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Show It, 1974 I would iik. Tlu Vt? Bulletin Ms opportunity on behalf of the Business Committe to wish each one of you a Merry Christmas and a most successful and prosperous New Year. Hopefully we can all look at this past year as one from which we have gained a new insight or a learning experience and one from which to build new and resourceful relations with the communites and with tribal and department leaders. As we go into the New Year we go with the thought of preserving those entities that rightfully belong to us and moving in the direction that will be economically beneficial to all of us individually and as a tribe. Lester Chapoose Chairman, Ute Tribe Business Committee Wounded Knee Conspiracy Trials Dropped, Direct Aftermath Reviewed D,C. (AIPA) -- What has been the direct aftermath of the dropping of all charges against Dennis J. Banks and Russell C. Means by Federal District Court Judge Fred Nichol at the conclusion of the first of the Wounded Knee conspiracy trials in S. Paul, Minn., on Sept. 16? WASHINGTON, 0 A great deal. First, the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), stung by charges of governmental misconduct by Judge Nichol and by another failure to win a conviction in a political trial, are studying their pattern of such failures in the Wounded Knee, Ellsberg, Berrigan, and other trials to determine where they went wrong and how they can correct their prosecutorial mistakes. Second, the FBI was soundly rebuked and Chief Prosecutor U.S. Attorney R.D. Hurd of South Dakota was scathingly scolded by his superiors in the Justice Department for the excessively high costs of a parade of federal prosecution witnesses flown into St. Paul from around the country and Hurds failure to win a conviction, although the FBI had apparently concealed some information ' from Hurd himself during the course of the trial. Regional FBI Special Agents in Charge in Minneapolis and Rapid City, S.D., drew rebukes from their parent office in the nation's capital. Third, 10 empanelled and alternate jurors in St. Paul, Minn., following the trial, sent a petition on Sept. 20 to former U.S. Attorney General William Saxby in Washington asking for the dismissal of charges against all defendants charged in relation to the Wounded Knee occupation, stating that possibly more than any other group of citizens, weve had the opportunity to hear the facts and to judge them." The jurors, pointing to their unanimous vote to acquit means and Banks of the so-call- ed O charge of conspiracy, wrote to Saxbe: In our view a government that cannot h trial present enough in an evidence against the leaders of the Wounded Knee seige to secure convictions on any count should for moral and ethical reasons drop the criminal charges against all the other Indian people and their supporters. Since the two leaders were guilty of no other crime, we believe the others should not be prosecuted for following them. It is in the spirit of reconciliation and redemption that we urge you to respect this suggestion and to join with us and other Americans in our effort to bind up the wounds that have caused by this our longest and most protracted trial. Fourth, it appears that the Justice Department now will proceed with consipiracy charges against only two, not four, other American Indian Movement leaders-Car- ter A. Camp and Stanley Holder. The Justice Department reportedly has informed defense lawyers that it will not press conspiracy charges against Clyde Bellecourt and Leonard Crow Dog. The Justice Department avers it has a strong case against Camp and Holder, but was fearful of prosecuting an individual respected as a medicine man among many of the Indian people. Fifth, the United Tribes of North Dakota (UTND) and the National Tribal Chairmens Assn. (NTCA) have passed eight-mont- significant resolutions urging South Dakota Gov. Richard Kneip to pardon a Oglala Sioux woman, Sarah Bad Heart Bull, now imprisoned in a ld Yankton, S.D., womens detention center, for her part in a disturbance in Custer, S.D., Feb. 6, 1973, following a protest over the murder of her son. And in the nations Sen. James Abourezk, capital, called for special mercy for her. Should she be pardoned, other pardons are expected to follow. D-S.- Sixth, the Justice Department is now deliberating whether it will seek a retrial of Means and Banks following the Nichol dismissal of charges last Sept. 16. An announcement of the Justice Department intentions-t- o seek or not to seek a retrial-- is expected in late October or Defense Attys. KennNovember. early eth Tilsen and Mark Lane told AIPA they dreaded" a retrial because they did not expect the Justice Department to repeat its egregious mistakes in any retrial. Seventh, if no retrial is sought by the Justice Department, Dennis J. Banks, 43, appears to be free in the future of any court entanglements. But Russell C. Means, 35, told AIPA he might be caught up in court litigation for the next two years and may face possible imprisonment on one or more of the following charges: Nebraska state charges of carrying a concealed weapon and assault upon an office in Scottsbluff, Neb., in December of 1972 following the return of Indians from the Trail of Broken Treaties take-ovof the central Bureau of Indian Affairs facility in the nations capital the month previous. South Dakota state charges arising out of a riot in Custer, S.D., on Feb. 6, 1973, including partial burning of some city facilities during a protest demonstration over the death of an Oglala Sioux youth, Wesley Bad Heart Bull, a month earlier. Means is optimistic of acquittal in this case because I was in custody when everything went down. Federal charges arising from an incident in a temporary courtroom in Sioux Falls, S.D., this past spring during the first of the Custer-relate- d trials, during which vilence erupted in the courtroom and several Indians were injured. Federal charges resulting from another incident in Mission, S.D., this rammer when Means and others were involved in a fist fracus in a local country er club on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in which a police car was shot up and an Indian youth was shot and seriously injured. Trial dates for all the above charges against Means had not yet been set by but Means expected to be caught up in court litigation well into the middle of 1975 or even into 1976. mid-Octobe- r, Community Corral Suggested At Fort Duchesne The Business Committee has postponed action on the establishment of a community horse corral at Fort Duchesne pending further interest by tribal members. The idea for such a structure was suggested at a regular council meeting earlier this month. Residents interested in establishing a corral for horses in the Fort Duchesne area should contact Community Development Specialist David VanderKraats at Mr. VanderKraats will present the opinions of residents to the Business Committee for further action on the idea. 722-245- 1. Housing Authority Takes New Offices The Tribal Housing Authority is now located in its new offices at the Housing Administrative Building in the Senior Citizens complex. The building is located northwest of the water tower at the north end of the circle. The office was formerly housed in the Bureau of Indian Affairs Plant Management building. The new telephone number for the department is 722-400- 9. YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE Please notify the Bulletin if you are not receiving your paper or if yon have a change of address . |