LEONARD PELTIER APPEAL HEARING ON FEB. 13, 2006

LEONARD PELTIER APPEAL HEARING SCHEDULED ON FEB 13, 2006 at ST. LOUIS MISSOURI TO ADDRESS LAKOTA NATION SOVEREIGNTY

Leonard Peltier Defense Committee For Immediate Release
Feb. 8, 2006

Peltier appeals to correct illegal sentence.

On February 13, in St. Louis, Missouri, attorney Barry Bachrach will argue before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that American Indian activist Leonard Peltier has been illegally imprisoned for over 30 years.

On June 26, 1975, two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation were killed on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Mr. Peltier was charged in a two-count federal indictment. He was tried and convicted on both counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

In 2005, Peltier filed a Motion to Correct an Illegal Sentence. The Motion was denied by the United States District Court in Fargo, North Dakota. "The federal jurisdiction conferred by the statutes under which my client was convicted and sentenced depended on the location of the alleged crime, not against whom the crime was allegedly committed," lead counsel Bachrach explains. The statutes required that the acts in question take place "within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States." Because the acts occurred on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which Bachrach argues is neither "within the special maritime [or] territorial jurisdiction of the United States," Mr. Peltier claims he was convicted and sentenced for crimes over which the U.S. District Court had no jurisdiction.

Peltier is calling on the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure in effect at the time of his sentencing – specifically, Rule 35(a) – that provided that the Court could correct an illegal sentence at any time.

"This rule applies to any offense committed before November 1, 1997," Bachrach said.

"The appellate courts have recognized the undisputed misconduct in Peltier's case – fabricated and suppressed evidence, as well as coerced testimony – yet have refused to take corrective action for over three decades. This is clearly an abuse of the legal standards of American justice. It is our belief that this appeal should ultimately lead to Mr. Peltier’s release."

Designated as a political prisoner by Amnesty International, which has called for his immediate and unconditional release, Peltier is imprisoned at the U.S. penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

The hearing will be held on Feb 13, 2006 at 9 am CSTThomas F. Eagleton CourthouseSoutheast Courtroom 27th Floor111 S. 10th StreetSt Louis, Missouri

For more information please contact:
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
Telephone: 915 - 533-6655
E-mail: info@leonardpeltier.org

Barry Bachrach, Attorney
Telephone: 508-926-3403
E-mail: bbachrach@bowditch.com