Leonard Peltier Flyer
The following is reprinted from a flyer that was given to me back in 1989.Leonard Peltier could be you, could be me, could be anyone who stands up for his family, friends, community and beliefs. Leonard is an American Indian who is serving two consecutive life sentences in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary and there is NO CREDIBLE EVIDENCE that he is guilty of the crime for which he was convicted.
On June 26, 1975. two FBI agents drove onto a family's land on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, following an Indian they said had "stolen some cowboy boots." Somehow their appearance and behavior precipitated a shoot-out in which the FBI agents and an Indian man died. Within hours of the shootout, according to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, hundreds of paramilitary-equipped, combat-clad FBI agents and U.S. Marshalls staged a dragnet through the reservation in a fever of revenge in which men, women and children were searched and terrified, property and houses ransacked. There was no investigation into the death of the Indian.
Leonard had been previously identified as an American Indian Movement leader by the FBI and targeted by their notorious COINTELPRO program which "neutralized" such people by dirty tricks and arrest. Fearing no possibility of a fair trial and perhaps immediate execution, Leonard fled to Canada where he was arrested and extradited under eye-witness affidavits manufactured by the FBI that the government has admitted are false.
Three men were initially accused of the murders. Two were acquitted and the Government dropped all charges against the third to concentrate the full prosecutive weight of the government against Leonard Peltier. He was convicted for the deaths of the agents and sentenced to two consecutive life terms. The government has subsequently changed its theory on who killed the agents and today admits they have no idea who did kill them.
According to the final decision of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, (which astoundingly upheld Leonard's conviction) Peltier's trial and previous appeals have been riddled with FBI misconduct and judicial impropriety, including: coercion of witnesses, the knowing use of perjury, the fabrication of evidence, and the suppression of evidence which could have proved his innocence.
The Eighth Circuit Court agreed FBI misconduct in the case had been "a clear abuse of the investigative process." No one deserves treatment like this. That is why 55 MEMBERS OF U.S. CONGRESS, the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEYS, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEYS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE, and 78 WORLD RELIGIOUS LEADERS, including the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU, and REVEREND JESSE JACKSON have filed "Friends of the Court" briefs urging a new trial for Leonard Peltier. This is why Amnesty International has called for a Commission of Inquiry into the role of the FBI in politial trials, citing the Peltier case as an example.
On Independence Day 1988, Leonard Peltier spend his 4,532nd day in prison for a crime he did NOT commit. On October 5, 1987 the United States Supreme Court denied Peltier's appeal. The Supreme Court decision temporarily closed the door on Leonards chances for a new trial. Hopefully, it did not close the door on justice.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
- Ask your congressperson to investigate the case and to support Leonard Peltier's efforts to get a new trial.
- Give a copy of this sheet to each of your friends. Ask organizations to include copies in the next mailing to their members.
- Help increase public awareness of Leonard's case by buying posters, prints of Leonard's paintings, T-shirts, buttons, coffee cups, billed-caps, "Crazy Horse Spirit" magazines, and "The Trial of Leonard Peltier" by Jim Messerschmidt. In addition, orders may be placed for a cookbook by a Leonard Peltier supporter. Profits from the sale of Leonard Peltier merchandise and the cookbook will assist the efforts by the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee to free Leonard.
INTERNATIONAL OFFICE OF THE
LEONARD PELTIER DEFENSE COMMITTEE
PO BOX 583
LAWRENCE, KS 66044
913-842-5774
Donations may be sent directly to LPDC. Checks for tax-deductible contributions may be made out to The Dean's Discretionary Fund (at The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine).
Thank you for reading this. While Leonard has become a symbol of the Native American struggle for justice, the FIGHT FOR LEONARD'S CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS WILL BENEFIT EACH AMERICAN CITIZEN if the unlawful handling of this case by the United States Government can be rectified and prevented from happening again. By helping Leonard, you are protecting yourself, your family and friends from a similiar injustice. The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee urgently needs your donations and your letters of support for Leonard Peltier to your congresspeople, the President, the Presidential candidates, and the Secretary of State.