FBI Stubbornly Refuses Cooperation

FBI Data Sought in Bid to Free Indian Activist
By PHIL FAIRBANKS and MARK SOMMER
News Staff Reporters
9/14/2004 



Leonard Peltier's nearly 30-year quest for freedom brought his
defense team to a Buffalo courtroom Monday seeking FBI documents it
believes could lead to a new trial for the nationally known Indian
activist convicted of murder.

Peltier, sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment in the 1975
shooting deaths of two FBI agents in South Dakota, wants a local
judge to order the release of 15 pages of documents, part of a
nationwide effort aimed at proving that he was railroaded by the
FBI.

Long championed as a "political prisoner" by groups such as Amnesty
International, Peltier is a member of the American Indian Movement.
In the eyes of the federal government, he is a brutal killer who
should never go free.

"The FBI is hellbent on blocking the disclosure of this information
and keeping Leonard Peltier in jail for the rest of his natural
life," Michael Kuzma, a Buffalo lawyer and a member of Peltier's
defense team, said in court Monday.

At issue before U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny, who reserved
decision Monday, are 15 pages of documents the FBI has withheld
since 1975 on grounds of national security and protection of
confidential sources.

Peltier was not in court Monday, but his attorney argued that the
FBI is withholding documents in order to cover up its misconduct, an
allegation the government denies.

"The FBI has acted in good faith in the processing of all these
requests," Preeya M. Noronha, a U.S. Justice Department attorney,
told Skretny. "There's no evidence that anything improper was done."

Skretny took issue with Noronha's contention, reminding her that two
federal appeals courts have criticized the FBI's conduct in the
Peltier case. One panel of judges said the government's decision to
withhold and intimidate witnesses should be "condemned."

Peltier, who contends that he was framed by the government, has
spent the last several years seeking FBI documents through the
Freedom of Information Act. Earlier this year, the government
acknowledged that more than 142,000 pages of documents pertaining to
his case were never turned over to his attorneys.

The catalyst for the Buffalo case is a heavily excised 1975 Teletype
message from the Buffalo office of the FBI to then-FBI Director
Clarence M. Kelley.

Kuzma said the Teletype message indicates that a New York informant
was trying to infiltrate Peltier's defense effort. Kelley later
testified that the government used informants against the American
Indian Movement, or AIM.

Peltier's attorneys learned of the Teletype message after a FOIA
request and a subsequent lawsuit against the FBI's Buffalo office
pried loose 797 pages of documents - some partially blacked out -
containing telex messages, articles, letters and other memorandums.

"It appears a Buffalo source was trying to infiltrate the defense
team in 1975," Kuzma said during an interview before the trial. "If
we can show that had a destructive role or impact on the defense or
the attorney-client relationship, it could blow the case open."

The FBI tells a far different story.

Nearly 30 years after FBI Special Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A.
Williams were killed at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South
Dakota, the agency insists that Peltier is guilty.

"I stand behind the review of the (U.S.) Supreme Court that he is a
convicted murderer," said Peter J. Ahearn, special agent in charge
of the FBI's Buffalo office.

Ahearn said he has continued to review material on the case through
the years and has found no reason to believe that Peltier was
innocent.

Among FBI agents, it is a case that evokes great passion. Four years
ago, about 500 active and retired agents held a march outside the
White House to dissuade President Bill Clinton from granting
clemency to Peltier. That view was echoed by then-FBI Director Louis
J. Freeh in a public letter to the president.

Despite the FBI's strong stance against a new trial, Peltier's lead
attorney said the information they seek could have a potentially
explosive impact on the case.

"It would be grounds for a new trial, one which we'd relish because
we know they couldn't prove Leonard did it," said Barry
Bachrach. "It could even be grounds for an outright reversal."

Allan Jamieson, a Cayuga Indian who lives in Buffalo and has tried
to raise public awareness about Peltier, agrees. He sees the case as
a symbol of the injustices committed by the U.S. government against
Native Americans.

He also wonders why information regarding Peltier can still be
considered a matter of national security nearly 30 years later.

"I don't understand how this information can be perceived as a
threat at this point in time," Jamieson said.

Peltier, 60, is serving his two terms of life in prison at
Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas.