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with where someone's hands were cut off for identification? A. None that I recall. Q. When you send in fingerprints with the FBI back in 1975, a person has to look at the fingerprints and compare them with other fingerprints to see if they are the same, isn't that correct? A. Would you mind restating that question? Q. I would be happy to. When you sent in fingerprints back in 1975, with the technology that was available in 1975, you had to know of a set of fingerprints that they could be compared to to see if they were a person's fingerprints, did you not? MR. MANDEL: I object to this as beyond the scope and not within this witness's expertise. THE COURT: Sustained. BY MR. RENSCH: Q. When these hands were sent in to determine the identification, do you know if any information was forwarded along that they might be Ms. Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash's hands? A. Well, I did not prepare a communication, but in my own mind I am certain there was no information like that sent in. Q. Incidentally, were you involved in taking a metal detector out to the scene to try to see if there were any bullets or anything like that? A. No, sir. JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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THE COURT: Redirect. MR. MANDEL: No, Your Honor. THE COURT: Thank you, Mr. Dealing, you may step down. Call your next witness. MR. MANDEL: United States would call John Munis, Your Honor. JOHN MUNIS, called as a witness, being first duly sworn, testified and said as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. MANDEL: Q. Sir, could you state your name, please? A. John Munis. THE COURT: How do you spell it? A. M-U-N-I-S. THE COURT: Thank you. BY MR. MANDEL: Q. What's your current occupation? A. I am retired. Q. What are you retired from, sir? A. From the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Q. Were you a Special Agent with the bureau? A. Yes, I was. JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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A. From 1968 to 1996. Q. As part of your duties were you at any time assigned to work out of the Rapid City resident agency? A. Yes, from 1975 until 1978. Q. As part of your duties during that time period, sir, did you become involved in the investigation of the death of an individual later determined to be Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash? A. I did. Q. Can you tell us, sir, how you first became involved in that? A. February 25 of 1976 I was on the reservation. I was at the Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement office and was notified that an autopsy was being conducted at the Pine Ridge hospital. I conferred with the resident agency in Rapid City, South Dakota of the FBI, and was instructed to go over to the autopsy and retrieve any items of evidence that may be available. Q. Did you do so then? A. I did. I went to the autopsy momentarily. I met there with a Dr. Brown who was doing the pathology, and also with Nate Merrick, a criminal investigator for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Q. Can you tell us what took place then at that autopsy? A. I was only in the autopsy a very short time. After JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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back and made a call to Rapid City and also to the FBI laboratory in Washington, D.C. conferring with these people concerning the condition of the body, and what the best method would be to obtain fingerprints from the deceased. Q. As you observed it, sir, what was the condition of the body? A. It was in a very decomposed state. Q. Particularly what did you observe regarding the hands, sir? A. The hands were in a shriveled manner so that the fingers were more or less closed. Q. After conferring with the lab, did they give you an indication of what course of action you needed to take to obtain fingerprints? A. They did. They said to request from the pathologist that the hands be removed and submitted to the lab so that they could do an analysis and attempt to get fingerprints. Q. Did the pathologist then remove the hands? A. He did. Q. Did you ultimately end up with custody of those hands? A. I did. I took, custody of the hands went from the pathologist to the criminal investigator, Mr. Merrick, and from Mr. Merrick to me, and I took them back to Rapid City the following day and they were submitted to the FBI laboratory. JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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were they treated in any particular way? A. Yes, I was instructed to put each hand in an individual container and add a ten percent formaldehyde solution. Q. How did you obtain that solution, if you recall? A. Pardon? Q. How did you obtain the solution? A. I don't have specific recollection. I believe I got it from one of the hospitals in Rapid City, but I don't recall specifically where I got it. Q. In any case, then you packed the hands in that and transmitted them to the laboratory? A. That is correct. Q. Sir, did you have any other involvement in the investigation of this case? A. No, I did not. MR. MANDEL: Thank you very much. THE COURT: Cross examine. CROSS EXAMINATION BY MR. RENSCH: Q. Who was responsible for the clothing that was on Ms. Pictou-Aquash? A. Who was responsible for the killing? Q. The clothing? A. Oh, for the clothing. The clothing was also removed, and I received the clothing and hair samples at the same time JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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Q. What clothing did you take into custody as evidence? A. There was a dress, a pair of moccasins, a bra, a pair of underpants, I believe that was all. MR. RENSCH: Nothing further, thank you. THE COURT: Any redirect? MR. MANDEL: Yes, Your Honor. REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. MANDEL: Q. Agent Munis, I have handed you an FBI report, I am going to ask you if you recognize that document? A. I do. Q. Is that a report that you prepared? A. Yes, it is. Q. Is that the transmittal report that went with the clothing you sent in to the FBI laboratory? A. Yes, it is. Q. Does viewing that refresh your recollection as to what was sent in on that date? A. This does refresh my recollection, yes. Q. Can you tell us what was sent in then, sir? A. A jacket, blouse, blue jeans, pair of shoes, pair of socks, panties, hair, and it doesn't mention the hands. Q. The hands would have been a separate transmittal? A. Yes. MR. MANDEL: No further questions. Your Honor. JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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Q. Agent, I am going to hand you another report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation dated March 1st of 1976 and ask you to look at the paragraph concerning the clothing that was taken from Ms. Pictou-Aquash. Tell us what, if that refreshes your recollection about the