United States v. Leonard Peltier
nybooks.com
"Judge Benson, unbudging in his view that justice had been done in the case of United States v. Leonard Peltier, refused to order a new trial, and once again (in 1984) his ruling was appealed before the circuit court. By now, the uneasy prosecution was referring to Peltier not as the lone killer but as an aider and abettor, and Judge Gerald Heaney reminded Crooks that in his summation at the Fargo trial he had pointed at Peltier as "the man who came down and killed those agents in cold blood." Pressed on this point by Judge Donald Ross, Crooks blurted in frustration, "But we can't prove who shot those agents!" At last the truth was out."
"Could it be that these men sense that colleagues at Justice may be growing embarrassed, questioning the ethics as well as the vindictiveness of their campaign? What are they so afraid of, unless it is the truth? Could that truth be hidden in the six thousand pages of evidence pertaining to the ResMurs investigation that the Bureau still refuses to release under the Freedom of Information Act, citing "national defense" considerations—this in reference to a tragic episode on a dusty reservation farm a quarter of a century ago in South Dakota? Is it national security which is threatened here or the protections of our Constitution, not to speak of the nation's reputation for democracy and justice, which is stained more deeply with each passing year that this man's life is wasted in prison?" |
