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

from JH thanks!

Argus Leader News
  --  "FBI opens Peltier files"  --
By LEE WILLIAMS
Argus Leader
published: 6/25/00

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. -- "Leonard Peltier says he regrets the bloody shootout
near Oglala 25 years ago that left two FBI agents and an American Indian
Movement member dead.

  But, in an interview last week at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth,
Kan., the 55-year-old Peltier carefully added that he did not kill Special
Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams.

  "I have so much remorse. I think about it a lot," said Peltier, streaks of
gray showing in his jet-black hair.

  "I wish I could have prevented it. But I didn't kill those people, and I'm
very sorry lives were lost that day."

  Peltier is serving two life sentences for the shootings in a case which
has been examined, dissected and critiqued almost since the day of his
arrest in 1976.

  According to trial testimony, on the morning of June 26, 1975, the FBI
agents were following a red-and-white Chevrolet Suburban on a gravel road
about 3 miles southeast of Oglala on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
 

(SEE: Testimony Ann Brown  and further and this for radio transmissions..it was a RED PICKUP/ INTERNATIONAL SCOUT?)

  Suddenly, at least seven rifles opened fire on them from three elevated
positions 180 to 220 yards away. The poorly armed agents were pinned in a
deadly cross-fire at the bottom of a shallow depression.

  Coler, 28, and Williams, 27, were wounded in the gunfight. But they died
after being shot with a high-velocity rifle at close range.

  During the next year, four men were arrested in connection with the
shootings. Charges against one were dropped; two others were acquitted. On
April 18, 1977, a Fargo jury convicted Peltier of two counts of first-degree
murder.

  Celebrities including Robert Redford, Whoopi Goldberg, Nelson Mandela and
Mother Teresa have called for clemency for Peltier.

  And in light of what some see as mounting public support for a
presidential pardon for Peltier, the FBI on Monday will take the unusual
measure of placing photographs, documents and other evidence in the murder
case on its Web site for public perusal.
 

(SEE:   The bench discussions on these photos paraded around before the jury for the entire length of the trial..)

  "We have been bad in the past about getting our message out," said Chip
Burrus, the FBI's assistant special agent in charge of Indian Country. "We
need to stay away from all the bad things that have happened to Native
Americans and concentrate on those 20 minutes on the Jumping Bull compound."
 

(SEE: Back ground.  All those "BAD" things is precisely the reason the traditional council requested AIMs presence on Pine Ridge, and two weeks later voted by unanimous vote to request that the FBI leave Pine Ridge reservation.  All those BAD things is precisely why Robideau and Butler were exonerated by reason of "self defense"....
The  FBI analysis of what they needed to do differently to convict Peltier..)

  The FBI opened the files for the Argus Leader on Friday. Pictures of
bullet-riddled vehicles and an arsenal of weapons -- from AR-15s and M-1
carbines to grenades -- are among evidence to be included on the agency's
Web site.

  And opening up the files to the public is sure to ignite the
always-smoldering debate over what really happened on that hot June day on
the Jumping Bull ranch.

  "This is one of the worst shoot-outs in FBI history," Burrus said. "Two
young FBI agents with service revolvers ... the terror going through their
minds we can never imagine."

  Among the issues that have kept the Peltier case a matter of public debate
for decades:

  FBI officials say Peltier has changed his story several times since his
arrest. For instance, he first said he didn't know who killed the agents. He
later changed his statement, saying someone he calls Mr. X shot Williams and
Coler.
 

(Maybe Mr. X is called Mr. X because his identity is NOT known?  It is obvious the agents were killed by someone.  However, it was not Leonard Peltier..)

  AIM leaders have said the shooting was not an ambush, as painted by
prosecutors, but rather an act of self-defense. They say the FBI had trained
and equipped a vigilante group on the Pine Ridge reservation. That day, AIM
leaders say, the FBI agents were mistaken for the armed vigilantes who had
terrorized the area. FBI officials call that theory preposterous.
 

