Judge denies motions in Annie Mae Aquash murder case
By Heidi Bell Gease, Rapid City Journal staff | Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The Bureau of Indian Affairs does not have to disclose information on any investigation of what a defense attorney says was an improper relationship between a government informant and the lead investigator in the 1975 slaying of American Indian Movement activist Annie Mae Aquash, a judge has ruled.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Veronica Duffy also denied a request by Richard “Dickie” Marshall’s defense attorney asking that federal prosecutors provide inmate records for Arlo Looking Cloud, who was convicted in 2004 of Aquash’s death and is serving a life sentence.
Marshall, 57, and John Graham, 52, are scheduled to go on trial in U.S. District Court May 12 for the murder of Aquash, whose body was found on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in February 1976.
According to federal court documents, prosecutors say they don’t have inmate files for Looking Cloud, nor do they have evidence of any complaint or investigation of alleged misconduct between former U.S. Marshall Robert Ecoffey and a female witness with the code name “Maverick.”
Duffy wrote that prosecutors are not required to obtain documents for the defense if those agencies are not acting on behalf of the government.
Defense attorney Dana Hanna had also requested records regarding what he called an “improper relationship” between Ecoffey and Maverick, saying that evidence of an investigation or sanctions would “impeach the credibility of Ecoffey and the integrity of the government’s investigation of the facts of this case.”
Duffy denied the request, writing that “the key fact which has the possibility of reflecting on the credibility of the witnesses is the fact of the relationship itself, not any action that may have been taken by Mr. Ecoffey’s employer when faced with evidence of the relationship at some later date.” Hanna can cross-examine Ecoffey regarding the issue, she said.
Duffy will allow defense attorneys to review Maverick’s criminal record. The trial court would then determine whether any information on that criminal record is admissible at trial.
If convicted Marshall and Graham face life in prison.
