Reply #18: Since you've brought up the subject, here's an update on Peltier's case: [View All]

[scarletwoman]

LPDC Update: 1oth Circuit Appeal

From the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee...

Oral arguments will be heard before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals
in Denver, Colorado, on September 19, 2003, on Leonard Peltier's 1999
Habeas Corpus petition. For the first time, Peltier's attorneys will
have the opportunity to argue in a Circuit other than the 8th Circuit
where Peltier was convicted and all subsequent appeals have been
denied.

Background

After Leonard's trial, based on documents obtained from the FBI under
Freedom of Information Act requests, the legal team discovered that
the government had withheld exculpatory evidence, including critical
ballistics data. Specifically, the legal team discovered a memorandum
by a ballistics expert dated October 2, 1975, that unequivocally ruled
out the Wichita AR-15 (which was purportedly used by Leonard Peltier
on June 26, 1975) as the alleged murder weapon. The improperly
withheld evidence suppressed by the FBI struck at the heart of the
government's case and the later Parole Commission findings which were
upheld by the U.S. District Court in Kansas.

In 1995, Leonard appeared for an interim parole hearing before the
same hearing examiner who had presided over his initial parole
proceeding in 1993. The examiner was moved by the government's
statements, especially those by Assistant United States Attorney Lynn
Crooks who had acknowledged that "the government does not know,
insofar as having the evidence to sustain a conviction in court, that
Leonard Peltier fired the fatal bullets into the agents." The
examiner ruled in Leonard's favor. Dissatisfied, the U.S. Parole
Commission appointed a second examiner who ruled against Leonard. The
Commission then accepted the second officer's recommendation and
reaffirmed that it would not reconsider Leonard for parole until
December 2008. From then, the Parole Commission has steadfastly
adhered to this position.

The Appeal

The Peltier legal team believes that the Commission has failed to
adequately consider the impact of the critical exculpatory evidence
that was improperly withheld by the government at trial and which
completely undermines the facts relied upon by the Commission. On
appeal, Leonard's legal team will strongly contend that the Commission
erred because its finding that Leonard had been involved in an
"ambush" of the two FBI agents on June 26, 1975, and had executed them
at point blank range after they had been incapacitated: (1) is not
supported by Leonard's convictions or the Eighth Circuit decisions
addressing post-conviction petitions; (2) is not supported by the
evidence before the Commission; and (3) is undermined by the material
exculpatory evidence the government improperly withheld at Leonard's
trial.

In short, the legal team will argue that the U.S. Parole Commission's
denial of parole to Leonard Peltier constitutes a violation of law, as
well as being inconsistent with its own congressionally mandated
guidelines. The denial of parole in this case, they say, is an abuse
of power and discretion, and violates Leonard Peltier's constitutional
rights. The Peltier attorneys will request that the appellate court
issue an order that Peltier be given fair consideration for parole
directly, under appropriate factors, which consideration should lead
to his immediate parole.

Mitakuye Oyasin.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,

LPDC
PO Box 583
Lawrence, Kansas 66044-0583
785-842-5774
785-842-5796 (Fax)
[e-mail]
www.leonardpeltier.org