(SEE: Transcript for Robert Ecoffey's testimony on the "training exercises".  both Agents Coler and Williams were SWAT, as were several others imported in the couple of months prior to the shootings.

This Document Released Three Months Before the Shoot-Out Makes it Extremely Apparent that the FBI was Preparing for a "Major Confrontation."

ALSO SEE: The Georgia case where the only people connected with the explosives "found" in the case WERE the government agents)

  Peltier alleges that prosecutors coerced false testimony from a woman who
said she was an eyewitness to the shooting. Officials used that testimony to
get him extradited from Canada.
 

SEE:  Myrtle Poor Bear testimony the jury never heard.

  The ballistics evidence introduced in the trial also has been questioned.
And Peltier said he discovered other ballistics evidence that was withheld
from the jury.

  The government is withholding more than 6,000 pages of documents about the
case, Peltier said. FBI officials acknowledge that the documents were
withheld but add that they did so because Peltier didn't pay a bill for
thousands of pages of documents received earlier.

(SEE: Commentary )

Pine Ridge unrest

  Both sides agree the Pine Ridge reservation was in turmoil in 1975. Burrus
said there were 12 agents working out of the Rapid City FBI office alone,
many on temporary duty from other field offices.

  The violence had escalated in the early 1970s, in part because of the
convergence of two events: the election of Dick Wilson as tribal chairman
and the growing activism of AIM. Wilson created a vigilante force known as
Guardians of the Oglala Nation. The men were derisively referred to by
tribal members as goons.

  AIM became allied with a group opposed politically to the Wilson
administration and in favor of a return to traditional ways.

  In 1973, tension between Wilson supporters and opponents boiled over. AIM
led a 71-day takeover of Wounded Knee, site of the 1890 massacre by U.S.
Army soldiers of more than 200 followers of Chief Big Foot.

  "After Wounded Knee, we knew the elders and traditional people were under
attack on the reservation from the goons," said Clyde Bellecourt, AIM
co-founder and veteran of the Wounded Knee occupation. "We asked young
Indian men from across the country to come live there. Wounded Knee was a
cry for help."

  Bellecourt and others have accused the FBI of training Wilson's forces,
arming them with intelligence and weapons in retaliation for the occupation
of Wounded Knee.

Burrus bristles at the allegations.

  "That the FBI would intentionally supply people with weapons so they could
intimidate and harm other people is preposterous."
(SEE:  Georgia case)

Enter Peltier

  Peltier is an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe in
North Dakota.

  As a young man, he became a tribal activist, working to improve conditions
for tribal members. Peltier had traveled around the country, working
automotive and construction jobs. In the early 1970s, he met Vernon
Bellecourt, Clyde's brother, in Denver. Peltier was impressed with the work
AIM was doing for Indian people.  "Later, I met Dennis Banks and liked what
he had to say," Peltier recalls. "He asked me to travel with him, and I
agreed."

In Flagstaff, Ariz., Peltier sat in on a meeting with a delegation from Pine
Ridge that had come to request AIM's assistance. "They made such an
emotional request," he said. "We decided to go." Peltier said he didn't
consider AIM a paramilitary group. "We didn't have much money for
ammunition."

Burrus sees it differently.

"He was the leader of a group of burglars and thugs."

(The youngest person present in the camp was 12 year old Jimmy Zimmerman.  The majority of those camped here were in their mid teens.  Two came and later participated in the Sundance at Leonard Crow Dog's ..perhaps "thug" is synonymous with "Indian"?)

Fateful day

On the day of the shootings, Peltier said, he was in an AIM encampment known
as Tent City, located in the woods just southeast of Oglala.
The camp, a collection of canvas tipis and wall tents, was northeast of the
site where the agents' bodies were found. "We had heard rumors of a possible
goon assault," Peltier said in the interview room at Leavenworth. "We were
aware of other threats. Tensions were high. I heard bullets zinging and hit
the ground."

Peltier said he ran through several cabins in the area that morning,
checking the welfare of those inside.

