WEBVTT - #528 The Wrongful Conviction of Leonard Peltier - Part 2 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:06.120 Previously, on our coverage of Leonard Piltier, we talked about 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:10.160 the history that gave rise to Native activism like aim 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:13.400 the American Indian Movement in the nineteen sixties and seventies. 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:18.000 In addition to a focus on treaty violations, land reclamation, 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:21.960 and other issues, Aims supported the resistance to mining interest 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:25.960 in South Dakota, but they were met in force by 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:29.680 a federally funded paramilitary group called the Goon Squad that 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:33.599 perpetrated a reign of terror beginning in nineteen seventy two 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:39.000 on the Pine Ridge Reservation, leaving sixty unsolved murders in 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:44.080 its wake. So on June twenty sixth, nineteen seventy five, 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:48.080 when two plain close agents and unmarked vehicles drove onto 0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:51.880 an AIME stronghold and drew their weapons, they were both 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:57.000 killed before the conveniently stationed SWAT teams could swoop in, 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:01.000 leaving the FEDS to figure out how they prosecuted someone 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:12.760 for defending their own community. This is wrongful conviction. You're 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:15.600 listening to wrongful conviction. You can listen to this and 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:18.360 all the Lava for Good podcasts one week early and 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:22.000 ad free by subscribing to Lava for Good Plus on 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:32.800 Apple Podcasts. Welcome back to Wrongful Conviction, where I'm once 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:35.920 again thrilled to be joined by Ben Bolan from one 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:39.080 of my favorite podcasts, Stuff They Don't Want You to Know. 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:43.440 As we continue now our coverage of the wrongful conviction 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:44.560 of Leonard Peltier. 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:47.800 To help tell the story, we'll hear again from the 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:51.080 man himself, one of his co defendants, Dino Butler, as 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:54.280 well as one of his attorneys, Bruce Ellison. In addition, 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.520 we'll hear from one of his appellate attorneys, Ron Cooby. 0:01:57.800 --> 0:01:59.880 We'll pick up Leonard's story where we left off last 0:01:59.880 --> 0:02:03.120 time on June twenty sixth, nineteen seventy five, when federal 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:06.880 forces had Jumping bull Ridge surrounded and it seemed like 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:11.040 an eagle was showing Leonard Peltier, Dino Butler, and Bob 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:15.160 Rogudoo to safety. They had made their way into a culvert, 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:19.760 one of those sometimes barely walkable drainage pipes that travel 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:23.480 under roadways. They had stopped there to pray, and, almost 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:27.560 as if by divine intervention, a surveillance plane left the area, 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:32.239 so they made their move, unsure of their fate or 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:35.360 of how many agents and goon squad members were still 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:36.120 up on the road. 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:39.840 We had some young kids with us, and my responsibility 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:42.679 to make sure that they got safe. I sent them 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:45.800 ahead of me. I told them, go, I'll take up 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:48.680 the rear. And when they started shooting us, turn around 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:51.440 and start shooting back. And I'm not trying to make 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:55.160 myself and the hero. I was fighting for my life. 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.399 And there were so many bullets flying around us. Man, 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:00.440 I just knew that somebody was going to get shot. 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:03.840 I could just feel the bullets buzzing around me. And 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:05.800 I ran and ran until I couldn't run no more, 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:07.560 and I just I thought, all hecky with it, and 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:10.639 I just lay down catch my breath. I was expecting 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:12.400 bullets to enter my body anytime. 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.640 They were getting closer and closer to hit some of us, 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:18.240 so I would turn around to them, go keep going, 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:20.680 and I would start shooting back at them. 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:22.800 I caught my breath, so I jumped up and I 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:26.600 started running again, and I couldn't see Leonard, I couldn't 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:29.400 see anybody, but I was praying that nobody was hurt. 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:31.600 And I ran until I couldn't run no more, and 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:34.160 I stopped, dropped on the ground. And I just kept 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:37.440 praying like that, no bullets entered my body. And I 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:38.680 got up again and I ran up. 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:41.320 There was a little flat, so I finally made it 0:03:41.360 --> 0:03:44.480 to the top, and here they come from the back 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:44.960 of the hill. 