. As we pulled around the car they appeared to be looking back and ducking.
 Q  Can you describe how many people there were?
 A  Yes, sir. There were five people in two groups. There were two people and then three people and in the road there were two people dragging the third person.
 Q  You say the three people were dragging another individual?
 A  Two people were dragging the third person.
 Q  Okay. Do you recall what these people were wearing. What type of clothes they were wearing?
 A  No, sir. It was just loose, casual-type clothing.
 Q  Do you recall the color of any of their particular clothing?
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 A  It was, I believe on had on a red shirt.
 Q  Were you able to help these people at all?
 A  No, sir. They were, they were continuing running in the field, you know, away from us.
 Q  They were running in a direction away from you; is that correct?
 A  Yes, sir.
 Q  What did you do then?
 A  Well, we drove around the car very slowly and we didn't see anyone in the car. We drove on still pretty slowly and went to the Howard Johnson's which is the next place you could pull off, and reported what we had seen.
 Q  Did you hear anything after you had pulled away from the car?
 A  Yes, sir. When we pulled into the Howard Johnson's we looked back and there was like a series of popping noises, like firecrackers. And there was a lot of black smoke.
 Q  And where did you say that was, that this took place?
 A  The explosion was about a mile and a half, two miles north of the Wellington exit on the Kansas Turnpike.
 MR. SIKMA:  That's all I have at this time.
 CROSS-EXAMINATION
MR. TAIKEFF
 Q  Is it Ms. McCullum?
 A  Yes, sir.
 Q  Did you enjoy your trip to Fargo?
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 A  Yes, I have.
 MR. TAIKEFf:  No further questions.
 THE COURT:  You may step down.
 MR. SIKMA:  Plaintiff calls Ann Johnson.
 MR. HULTMAN:  Your Honor, I have just learned of a matter that I think we should approach the bench, Your Honor.
 THE COURT:  Very well.
 (Whereupon, the following proceedings were had at the bench:)
 MR. HULTMAN:  Your Honor, I have just learned, and I don't know what the source is, but I'm sure the defense can verify that Mr. Levy has been subpoenaed for Monday, and that's all I know. Now, first of all I can't imagine what on Monday Mr. Levy would be doing. Secondly --
 THE COURT:  Excuse me. Who is Mr. Levy?
 MR. HULTMAN:  I assume it's the former Attorney General of the United States. That's all I know.
 MR. TAIKEFF:  I'm afraid Mr. Lowe and I are going to be embarrassed because we don't know of either requesting or serving such a subpoena.
 MR. LOWE:  Who told you?
 MR. CROOKS:  That's the word that came through the Department of Justice.
 MR. HULTMAN:  He's been subpoenaed to appear next Monday.
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 MR. TAIKEFF:  Someone's checking on that, Your Honor.
 THE CLERK:  That name is on the list.
 MR. HULTMAN:  My point simply is, Your Honor, that one, I would hope the Government would be given enough time to respond to anything of this kind because I'm sure, and depending upon the Court's subpoena that's been served upon him, one, know that; two, and then given enough time to respond, and because in our judgment we do wish to respond.
 THE COURT:  I have authorized some subpoenas on a routine basis which people that I assumed were -- would everybody be quiet and let me finish making the statement. I have authorized some subpoenas on a routine basis of people requested by the defense team in this case.
 I had no knowledge that there's been any attempt at this point to subpoena the former Attorney General of the United States, and I'll stop there.
 MR. TAIKEFF:  It took me personally by surprise as well, Your Honor.
 MR. LOWE:  Let me just state that I have been told, and what I misunderstood what I was first advised, I did this test with Mr. Ellison and certain others, I thought they were talking about the present Attorney General when they said Attorney General. I was aware it is of relevant testimony to give on behalf of the defense. I don't mean that we need him on Monday. I think we were picking that as a {1647} target date with the usual manner of advising witnesses when they move the timetable as to when they could appear.
 THE COURT:  All right. I will say this that any high officials sought to be subpoenaed are going to be, the names of those people are going to be released to counsel for the Government in order that a record can be made, if they deem it to be made if necessary, as to whether or not that witness should be brought in.
 MR. LOWE:  Perfectly agreeable, Judge.
 THE COURT:  As I say this was a complete surprise to me.
 MR. HULTMAN:  It's Monday. It's getting close to Monday, and I'd hate to think -- the reason I wanted to go on the record, Your Honor, and let me put it in the record, I requested the Court, the last time there was a subpoena similar to this, it was the head of the FBI, and very frankly it ended up in such an extremely embarrassing situation to the Government and embarrassing as far as the whole case, and I just don't want to be put in any more positions of that kind. And what happened is simply this, that the Director of the FBI was in a hospital and I checked it out once I learned of a subpoena, and I informed the Court and counsel for the defendant that he would appear.
 We didn't even fight the subpoena.
 THE COURT:  Now, I will just, we don't have to go into {1648} this.
 MR. HULTMAN:  All right.
 THE COURT:  The order of the Court is that if there has in fact been a subpoena issued for former Attorney General Levy it will be quashed, and if counsel desire that this witness be subpoenaed and a specific application will have to be made setting out in detail what testimony it is that you seek to elicit from him.
 MR. TAIKEFF:  There's no objection to that, Your Honor. I just wanted Your Honor to know that the significance of that name as being the name of a public official of such rank completely escaped me, and my surprise when I heard Mr. Hultman five minutes ago was legitimate. I hadn't the slightest idea that that had occurred.
 MR. LOWE:  As I say I knew that an Attorney General was coming, but I thought it was the present one that was going to be subpoenaed. I didn't know the status. It will be a proper showing and we'll do it pursuant to that. We'll do it pursuant to what you've just ordered.
 THE CLERK:  Judge?
 MR. TAIKEFF:  The Clerk wanted me to call Your Honor's attention to this name and this name. Now, I know this person to be a federal official, but not a high ranking federal official. And he did in fact testify for the defense at the last trial.
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 He is a person who is the author of a certain report which deals with certain subject matter which is relevant to the case.
 MR. LOWE:  He also is the author of the report which is relevant to the subject matter of the case.
 THE COURT:  And these people have been subpoenaed to appear when?
 MR. TAIKEFF:  Well, we sent out the form with the subpoenas indicating that they need only be subject to telephone call. We had to pick a date because we had to get our subpoenas out. I understand the subpoenas went out with forms indicating that we would allow them to remain subject to telephone calls so we didn't have a backlog of people here unnecessarily crowding the streets of Fargo.
 But we had to put some target date on, and we put the 29th on. But I think all of the people will be notified, and it will be verified with them that they do not have to be here on the 29th, but that they are technically subject to this subpoena.
 The Government issued all of its subpoenas for March 14th and used basically the same technique, Your Honor.
 THE COURT:  I have no objection to that procedure. But as I explained, any persons who hold high positions in the Government, I do think some consideration should be given.
 MR. TAIKEFF:  There's no question. Your Honor, I {1650} have to concede that I didn't know the significance.
 MR. LOWE:  He's not in the government any more.
 THE COURT:  He is included in the category.
 MR. LOWE:  We have no objection to following that procedure, Judge.
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