"I heard whimpering in one and found some people hiding under a bed."

Taking up a surplus British .303 Lee-Enfield rifle and a 30-30 carbine,
Peltier said, he began shooting toward the source of the incoming rounds.
"When we first started receiving gunfire, I fired that way, but I didn't see
anybody. I never shot those agents," he insisted. "I was never shooting
specifically at them."

Peltier still believes the gunfire was coming from Bureau of Indian Affairs
police.
 

(NOTE: testimony NOT heard by the jury also points to this conclusion.  There were several hundred rounds of ammo from weapons never accounted for in the area.  As well as intermittent firing the rest of the afternoon, long after those at the encampment had left.  Testimony time ranges for their departure places it some time between 1 and 2 PM at the latest...the firing continued until after 4PM.)

The FBI investigation revealed a different chain of events on June 26, 1975.

Williams and Coler were looking for Jimmy Eagle, who was wanted for robbery.
The agents followed the Suburban (see above for vehicle description.  The red international scout was also in the impound yard in Pine Ridge..towed in in connection with this incident) into a shallow depression, radioing to
other agents in the vicinity when the vehicle stopped. They immediately
reported gunfire.

"If you don't get here quickly, we're dead men," Williams screamed into the
radio, according to FBI transcripts and records.
 

A total of 125 bullet holes were later found in the two men's cars. The
gunshot wounds incapacitated both agents. But the men were alive, Burrus
said, before Peltier walked to where they lay and executed them with shots
to the head from his AR-15.
 

(NOTE: forensic evidence only points to a small caliber high powered weapon which fits several of those apparently present that morning, including the British 303, and several other unidentified rounds from other AR-15s)

The AR-15

Peltier denies ever using the AR-15, a semiautomatic version of the
military's M-16. Investigators found one shell casing in the trunk of
Coler's car that extractor tests later proved came from the AR-15. With its
high-velocity ammunition and large-capacity magazines, the AR-15 outclassed
all other guns in the fight. Agents recovered 114 spent shells of .223
ammunition from that area. They say the shells came from the same AR-15.
 

NOT according to their lab reports.and Crooks testimony at a later evidentiary hearing:

"There were a number of ARs there that day," Peltier explained. "After
Vietnam, it was a popular gun."

Once the shooting stopped, Peltier said, he never approached the wounded
agents. Mr. X did.

"I know I've said in the past who he is. I said it out of anger. I don't
know who it is, either Mr. X, Y or Z," Peltier said over the incessant hum
of a soft drink machine.

He said he left the area on foot soon after the shooting stopped.

"We decided to get the hell out of there," he recalled. "We were going to
drive out but later decided to walk. After we crossed a creek, we knelt down
with a pipe and prayed. I saw the shadow of an eagle, heard the wings
flapping and followed him out of there."

The FBI insists Peltier had the only AR-15 that day. He used it, the FBI
believes, to execute the wounded agents.

"When you see a weapon like that, you don't forget it. It's distinctive,"
said Special Agent Doug Grell, who was assigned the case and assisted with
the prosecutions.

Michael Anderson, an AIM member who was at the scene of the shooting,
testified in Peltier's trial. Other AIM members at the scene, according to
the FBI, included Robert Robideau, Darrelle Dean "Dino" Butler, Norman
Charles and Stuntz.
 

"Michael Anderson saw Peltier, Robideau and Butler walk up to the agents
after the shooting stopped. He turned his head and heard several shots,"
Grell said.

Michael Anderson's testimony government  cross examination  defense

Anderson was killed in a car accident several years ago.

(Interesting how many have died in car accidents, bullet wounds and attempted bombings...COINTELPRO, for information on WACO, Judi Bari and others)

Gory details

TESTIMONY OF DR. ROBERT BLOEMENDAAL
TESTIMONY OF DR. THOMAS T. NOGUCHI

His testimony addressed the disabling wounds the agents received from a
distance and the fatal wounds that were inflicted at close range. Noguchi
said the first shots hit Coler in the arm and immediately took him out of
the fight.