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:47.200 So I turned around. I went back to the edge 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:49.080 of that platte, and there was a car coming up 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:52.000 the hill full of goons. I laid on the ground 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:53.800 and I emptied my gun out that car and it 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:56.120 turned around and ran back down the hill real fast. 0:03:57.920 --> 0:03:59.760 And I couldn't believe we were all safe. None of 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:04.960 us got shot, no wounds or nothing. Man, when we 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:06.680 got up to the top of that hill, two brothers 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:10.320 come riding down on horseback and they said, Hey, what's 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:11.840 going on. What's happening, brothers? 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:14.160 I asked him, I said, what are you guys doing here? 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:16.599 He said, well, this is our people, this is our 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:20.520 war too. We are here to help you. And so 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:23.280 they led us out of there. These two young kids 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:26.520 came through a hail of bullet to come and help us. 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:27.880 And that's a fact. 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:30.560 The last time the FBI's horse heading out of there, 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:36.160 following those brothers on horseback, and Noah wounded lived up there, 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:37.680 and these brothers knew him and everything. 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:38.400 He was the elder. 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:41.120 That's where they took us. And he opened the door 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:43.800 and he says, I've been expecting you come on in. 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:47.480 So we all walked in there and he said, I 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:49.839 don't have much food. He said, but you're welcome to it. 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:51.320 And he said, you eat what you want. 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:55.320 I found out later that the whole reservation was praying 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:58.040 for us that we would get out of there. So 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:01.880 I believe it great spirit helped us get out of there. 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:06.120 If we had done something wrong that day, we wouldn't 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:09.080 have got out of there. I mean that Diego helped us. 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:12.719 Those people help us. There was so much help. 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:17.080 At this point, FBI agents examined the bodies and collected 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:21.040 bullets and casings, and they allegedly found one two twenty 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:24.920 three caliber shell casing in the agent's trunk, typical AMMO 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:29.640 for AR fifteen's. This becomes important later since none of 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:33.720 the agent's guns could fire that caliber. Agent Williams had 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:37.679 a handgun, which he allegedly fired only twice, while Agent 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:40.919 Kohler fired a handgun, three Toho eight rifle, and a 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:43.520 twelve gage shotgun once each. 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:47.200 Which sounds just as strange as the fact that these 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:52.039 two well trained agents only fired five shots total, just 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:55.240 five against an estimated one hundred and twenty five bullets 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:58.279 that were rained down on them by forty two different 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.120 shooters from the ranch, who, by the way, let's call 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:03.680 it what it is. They had every right to defend themselves, 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:09.640 especially when unidentified intruders had driven five hundred yards onto 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.800 private property and drawn their weapons, whether they had a 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:14.880 warrant or not. 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:18.840 It was a day that should never have happened. Three 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:23.560 people unnecessarily died because of this government agenda. 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:27.320 After the shooting, they wanted to course arrest somebody, and 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:29.680 they couldn't get nobody to talk to them. 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:32.239 So the nationwide search starts. 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:37.320 They even included at one point every Native man who 0:06:37.360 --> 0:06:40.360 had ever been in combat in Indo, China on. 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:44.279 Their suspect list. Wow, they also included a four year old. 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.479 While the FEDS tried to whittle down that suspect list, 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:51.920 AIM leadership, including Dennis Banks and Leonard Peltier, traveled out 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.359 west to gather financial support for whoever was about to 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:59.000 fight a tremendous legal battle, and one of their visits 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:03.400 was with the Godfather himself, Marlon fucking Brando. 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:06.760 He was from Omaha, Nebraska. There's a big reservation right 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:10.160 on the border there, so his mother had some Native 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:14.040 blood in there. Marlon had been involved in a Native 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:18.960 struggle since the fifties. Dennis and I decided to go 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:22.680 to California and see some of our friends there to 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:26.120 see if to give us some financial help, and we 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:29.640 were successful in that. Marlon even gave us a mobile 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:33.320 home to take back with us to Pine Ridge. It 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:35.440 was literally a war scene. 