Story by Frank Larue
‘’I fear that John will not receive a fair trial in the US any more than I did. I must remind you, it is court record that the FBI lied to extradite me back to the US.’’ – Leonard Peltier
The fate of John Graham accused of the murder of Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash was in the hands of B.C. Court of Appeal until July 26 when Graham’s extradition to North Dakota to face trial for murder was approved. Considering the fashion Leonard Pelletier’s trial was conducted, Graham can look forward to a kangaroo court that will put him in jail the rest of his life.
John Graham is a member of -AIM- (American Indian Movement), which has been at war with the FBI for more than forty years. The Bureau will never forget nor forgive the death of their two agents in a shootout in Pine Ridge South Dakota in1975 for which Leonard Peltier is now serving a life sentence. Since the tragic showdown the FBI have done everything in it’s power to bring AIM to it’s knees.
The great American lawmen have made a mockery of the word justice in their pursuit to suppress the movement. A prime example, the extradition of Leonard Peltier from Canada was done with the pressured testimony of Mytle Poorbear who had severe mental problems. The testimony was never questioned by Canada’s judicial system and Leonard Peltier was dispatched south. Under Canadian law, U.S government authorities can request extradition using flimsy or hearsay evidence before Canadian courts. A Canadian judge need simply believe that arguments presented by U.S. authorities provide a ‘reasonable expectation’ of conviction of the accused.
The evidence against John Graham is provided by Arlo Looking Cloud a homeless alcoholic for the last twenty years who was convicted in 2004 for his role in Anna May’s murder. Arlo’s video recorded testimony states that John Graham was the one who pulled the trigger. Later, Arlo told Lakota human rights representative David Seals. ‘’It was a set-up. I was drunk, they were giving me drugs and alcohol.’’ The tape itself according to Seals ‘’Was almost incoherent, and the police were asking a lot of leading questions.’’
The BC Court of Appeal considering the FBI’s tainted past should have given the video to the RCMP to verify it’s authenticity. This of course was never done because Canadian judges can’t bend over quick enough when US authorities are involved. The reason the FBI want Graham convicted so badly, to cover their own tracks, because it is one of their own agents who killed Anna Mae.
FBI agent David Price arrested Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash after the two FBI agents were killed at Pine Ridge and before Leonard Peltier was extradited. Price warned Anna Mae that if she didn’t cooperate ‘’ You won’t live out the year.’’ His warning was prophetic, Anna Mae died that year. It was Price who extracted the false confession from Myrtle Poor Bear, his method to convince Myrtle she should co-operate was showing her pictures of Anna Mae’s body, the consequences if she didn’t cooperate. In Myrtle’s own words ‘’ He showed me pictures of the body and said that if I don’t cooperate this is what may happen to me.’’
John Graham is the fall guy while the FBI can claim yet one more victory, another AIM’ member out of the way. Thanks to the BC Court of Appeal, Canada is guilty one more time of complicity, this time a judge not a politician. In 1992 fifty five Canadian MP’s filed a brief to a U.S. court affirming that Canada had been duped in the Peltier extradition. The trial will only compound the fact that any native resistance against the U.S will be crushed and justice will be trampled on by the same people who are in charge of administering it. Leonard Peltier in a letter of support said
‘’When we talk of sovereignty, we must be willing to solve our own problems and not go running to the oppressor for relief… We have been and still are at odds with the most dangerous, well-funded, strongest military and political organization in the history of the world. The U.S government.’’
