LEONARD PELTIER DEFENSE COMMITTEE: UNTIL FREEDOM IS WON THE NEW CAMPAIGN FOR TRUTH AND JUSTICE
OCTOBER 12, 2001 ANNOUNCEMENT
PART I - LPDC RESTRUCTURED
Dear Friends,
We are writing with some positive news about the case of Leonard Peltier. As you know, the LPDC has been in a research and restructure phase since late January when former President Clinton failed to grant clemency. Although the clemency outcome was devastating, we did not want to overlook the tremendous outpouring of support that had united to push for Leonard Peltier's freedom. We were convinced that by taking advantage of this support we could build the LPDC and its network into a much stronger, more active and effective organization with the ability to wage a relentless campaign until Leonard Peltier is freed. W e would like to report what we have accomplished and ask you to renew your support and level of activity. There are many encouraging developments to announce.
During the past months, the LPDC has been in a huddle, working to expand our staff, engaging in strategy sessions, and researching legal avenues. Prior to our restructuring process, the LPDC's core group was made up of five people, all of whom juggled several responsibilities and worked very long hours, mostly on a volunteer basis. Once the vigorous clemency effort ended, the threat of complete staff burn out loomed. Therefore, an important part of our restructuring efforts have included expanding our staff and dividing LPDC responsibilities among more people. Not only will this prevent current staff from burning out, but it will allow us to accomplish more with better precision. We have now created a board of directors, a lobbying team and an organizing team. We have expanded our speakers bureau and our advisory board to include more key people with important knowledge to share. Plus, we have brought in a new full-time coordinator, as well as two new attorneys. We believe that these changes will make the LPDC a much more sustainable, functional, and forceful organization.
We think you will be pleased to acquaint yourself with the many talented people now making up the LPDC. Joining us are tribal leaders, experienced organizers, professors, lawyers, survivors of the Pine Ridge "reign of terror," people of faith, and Indigenous activists. To see our new staff listing with introductions of each person, please click here: www.freepeltier.org/lpdc_info.htm#staff_listing
We would especially like to tell you about our new full-time coordinator, Debra Peebles. Debra will be playing a very important role in the LPDC and has both the skills and the commitment to do an excellent job. Debra has filled the position of Communications Coordinator, and she will be in charge of media work, authoring literature, writing and dispersing urgent actions and updates, developing strategy and action plans, working with the legal team, coalition building, circulating information among LPDC staff, and monitoring Leonard's case and health status.
Debra is Red Lake Chippewa and has advocated for Native prisoners rights throughout prisons in the Midwest since the early 1990's. Through this work, she met Leonard Peltier. She has worked professionally as a media specialist, a journalist, and has taught Creative Writing in high schools. She hosted and produced a weekly radio show called "Native American Spirit" on KKFI in Kansas City from 1995 until recently. She also sat on the mayor' s 1996 "Task Force for Race Relations" in Kansas City. She has been trained in public speaking, mediation, diversity, management, grant writing, and fundraising. She has spoken at several LPDC events including our national organizing conference (Panel on Prison Issues, June 1999) and Leonard Peltier Freedom Month (Women for Justice, November 1999). We believe Debra will bring the LPDC to new heights of effectiveness and respect.
We want to thank you for your patience and understanding over the past few months, as we quietly rebuilt the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee. We know that many of you were deeply affected, as we were, when clemency was not granted. We also know that many of you had sacrificed hours of precious time and money to support the campaign, and that it has taken some time to recover. We hope you too are rejuvenated and will enter with us into the next phase of the struggle.
Leonard turned 57 years old on September 12 and he has spent almost 26 years in prison unjustly. Although his spirit is unbroken, he is tired and needs to come home. Your continued support is needed and appreciated.
In Solidarity,
LPDCPART II - NEW STRATEGIES ON THE LEGAL FRONT
Aside from restructuring, we have also been actively strategizing and planning for the next major push to gain Leonard Peltier's release. A number of very important cases will be filed this year, and we must be tightly organized and ready to launch a monumental support campaign.
First, we have found a highly experienced attorney to file a civil rights case against certain FBI officials and U.S. Prosecutors. We all watched as the FBI made largely inflammatory, false, and exaggerated statements to government officials and the public in order to obstruct both clemency and parole in recent years. We believe this conduct violated Leonard's right to due process, and greatly compromised fair clemency and parole reviews. The case will be important because: 1. If won, it will bar the FBI and prosecutors from continuing their campaigns of disinformation, 2. We may uncover new evidence during the discovery phase and, 3. It will publicly and legitimately raise questions as to the truth of the FBI's claims and the propriety of Leonard Peltier's conviction.
Second, we plan to file a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in an attempt to gain the more than 6,000 FBI documents still being withheld. Michael Kuzma, a talented lawyer out of Buffalo, New York and Attorney Bruce Ellison have been working on the FOIA at the agency level for the past few months and soon, the appeals will be filed and we will be ready to go to court. John Privatera, the lawyer who won the FOIA case that released the first 12,000 FBI documents is an advisor for the new case and will help to bring in additional FOIA experts once it goes to court.
Third, Attorney Eric Seitz, who represented Leonard during his last appeal, will be filing a motion seeking to reduce Leonard's life sentences from consecutive to concurrent, arguing that the judge who presided over the trial was misled by unreliable evidence that Leonard had fired the fatal shots. Because of procedural obstacles and other issues, the case will be quite challenging to win. However, if the case is won and Leonard's life sentences are run concurrently, he will have served enough time to be released.
Fourth, we will be attempting to gain a ruling on the pending habeas corpus which appeals Leonard's denial of parole, by filing two items: a motion for a status conference with the judge and a supplement based on a letter written by US Prosecutor Lynn Crooks which was withheld by the parole commission and which was wrought with disinformation. The judge in this case could either order the Parole Commission to release Leonard Peltier, order the Parole Commission to hold another full hearing by which to reconsider its denial, or he could deny the petition altogether. The case has been pending since June of 1999 and it is our hope that by filing the above motions, it will move the case forward.
We understand how difficult it can be to have faith in the courts after they have already denied justice so blatantly in the past. However, we must remember that the case of Leonard Peltier is a political one, representing both an embarrassment and a source of vengeance for the FBI. Therefore, any avenue we take to try and gain Leonard Peltier's release will be tainted by what the case represents. And as always, the hope lies not in the courts or Congress, but in the people's willingness to work and organize to ensure that this injustice does not continue.
The next step for us to take will be to: 1. Raise the funds needed to support the renewed legal efforts and the LPDC's continued operation and 2. Outline a plan of action that will support the legal cases mentioned above. As we have mentioned before, the best way to support any legal effort is to win support in the court of public opinion. Much of our efforts will revolve around media outreach, grass roots outreach, and well coordinated national/international events. Your continued support will be vital to all of these efforts. Please stay tuned for further announcements, requests for support, and action plans. Thank you.
Until Freedom Is Won!
The New Peltier Justice Campaign
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
PO Box 583
Lawrence, KS 66044
785-842-5774
www.freepeltier.org
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