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

VEHICLES
 
 

The Vehicle Question Revisited          New Evidence, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Peltier's attorney's exposes the problems with the government story. Regarding the "red and white van", previously undisclosed evidence indicates that the government was in possession of and possibly suppressed reports demonstrating the involvement of other vehicles.  And it is these vehicles which likely contained the individual's who actually killed Agents Coler and Williams. *The prosecution presented evidence at the trial that Coler and Williams were looking for Eagle and had information that he was traveling in a red pickup.  however, in the writ of habeas corpus filed by Peltier's attorneys, the defense argues with much documentation that the prosecution was in possession, yet it suppressed, "evidence that the agents believed Eagle was at the Jumping Bulls, that Williams observed him in such a vehicle, chased Eagle in the vehicle, and were subsequently fired upon by that vehicle's occupants."  This evidence against Eagle was inconsistent with the prosecution of Peltier, consequently, Eagle was dismissed, and evidence concerning his presence on the reservation was kept away from the jury.    At a meeting between the prosecutors of the reservation murders (the FBI code named it RESMURS) and top FBI and Department of Justice officials on 10 August 1976, Evan Hultman made the statement that "the Resmurs case on James Eagle was weak and he felt there was not sufficient evidence to get it to the jury" (emphasis added).  The FBI memorandum revealed that the prosecutors reason for wanting to dismiss the charges against Eagle was "so that the full prosecutive weight of the Federal Government could be directed against Leonard Peltier" (emphasis added). p. 55 At no time prior to the trial did any document exist which showed involvement of a 1966 red and white Chevrolet van*.  The documents which do exist show that Peltier was not even the owner of such a van.  the government in fact knew as early as 9 July 1975 that the red and white van belonged to Donald Matthew Loud Hawk who was being considered as a suspect.  According to an FBI report from the special agent in charge at Pine Ridge to the Director on 15 August 1975,   Loud Hawk is considered a suspect inasmuch as one witness states he is quite sure he  saw Loud Hawk running from the crime scene on June 26, 1975.  He is also the registered owner of a 1966 Chevrolet van which was found in "tent city".  He is an associate of suspect James Theodore Eagle and was recently involved in a shooting with him. The FBI was also aware on July 14, 1975 that Loud Hawk had either sold the van or given it to Joseph Stuntz, who was considered a suspect.  Interestingly, the government made no attempt to challenge the testimony of Angie Long Visitor that this van belonged to Leonard Peltier {2672}. The Pickup.   As shown above, there was only limited reference in testimony to the agents chasing a pickup into the Jumping Bull area and one leaving immediately after the killings.  Why was this testimony kept so low keyed?  FBI documents reveal that the Bureau was concerned and very interested in a red pickup almost immediately.  The day following the firefight (6-27-75) an internal FBI memorandum stated,   At approximately 6:25 AM, Minneapolis office telephonically advised that an explosion had occurred at the Visitor's Center, Mt. Rushmore, SD..There were earlier reports that a red pickup truck had been spotted in the vicinity of the Visitor's Center shortly before the explosion and this may have significant connection to captioned matter since a red pickup truck was also reported in the vicinity of the shooting on 6-26-75 (emphasis added) *This is not totally true.  Angie Long Visitor made a statement to the FBI on 29 June 1975 that she saw a van in the vicinity of the crime scene.   p. 56 On 1 July 1975, a few days after the above memorandum, Clarence Kelly, Director of the FBI, held a news conference in Los Angeles concerning the killing of the two agents.  Kelly discussed SA Williams radio transmission overheard by other agents.   The first of these was apparently to the effect that there's some people by the house and it looks like they are leaving.  We found later that probably they were speaking of the fact that some of the subjects or possible subjects were leaving the area in a red pickup truck and this red pickup  had become the subject of some concern in this investigation (emphasis added) The red pickup became an object of deep concern to the FBI.  For example, a member of the Falls River County Sheriff's Office, Hot Springs, South Dakota, was interviewed by two SA's of the FBI on 9 July 1975.  this sheriff was present at the Jumping Bulls on 26 June 1975 and remembers seeing:   a red 1965 Ford pickup driving in the vicinity of where the Agents took fire on several occasions and he stated that he did not think that it was a law enforcement vehicle.  the individual driving the red pickup was identified as an Indian male wearing a light western straw hat (emphasis added). On 11 July 1975, the FBI interviewed an individual who stated that Jimmy Eagle rode around "in an orange and white pickup"* On 9 July 1975, Wallace little, Sr., was seen driving a "red Ford pickup."  On 22 August 1975 witnesses told the FBI that on 26 June 1975, they observed Wallace Little enter the crime scene area in a red Ford pickup truck and leave with two individuals, Wallace Little, Jr. and Jerry Mousseau.  both Little, Jr. and Mousseau were considered suspects by the FBI. Moreover, an FBI document reveals that when the red pickup truck left the Jumping Bull area, a BIA officer observed that it was followed out by suspect Richard Little. The International Scout.  FBI documents also reveal another type of automobile in their investigation.  David Price, a former partner of Ron Williams, reported on 26 June 1975 that he  *Robert Ecoffey testified at the trial, as we discussed above, that he asisted Coler and Williams search for Jimmy Eagle on 25 June 1975.  Ecoffey observed a red pickup at the Wallace Little residence.  When they went to the residence, the vehicle was gone and they were informed that Eagle had "just left in the red pickup." p. 57 p. 58 {2870} p.59 June 27, 1975, was identical with one the agents were prusuing prior to confrontation."  According to Adams and Harveys' 302 of that interview, what Brown actually said was the following:   Regarding the red and white Chevrolet Suburban, Brown referred to this as a bus belonging to Peltier.  He stated he observed this bus on a number of occasions, always being driven by Peltier (emphasis added). Moreover, the above inaccurate summary is unsupportd by any other statement made by Brown, including the trial testimony.  However, the summary does paraphrase the trial testimony of Michael Anderson, the prosecutions most important witness. ...We will point out some important problems...as well as some new evidence uncovered through the FOIA, which sheds some light on the governmen's "one vehicle" theory.

Trial  Transcript Vehicles                                                                                       2672