Iowa Almanac
Iowa Almanac -- Tuesday, July 16, 2024
A not guilty verdict. More from the Iowa Almanac in a moment. Eat up the summer with an Iowa Soybean Association Farmer membership powered by the Soybean Checkup. Excess timely industry info engage in on-farm research and join producer programs all designed to support your operations' unique needs. Activate or confirm your membership before August 31st and be entered to win one of many unique prizes, including a solo stove. Visit isoybeans.com today to learn more. The Iowa Soybean Association driven to deliver for Iowa's nearly 37,000 soybean farmers. The American Indian Movement, or AIM, was founded in 1968 to address concerns regarding Native American sovereignty, treaty issues, and leadership, while also addressing incidents of racism and police harassment. While much violence occurred during the 1970s in South Dakota, it was a federal courtroom in Cedar Rapids that served as the stage for one of the more remarkable events of the time. Leonard Peltier, Dorel Butler, and Robert Robido were charged with the murders of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1975. How the interaction with the agents started and who shot first was in dispute. What was not in dispute was that more than 100 shots were fired and that the agents were killed execution style, each shot in the head while they lay on the ground. Peltier fled to Canada, leaving Butler and Robido to stand trial in federal court. Given the racial strife at the time, the trial was moved from South Dakota to Cedar Rapids. The two men admitted they were present at the shootout and had exchanged fire with the agents, but said they were defending their women and children from a pattern of federal abuse, which explained their behavior. They denied firing the fatal shots, however. The flamboyant defense attorney William Kunsler represented the pair, demonstrating a pattern of FBI misconduct in other prosecutions of AIM members, as well as tension between AIM and the FBI, with Indians fearing an all-out attack on them by the federal government. The jury deliberated for five days and said they were hopelessly deadlocked. Judge Edward McManus ordered the jury to continue its work, and on July 16, 1976, they delivered a not-guilty verdict, saying the atmosphere of fear and violence on the reservation led to the defendant's feeling they were acting in self-defense. Peltier was later returned to the U.S. and convicted, with many still working to overturn his convictions to this day. But it was a jury in Cedar Rapids that found two American Indian movement members not guilty of murder on this date in 1976. And that's Iowa Almanac for July 16. There's more online at IowaAlmanac.com. Until tomorrow, I'm Jeff Stein.