Peltier allies: Case ignored
Denver forum held for jailed AIM leader

By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News
September 18, 2003

The case of Leonard Peltier, who has spent 27 years in prison for killing two federal agents in South Dakota, has been largely misrepresented or ignored, his supporters said Wednesday as they gear up for another appeal hearing in his case.

"We want to step up and not give up on this case," said Robby Romero, an American Indian musician, filmmaker and activist at a forum in Denver. Twelve people attended the event, which was sponsored by the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee.

"The public has not been given good information about his case," Romero said. "Leonard Peltier is a human being, and his rights have been violated."

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver is scheduled Friday to hear Peltier's appeal of a 1995 decision by the United States Parole Commission denying him a parole hearing until 2008.

"We are not asking them to change or reverse the conviction," said Barry Bachrach, one of Peltier's attorneys, at the forum.

"There is no reason to keep him in prison any longer. He should be considered for parole and paroled immediately."

Peltier, 59, is serving two life sentences for killing FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams on June 26, 1975, during a shootout between federal officers and American Indian Movement members and supporters at Jumping Bull Ranch.

Peltier has maintained his innocence.

Bachrach said that in 1986, when Peltier first applied for a parole hearing, he had already served 204 months - four months more than required before he became eligible for a hearing.

But parole officers refused, saying Peltier was not eligible because he was involved in the murder and execution of two federal agents, and delayed his hearing until December 2008.

That decision was appealed to the U.S. District Court in Topeka, Kan., in 1999. Last year, the lower court affirmed the commission's decision, which is now being challenged at the appellate court in Denver.

But supporters argued that the entire case against Peltier was flawed from the beginning. They claimed evidence that would exonerate Peltier was suppressed during the trial.

"His conviction was based on the worst scenario of fabrication that I have ever seen in my life," said Dennis Banks, co-founder of AIM.