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:35.760 Now. 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:39.960 You had FBI agents running around the fatigues, you had 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:44.360 helicopters flying all over, you had SWAT teams running around 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:45.080 the reservation. 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.120 It was decided that they were going to break the 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.840 American indew movement. They were going to do it one 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:52.560 way or another. They were going to go as for 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.880 as they could with kind of insurgency. Helicopters, armored cars, 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.679 a lot of heavy weaponry being brought into Pine Ridge 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:05.800 and throughout the reservation. Over over the days, searches of homes, 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:07.040 terrorizing the people. 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:10.560 They were threatening them, especially the kids. Somebody's going to 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:14.160 end up killing them because they were there. Something was 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:16.920 going to happen to their families. And they still couldn't 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:19.800 get nobody to talk to them because nobody knew nothing. 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:22.200 I dies, but nobody's going to talk to them anyway. 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:27.680 The local people felt tremendous love and support towards the resistance. 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.280 But to counter that, you want to terrorize people so 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:35.559 that they don't help, or maybe they inform as an 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:37.920 attorney with the who they need Offense Committee. I was 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:42.040 on the ground right after the firefight Oglala. I was 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.240 still studying for the bar at that time, and if 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:46.800 Offense Comittee had a little hut where some of us 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:49.200 stayed overnight, and we got a call that there had 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:51.840 been a goon attack and we went probably equivalent about 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:55.439 three city blocks over to this house and you could 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:57.760 still see the dust in the air, and you could 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.439 smell courtite, You could see the terror and the fear. 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:03.280 That was a woman and a couple of kids, And 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:06.160 these are kind of unique experiences for a young Jewish 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:07.120 kid out of New York. 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:11.000 But Bruce quickly got acquainted with the situation and he 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:15.000 told us about an AIM member named Byron Deserso. Deserts's 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:18.440 father read an underground newspaper that was critical of the 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:23.439 tribal chairman Dick Wilson and his federally funded pairamilitary group, 0:09:24.000 --> 0:09:26.960 the Goon Squad, which had attacked Byron's friends. 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:30.040 They started shooting at a young couple as they got 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:32.800 out of their car. The person who defended himself with 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:36.720 a single shot twenty two against semioma and automatic weapons 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:40.160 was arrested in his home for disorderly conduct. So Byron 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:42.440 was going there to see how he can help out. 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:46.240 And Byron was on his way home in Womblee and 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:49.040 a caravan of goons passed by and they riddled the 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:53.600 car with bullets and they killed Byron Breccacy. The other 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:56.600 three people in the car were not hurt and as 0:09:56.600 --> 0:09:58.480 a winning defense cann't remember. We were asked to go 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:02.160 down and to investigate. And the first thing that we 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.920 were met with in the streets of Wombli, we were 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:08.640 surrounded by a SWAT team which questioned us at gunpoint. 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:11.280 But it was part of that fear there. They had 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:14.880 already destroyed two homes by fire bombing them. They had 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:16.840 shot up about a half a dozen homes. 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:20.440 Well, we started to protect the people again because of 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:24.840 all the chaos and terrorism they were committing against the 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:26.520 local citizens. 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:29.400 There, and you know, staying overnight in that community and 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:32.920 watching the elders get together and give a warning to 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.880 the goons. You get out the next day by noon, 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:38.000 or we're going to come and take you out. Because 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:39.640 the government wasn't taking them out. 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:44.280 It appears that Leonard's participation in resisting this continued reign 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:46.800 of terror put a target on his back. 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:48.240 Cornypi documents. 