"Anderson saw Coler open his truck and get out the long guns," Grell said.
"He was hit by a round passing through the trunk lid."

When the soft-nosed bullet hit the hard metal of the trunk, it flattened out
like a half-dollar, Grell said. The round tore a gaping hole through Coler's
arm.

The cold, dispassionate testimony of the medical examiner never mentions the
gallantry Williams displayed that day. According to FBI records, Williams
had been shot in the foot, side and left arm but still managed to crawl to
his partner's aid. While receiving incoming fire, he was able to remove his
shirt and tie it around Coler's arm as a tourniquet.

The agents managed to squeeze off only five rounds during the entire fight,
Grell said. They fired three rounds from their pistols, one from a shotgun
and one from a .308 rifle. Burrus and others say that because of the
distances involved, the pistols and shotguns were useless.

Their attackers, Burrus said, were armed with superior weapons, had the
advantage of surprise and occupied higher ground.

According to the coroner's report, Williams had a defensive wound to his
hand, as if trying to ward off the final shot to his head. The bullet tore a
finger off his hand and slammed into his brain, killing him instantly.

Coler, Grell said, was shot twice in the head as he lay on the ground
unconscious. The first round wasn't fatal. The second was.

Burrus said the agents were dead by noon. Their bodies weren't recovered
until four hours later.

Little is known about Joe Stuntz' death. He was shot by law enforcement
officers. Burrus said Stuntz had stayed behind after two groups of AIM
members left on foot. He was wearing one of the dead agents' FBI jackets
when his body was recovered.

There were no bullet holes in the coat, so some have alleged that it was
placed on Stuntz' body after he was killed.

(Joe Stuntz was killed by a bullet wound to the head, the jacket was alleged to have been removed from the trunk of Coler's vehicle, per testimony one of the BIA officers with Agent Waring claimed to have hit the "man in the white shirt", no jacket was mentioned.)

Burrus said that Stuntz was killed by one round to the forehead, fired from
a distance.

The AR-15 disappeared until Sept. 10, 1975.

The car explosion

Robideau, Norman Charles and Anderson were driving a Plymouth station wagon
on the Kansas Turnpike near Wichita that day. The old vehicle had been
purchased by Peltier in Denver, the FBI said, and was loaded with arms,
ammunition and explosives.
 

A Plymouth station wagon was  blown up in Wichita in September and another impounded in Oregon three months later.  The purchaser identified as "Louis Martinez".  The salesman who saw the person briefly nine months before was shown two photos and asked which person had purchased the vehicle.  Nothing is stated about who may have been in the other photo.

Some of the explosives, which included sticks of dynamite, detonation cord
and hand grenades, rolled too close to a hole in the exhaust pipe, Burrus
said. The results were dramatic.

Once smoke began filling the interior of the car, the occupants bailed out.
The explosion that followed peeled the roof off the wagon like a can of
sardines.

When the fire died down and agents were able to sift through what was left,
they found several charred weapons, including the remains of an AR-15.

Though the plastic stock and grips had melted, Burrus said, forensic experts
were able to remove the weapons bolt and place it into a functioning rifle
for ballistics examination.

That testing also would become a source of controversy.

When a round is fired, the soft brass cartridge case is marked by the
weapon's firing pin and the extractor -- the part of the bolt that strips
the empty cartridge from the chamber. Each weapon leaves its own unique
marks, not unlike a fingerprint.

Burrus said the extractor tests determined that the AR-15 recovered from the
Wichita Turnpike was the same weapon used to kill Coler and Williams. But
the firing pin tests were inconclusive. The pin was too "smooth."

Peltier disputes that. "It was negative," he said of the second test. "And
the firing pin test never came out at trial."
 

Peltier arrest

The day before the Wichita explosion(*), Peltier had been stopped by Oregon
State Police in a recreational vehicle that was registered to Marlon Brando,
Burrus said. Peltier fired at the troopers and fled, Burrus said, making his
way to Hinton, Alberta. Peltier later abandoned the RV. When investigators
searched the vehicle, they found Coler's pistol. Peltier's fingerprint was
recovered from the weapon.
 

