“FREE SHARK! FREE PELTIER! FREE JOHN GRAHAM! FREE MAPUCHE WARRIORS! FREE WARRIORS OF ATENCO & OAXACA! FREE JACABO & GLORIA! FREE MUMIA! DROP ALL CHARGES ON POCC MOI JR. VALARY!” [...]
- NATIVE YOUTH MOVEMENT, May 24, 2009, “NYM Warrior arrested and held on 7 year old charges for Defending the Land!”
Click here to read the whole statement from NYM about Shark’s arrest
1975 [or '76] Pine Ridge slaying appeals combined into one
Associated Press – May 20, 2009
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – Two appeals pending over the 1975 [or '76] killing of a Canadian woman on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation will move forward as a combined case.
John Graham and Richard Marshall were set to stand trial last week in Rapid City on charges they committed or aided and abetted the murder of Annie Mae Aquash (AH’-kwash).
But the judge delayed it until the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on whether 1 of the counts against Graham should have been dismissed.
U.S. Attorney Marty Jackley appealed the dismissal of that charge that is similar to a count that was thrown out from an earlier indictment, which he also appealed.
Instead of handling both appeals separately, the 8th Circuit filed an order Tuesday granting a request to consolidate them.
Photo taken in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territory, May 6, 2009
Week away, Aquash trial stalled by appeal
Federal jurisdiction: Graham’s tribal affiliation question may send his trial to state court.
By Heidi Bell Gease, Rapid City Journal staff | Wednesday, May 06, 2009
A trial into the death of Annie Mae Aquash more than 33 years ago was delayed indefinitely Tuesday, a week before its scheduled start.
John Graham and Richard “Dickie” Marshall were to go on trial May 12 in Rapid City for the December 1975 slaying of Aquash, whose body was found on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in February 1976.
But U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol delayed the trial until a higher court rules on an appeal over his dismissal of one of three counts in the indictment against Graham.
Prosecutors and Marshall’s attorney had filed a joint motion requesting a 60-day continuance, but Piersol said he would not set a new trial date until after a ruling from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Last week, Piersol dismissed an aiding and abetting charge against Graham because neither he nor Aquash belong to a federally recognized tribe, which is required for the federal government to have jurisdiction in the case. Graham and Aquash are from Canadian tribes. U.S. Attorney Marty Jackley is appealing the dismissal.
Days before Graham was to stand trial last October for Aquash’s murder, Piersol dismissed the indictment against him for the same reason. Graham was then re-indicted along with Marshall.
Graham’s attorney, John Murphy, said Tuesday his client was “ready, willing and able” to go to trial May 12 on the remaining two counts of the indictment. But Jackley said that could create problems of double jeopardy if Graham were acquitted of two counts, then later tried on the third count, which is based on the same underlying offense.
It’s possible that Graham could end up being charged in state court instead. The state has jurisdiction over crimes on reservations that do not involve Native Americans.
Graham and Arlo Looking Cloud were first indicted for murder in 2003. Looking Cloud, who is Lakota, was convicted in 2004 for his role in Aquash’s death and sentenced to life in prison. He is now a government witness. Graham fought extradition from Canada and was not brought back to South Dakota until last year.
Marshall, a Lakota from Pine Ridge, was indicted last August. Hanna said he may renew his request that Marshall be tried separately if the appeals court does not rule on the matter within 60 days.
Prosecutors believe Marshall gave a .32-caliber revolver and shells to Graham, Looking Cloud and Theda Clarke when they stopped at Marshall’s home with Aquash hours before she was shot because American Indian Movement leaders believed she was a government informant.
Clarke, who lives in a Nebraska nursing home, has not been charged. Her attorney has filed a motion asking that Piersol quash a subpoena calling her to testify, on grounds that she is incompetent due to various medical ailments including dementia.
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John Graham’s lawyer asks for trial to proceed on May 12
A judge has called for a hearing on Tuesday, May 5, on whether to split John Graham and Richard Marshall’s trials, but Graham’s lawyer is asking for his client’s trial to proceed on May 12 either way. Graham’s lawyer has also asked for counts one and two against Graham to be severed from count three, which the same judge earlier dismissed. The government has appealed the dismissal.
“Considering the likelihood that the charges against Graham in Counts I and II of the Superseding Indictment will need to be dismissed at trial, counsel should be prepared on next Tuesday afternoon to argue whether or not the decision to deny a severance of the trials should be revisited, with the trial of Richard Marshall to proceed first.”
- Judge Lawrence L. Piersol
“We may not know and be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt who actually pulled the trigger.”
- Government Attorney Marty Jackley, arguments to 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on April 15, 2009
Graham’s lawyer:
Free John Graham publication
Click on graphic to open PDF file for viewing and printing