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:50.680 They decided that Leonard had shot the agents two and 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:53.600 a half weeks after the firefight. And they made this 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.640 conclusion because they say they found some of his fingerprints 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.840 on some items that were in the camp area about 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:01.679 quarter from mile away from the scene. 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:03.920 Which says exactly nothing. 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:07.160 But that was where they started from. And then they 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:11.880 went and they targeted four people Leonard, Dino Butler, Bob 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:13.800 Robberdew and Jimmy Eagle. 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:17.400 Jimmy Eagle, I wasn't even in the state. It was 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:23.679 on a Wyoming reservation. We didn't understand why we were indicted, 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:26.880 why we were being accused, because we don't know who 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:28.040 the real shooters are. 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:30.840 They caught up with Dino Butler first. 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:35.040 I was arrested in Rosebud and I was taking to Pierce, 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:39.200 South Dakota. I was put in jail there, Dad two 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:41.960 holding tanks, one tank where they put all the goons 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:43.959 and the other tank of where they put all the 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:44.920 AIM members. 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:48.839 So first they captured Dino Butler in Rosebud and then 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:50.440 Bob Robberdy down in Kansas. 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:54.440 In September nineteen seventy five, Bob Robadu and two other 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:58.640 AM members, Michael Anderson and Norman Charles, were traveling through Wichita, 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:02.240 Kansas in Leonards station wagon when either ammunition or an 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:04.360 explosive went off in the back of the vehicle, and 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:08.760 authorities found an AR fifteen inside the burning wreck, which 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:11.560 was then taken for comparison to the two twenty three 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:15.000 shellcasing allegedly found an Asian Kohler's trunk, and we'll hear 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:18.360 more about that later. But meanwhile they put pressure on Bob, Mike, 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:20.960 Norman as well as the people back on Pine Ridge 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:24.920 and continued to pursue both Jimmy Eagle and Leonard Peltier. 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:29.880 They offered people money, cattle, They offered people land on 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:32.679 our own reservation. How the hell do you got a 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:36.080 right to offer us land on our own reservation to 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:39.920 become an informant, But the people said, no, we're not 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.640 going to do this to Leonard, you can kiss our ass. 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:43.640 We're not going to do it. 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:45.760 We're not going to get up there and make false 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:49.440 statements against him. So I was protected by the people, 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:53.800 but they were still continuing to do this for. 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:54.680 Quite a while. 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:58.079 And there is a treaty among the United States and 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:02.800 Canada that people can cross that border anytime they want. 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:05.599 So that's when the elders are telling me that I 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:08.440 should go to Canada and we could find out what 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:09.720 kind of evidence they got. 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:14.360 According to the extradition agreement between the United States and Canada, 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:19.160 the authorities must produce convincing evidence of guilt for Canada 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:23.880 to extradite. So Leonard left for Canada in Marlon Brando's 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:26.600 motor home with Dennis Banks as well as with two 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:30.000 other individuals, and they made it to Oregon. Then they 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:33.560 were pulled over on November fourteenth, nineteen seventy five. 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:37.120 We were traveling down the highway and this cop pulls 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:41.000 us over, and I think you jumped the gun because 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:43.720 right down the road they had a whole road blocks 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:46.960 and everything else set up, but just cop pulled us over. 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:49.680 Like I said, I think it was premature. He started 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:53.120 shooting and I tried to draw them shooting away from 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.560 camouting her kids. They were all laying on the ground 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:59.480 and there was cop screaming and yelling and all. 0:13:59.360 --> 0:13:59.960 This other shit. 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:05.920 It so we've split up and we've shaped I did 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:10.280 get shot there still to this day have laded my body. 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:13.120 Where were you shot Leonard in the back? That's a miracle. 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:15.520 If you weren't killed or paralyzed. You can't go to 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:16.199 a hospital. 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:19.360 You can't go to hospital. And I'm wounded. Some of 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:22.400 the supporters that opened their homes for me, and so 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:24.560 I had a doctor comment, we're trying to get the 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:27.720 bullet out of my shoulder. And from there I went 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.760 in a state with various people. I think it was 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:32.880 at least six months. 