(Accused of both jumping over a fence while firing at an Oregon state trooper and at the same time driving the motorhome almost a 1/2 mile down the road then disposing of  the .357 with one round fired  behind it....)

(EXCERPT VOLUME 12 TRIAL TRANSCRIPT:
Q  Now, is it uncommon in your experience to find fingerprints on paper bags in living areas, whether it's in a mobile home or a house or an apartment, when you have occasion to search the living area for prints for some reason or another?
A  I don't usually search a living area for prints.
Q  All right. Well, let me rephrase my question.
When you are given items which have been found in a living area, mobile home or a house or an apartment, is it unusual for, let's say, brown paper bags used for groceries or whatever it might be, is it unusual to find fingerprints on paper bags when they are provided you?
A  I have developed latent prints on brown paper bags. Whether they were used for groceries, I don't know.
Mostly brown paper bags that I examine were usually bags involved in bank robberies.
Q  I understand it's more likely that they want to know who robbed the bank than who bought the groceries. I didn't mean {2551} to suggest that that was a great moment.
MR. LOWE:  May I approach the witness, Your Honor?
THE COURT:  You may.
(Mr. Lowe approached the witness.)
Q  (By Mr. Lowe) Now, Exhibit 38-B is a brown paper bag, and I believe you testified as to Exhibit 38-E, which purports to be a photograph of a latent developed on this brown paper bag, and I ask you whether there's any way that you tested this bag for, to determine anything about when the print was put on there in terms of the date or time either relative to some act or an absolute date?
A  As I previously testified there is no technical examination which can be conducted to determine the age of a latent print.
Q  All right. Now, that paper bag was purportedly found containing Exhibits 35-A, or with 35-A inside of it, and this may state the obvious, but there's no way that you can tell the jury anything about whether Exhibit 35-A was in that paper bag, or when it was placed there, simply because of the fact that you observe a print on the bag, is there?
A  No. I have no personal knowledge.
Q  And as to referring back to your report of January 8, 1976, you have the results of 159 comparisons out of the total that believe is 261. 159 of them are contained in the report in some analysis, and then you say that the remaining latent prints compared to available prints of Loud Hawk, Redner, Nichols, {2552} Aquash, Dennis James Banks, Leonard Peltier, Leroy Kosata and Mark Libby Banks, but no identification effected. And did you also make the identification attempts which resulted in that finding?
A  Yes.

They used an affidavit signed by Myrtle Poor Bear to persuade the Canadian
authorities to hand over Peltier. In later appeals, Peltier's defense
lawyers challenged the validity of that affidavit, which said Peltier had
planned to kill federal agents prior to the day of the shooting. Poor Bear's
affidavit also states she was Peltier's girlfriend and was present during
the gunfight.

"I saw Leonard Peltier shoot the FBI agents," the affidavit states.

The prosecution never put the woman on the stand during Peltier's trial.

"We had never met," Peltier said of Poor Bear. "I was very surprised and
shocked by the affidavit. Judge (Paul) Benson ruled her incompetent to
testify at trial."

SEE:  Myrtle testified, the judge never permitted the jury to hear her testimony...)

Peltier believes Poor Bear was coerced by agents into making a statement.
The FBI denies the charge.

Said Burrus: "There were 4,000 interviews conducted. She was one of those
4,000."

Peltier claimed the false extradition affidavit violated his rights.

"If anybody's rights were trampled on, it was Canada's," said Burrus. "They
did a top-to-bottom comprehensive review last year and concluded there was
no wrongdoing in the extradition process."

The findings, he said, were communicated to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno
in a letter from her Canadian counterpart. "And Poor Bear's information was
never used in trial," Burrus said.
 

SEE: Statement by Warren Allmand On the Extradition

Robideau and Butler were acquitted of murder charges. Burrus said the judge
in that case allowed testimony on the reservation wide climate of fear.
Charges against a fourth man were dropped.