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:35.200 During which time Leonard's name went to the top of 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:38.360 the FBI's most wanted list before he went to Canada, 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:40.600 where he was picked up by the Royal Canadian Mounted 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:44.280 Police in Hinton, Alberta in February nineteen seventy six, and 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.960 then he was transported to the much less Native friendly 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:49.960 province of British Columbia. 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:55.000 I went before a very conservative judge who was not 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.840 my friend, not Indians, native people's friends. It was quite 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:02.440 obvious even he said it was not going to turn 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.400 me back to the United States. He said, there is 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:22.920 no evidence. I can't just turn this man over. They 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:27.640 continued to develop false evidence. They created a false witness. 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:30.280 I never met her in my life, but she was 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:34.200 claiming she was my girlfriend and she was an eyewitness. 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:39.320 And the FBI used what they knew to be a 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:44.560 perjured affidavit in order to obtain his extradition from Canada. 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:48.560 This is one of Leonard's appellot attorneys, Ron Cooby. He's 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:52.440 explaining how the FBI found a woman named Mirgal poor Bear, 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:56.640 who gave three affidavits. Her first, which was initially hidden, 0:15:56.960 --> 0:15:59.920 said that Leonard had confessed to her after the fact, 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:04.120 and then poor Bear swore two more affidavits saying that 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:05.840 she was an eye witness. 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:11.960 Myrtle poor Bear, who was deeply psychotic, made a number 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:16.080 of different affidavids till she satisfied the FBI, and she 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:19.400 said she actually witnessed Leonard Pilteer shoot the agent's at 0:16:19.440 --> 0:16:23.000 close range because she was there. Now everybody knew that 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:26.360 Myrtle poor Bear was nowhere near the scene of this. 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:31.040 The people in the community stated out right that he 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:31.800 was the faith. 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:32.680 They don't know her. 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:35.520 They knew I was never a winner or not because 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.240 I had a girl from there. I had two kids there. 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:40.400 And by the way, when murder Poor Bear was Leonard 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:44.480 Belteer's girlfriend, she was also a local aim leader's girlfriend 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:46.880 by the name of Dick Marshall, and later she claimed 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:49.040 that Dick Marshall confessed to her to killing a goon. 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:54.160 Ancillary to that perjured Affid David was an Affid David 0:16:54.280 --> 0:17:00.680 from firearms expert Evan Hodge that the shell case that 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:05.479 was found in the agent's car had extractor marks on it. 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:10.560 Extractor mark comparisons are not an exact science, unlike say, 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:13.080 firing pin comparisons. 0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:17.200 When a semi automatic weapon is fired, the firing pin 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:21.119 springs forward through the breach face behind the bullet. It 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:24.600 strikes the bullet primer, a small explosive that ignites the 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:28.960 propellant gunpowder, and this creates enough high pressure gas to 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:32.879 send both the projectile forward from its casing down the 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.600 barrel and sliding the casing back against the breach face 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:40.639 where it's grabbed by the extractor. This extractor slides the 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:43.679 casing further back where it's hit by the ejector and 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:46.919 then flies out an opening on the right side of 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:47.679 the gut. 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:52.880 Each movement leaves striations, and each machine part leaves marks 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:56.040 on the casing, which can then be compared to other 0:17:56.119 --> 0:18:00.959 casings produced by test firing a suspect weapon, and really 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:06.320 all firearm analysis is best suited for excluding a firearm 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:11.920 rather than actually making definitive matches. However, the firing pin 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:15.640 test provides the most accurate reading, and it improved from 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.320 two D microscopic images in nineteen seventy five to the 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:22.040 three D imaging available by twenty ten, delivering up to 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:27.040 ninety eight point eight percent accuracy, Whereas extractor marks are 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:31.119 described as being able to identify class characteristics like the 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:34.040 make and model, but they have no value in identifying 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:39.399 the individual weapon well. Extractor marks were the subject of 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:44.440 Evan Hodge's Affidavid, which, along with Myrtle Poor bears Affidavid 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:49.800 one extradition. So while Leonard's team appealed the extradition and 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:53.720 Jimmy Eagle hadn't even been located yet, Dino and Bob 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:57.200 went to trial in July of nineteen seventy six. 