Peltier has changed his story on several occasions, the FBI said.

"He's full of inconsistencies," said Special Agent Grell. "First he said he
was never there. Then he said he was there. Then he said he was at Tent
City. Then the stuff about Mr. X."

Peltier said his story hasn't changed. "I might tell it a little different,
but look at it. My story hasn't changed."

He points instead to missing documents that he claims are more important.
Peltier had filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain documents
pertaining to the case. He said the government refused to give him many of
the records.

"There are 6,000 documents that the government is withholding about the
case," he said. "They say they're a threat to national security."

Burrus said the documents were withheld, but not for security reasons. "He
stiffed us on the bill," he said.

Burrus said Peltier's defense team was given all the documents it requested
for the trial and subsequent appeals.**

After the trial, he said, Peltier filed the FOIA request for additional
documents.

"We sent him 18,000 pages, and he filed a second FOIA request for 6,000
more," Burrus said. "But he never paid for the 18,000 pages. We never got
the money."

Peltier today

Serving time in the "Hot House," as inmates in the federal penitentiary call
Leavenworth, has taken a toll on Peltier's health. He's become the
institution's best-known inmate, granting hundreds of interviews and
receiving international notoriety.

He occupies his days painting contemporary American Indian art and working
in the prison furniture shop. His health doesn't allow much more. Besides
his problems hypertension, diabetes, heart problems, kidney stones and high
cholesterol, a rusty nail encountered in his childhood has led to a lifelong
battle with lockjaw.

"My jaw stayed frozen open 13 millimeters," he said.

He first underwent surgery for the condition in 1996 and was seen at the
Mayo Clinic earlier this year.

"It's getting better, but it hurts, and I've got no bite strength, so I
can't eat tough meats or vegetables."

Effects on victims' families

Peltier appears sincere when he says he regrets what happened that day in
western South Dakota.

"There were a number of lives that were ruined that day," he said. "I'm sure
those agents were just following orders. I'm sure their families miss them,"
he said, pointing out that three lives were lost that day.

"I know Joe Stuntz's kids and communicate with them. They miss their dad
enormously. Their lives were ruined, too."

Family members of the slain agents issued written statements in response to
questions from the Argus Leader.

"The loss of our son is too personal and painful to discuss," wrote the
parents of Ronald Williams. "His death leaves us and a devoted sister."

Agent Grell said that Williams was a former sergeant on the Los Angeles
Police Department. He had been a special agent for three years. He was
single and had just purchased a starter home in Rapid City.

Jack Coler's widow, Peggy, wrote that her husband enjoyed hiking, running
and skiing. "Keeping in good physical shape was a high priority of Jack's."

In addition to his wife, Coler left behind two small sons, his parents, one
brother and two sisters.

"The family is absolutely opposed to either parole or clemency for Leonard
Peltier ... A life sentence is just that -- Leonard Peltier should remain in
prison for the rest of his life," Peggy Coler wrote. "

Reach reporter Lee Williams at 331-2318 or

Copyright © 2000 Argus Leader
 
 

The "fingerprint" was not found on Coler's gun..a single "thumb print" was found on the paper bag in which the gun was found.  FBI misconduct in the case against those arrested on the traffic stop in Oregon is essentially what got that case thrown out of court after the longest running criminal trial case in US history.
SEE:
http://ishgooda.org/peltier/cases.htm
 

SA Williams is the agent who accompanied SA David Price on the questioning of Anna Mae Aquash, who along with Michael Anderson (questioned by David Price) is also deceased under questionable circumstances.  Interesting, yes?

So, if the remainder of the 6,000 documents are not released, per the FBi statement above, due to lack of funding...justice is then only for the wealthy in this country?  Think about it.

The news article states that Coler was purchasing a starter home in Rapid City..but his family remained in Colorado per the agent who testified he had spoken with him that morning, and who also testified he was looking after his house and collecting mail while he was gone.

"Stop in Oregon was in November"