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:00.000 What do I went on trial and see the rapids 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:02.920 the FBI sent a team and they just terrorized those 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:05.679 people and see the rapids that they said that they 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:09.280 had two A members. I killed two fbis. No one 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:12.640 should go out alone by themselves. Don't leave your cars unlock. 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:15.119 They told them that there would be snipers up on 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:18.399 buildings and everything. There's going to be Dog soldiers terrorizing 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:20.439 the people and trying to set us free and all. 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:22.600 I mean, they really done a job on those people 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:23.679 before our trial. 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:28.080 The term Dog Soldiers refers to a militaristic band of 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:32.080 the Cheyenne Nation dating back to the eighteen thirties. They 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:35.919 served as an effective bulwark against western expansion in present 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:39.200 day Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming. 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:43.240 It was all about creating a climate of fear and terror. 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:46.240 When my parents, our defense team came to see the rapids, 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:49.040 my mother and father, my little brother, no one would 0:19:49.080 --> 0:19:52.880 take them in. Finally John Tredell and his group came 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:56.760 in and they started making speeches and talking to these people, 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:00.040 and the doors opened up, the church open up, and 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:02.919 they have some land to our people to set up 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:05.560 their camps there, and my mom and dad got a 0:20:05.600 --> 0:20:09.760 hotel room. I mean, it was a beautiful what happened there. 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:13.400 Without those people, we would have probably been convicted there. 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:19.119 So the FBI's jurypool poisoning had been neutralized for civil 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:22.840 rights attorney William Kunstler to present the self defense theory, 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:26.280 while the prosecution now had to prove their narrative. 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:29.480 The government's theory in about the Robberty trial was that 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:32.920 this was a pre planned ambush, and they argued that 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:35.480 and tried to assert it, and it kind of blew 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:37.320 up on their face in the middle of the trial. 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:39.280 It just became so ludicrous. 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:43.320 Initially, this narrative was built in part on Myrtle Poor 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:47.000 Bears affidavits, the ones which she also said that she 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:51.040 witnessed this group allegedly planning to lure agents into the 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:56.240 compound to be ambushed, but soon after the extradition proceedings, 0:20:56.320 --> 0:21:00.000 she stopped cooperating with the FEDS. The FEDS then had 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:03.040 had to produce new testimony to assert that Bob and 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:06.080 Dino were part of some premeditated act. 0:21:06.560 --> 0:21:09.000 One of the things that the FBI was very successful 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:12.359 at was going into jails and finding people who were 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:15.400 in the same jail, maybe as a person who they 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:18.679 were targeting, and suddenly the targeted person would. 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:21.120 Confess them, of course, so how mus to this day, 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:21.680 that's right. 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:23.959 And the FBI particularly liked to go to people who 0:21:24.000 --> 0:21:25.760 are accused of breaking in homes. 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:28.480 And raping women, four children, or elders. 0:21:28.680 --> 0:21:31.040 In this case, they found a man that was facing 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:35.720 extradition to Texas, where the Texas Rangers sent word that 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:39.120 if they get him back there, he's not going to 0:21:39.160 --> 0:21:40.080 survive very long. 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:43.520 His name was Vern Harper. He said that I confessed 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:46.719 everything to him in the jails, and the agreement that 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:50.240 he made with the government is that he would testify 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:52.480 against us if they would see that the charges in 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:54.440 Texas against him were dismissed. 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:56.480 And you saw how much do you know, talked after 0:21:56.560 --> 0:22:00.439 all these years. Usually people when they made denal Butler, 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:03.360 they might not hear him say a word for two weeks. 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:06.600 But nevertheless, that night those two became such good friends 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:09.840 that Dino confessed to not only being involved in killing 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:13.480 the agents, but also trying to assassinate a federal judge 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:14.359 in Rapid City. 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:17.600