clothing that was taken? A. This is a document that you provided to me referred to as an FB302, and this is my notes concerning the items that I obtained at the time that the autopsy was being conducted. And on my notes I listed that there was one pair of hands removed from the body of an unidentified female Indian during the autopsy that was being performed by Dr. Brown. There was clothing that had been removed from the deceased which consisted of one pair of Indian moccasins, bra, panties, overalls, shirt, overcoat and also hair samples. MR. RENSCH: Nothing further. MR. MANDEL: Nothing further. THE COURT: You may step down. Call your next witness. MR. McMAHON: Dr. Garry Peterson. DR. GARRY PETERSON, called as a witness, being first duly sworn, testified and said as follows: JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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Q. Would you state your name, please? A. Garry, G-A-R-R-Y, Peterson, P-E-T-E-R-S-0-N. Q. Where do you live, Mr. Peterson? A. I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Q. Your occupation is what? A. I am a physician, I am a doctor of medicine. Q. Dr. Peterson, do you have a particular specialty? A. I am a pathologist, and within that specialty I practice forensic pathology. Q. Could you just give us a brief description of what forensic pathology is? A. I can. Pathology, the larger field, is one of the medical specialties, and it has basically two subcategories; anatomic pathology and clinical pathology. Anatomic pathology deals with the study of disease, that's really what the word means, from actual anatomic inspection. So it involves areas such as performing autopsies, looking at surgical specimens under a microscope, those sorts of things where there is an actual anatomic either naked eye or microscopic examination for the most part. Clinical pathology is the laboratory area, and clinical pathologists usually head a hospital laboratory and serve as consultant to hospital physicians in ordering and interpretation of tests. Forensic pathology is a special area in pathology. The word forensic comes from the Latin word JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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because forensic pathologists are often involved in clarifying medical or scientific questions that come up in the courtroom. Most pathologists work in a coroner's office or medical examiner's office and investigate sudden or unexpected death. Q. Would you give the jury a brief review of your medical education? A. I grew up in Minneapolis and went to Minneapolis public schools, and went to college at Hamlin University in St. Paul and University of Minnesota. After college I went to medical school at the University of Minnesota Medical School from 1965 to 1969. Following that I had a year as a rotating intern at St. Paul Ramsey Hospital, now called Regents Hospital, but it is the city-county hospital in St. Paul. Then I took three years of my five year pathology training at that hospital in clinical and anatomic pathology. The fourth year I took a year of forensic pathology at the Hennepin County medical examiners office in Minneapolis. That's the office that covers Minneapolis and the surrounding suburban areas. Then following that I had one more year of clinical and anatomic pathology at Hennepin County Medical Center, that's the city county medical center in Minneapolis. So I finished that training in 1975 and went in to practice in pathology in St. Paul. And for the first four years I was in practice I went to night law school at William Mitchell College of Law in JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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taking formal college courses. Q. Are you board certified? A. I am board certified in clinical, anatomic, and forensic pathology, all three areas. Q. Do you currently work? A. I am the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, chief medical examiner of the county, and I am finishing what will be my fifth term, my fifth four year term. At the moment I am on leave without pay, but I still am the medical examiner and still administer the office, but in a budget solving movement I forwent my pay. So I am working, but not working full time as I was a few months ago. Q. What is the medical examiner? A. The medical examiner heads the office that is the successor to the coroner's office, Hennepin County once had a coroner's office. The office is charged with two major types of death investigations. Non-natural deaths, the accidents, suicides and homicides that take place in a community. And then the sudden unexpected deaths, or deaths where there is not a doctor in attendance who might be in a position to sign a death certificate. Just by way of example, in Hennepin County we have something in the range of 32 or 33 hundred cases reported to us. So investigating those cases, working with and supervising a team of doctors who work in the office JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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become. Q. Is one of the things that you do is to conduct autopsies? A. Yes, it is. Q. I am going to refer you back to 1976. Were you contacted to come to South Dakota to observe an autopsy? A. I was, yes. Q. Would you explain how that contact took place? A. There is an attorney in St. Paul by the name of Kenneth Tilsen, and I had been involved in a case with him, I don't remember the specifics of it, and I suppose he knew me from that. But he called at one point and said would you be available to go to South Dakota and basically serve as an observer, there is going to be a second autopsy performed in a very significant or important case, and there would be an interest in having somebody just be there to observe and be able to comment on things. And I thought to myself it would be a very worthwhile thing to do. I was just done with my training and I thought, I didn't know who would be doing the second autopsy, but I assumed it would be someone, maybe someone even I knew, because it is a fairly small specialty nationally, a chance to observe and see how someone else did it, and to keep my eyes open and mouth shut was the way I was approaching it. JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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A. I did. I got a call I think on March 10th of that year from Mr. Tilsen who said can you be on an airplane, it was just a matter of hours I had to get ready. So I got I guess some coverage at the hospital where I was working at the time, and came out here that evening. Q. Did you go to the Pine Ridge hospital? A. I did the following morning, yes, and went down to the hospital there. Q. Instead of observing did you end up conducting the autopsy? A. I did. I kept asking who was going to be arriving to do it, and after a short time I guess you are it, so I was the one who did it. I came expecting to observe, I ended up being the person doing the case. Q. Tell me, that would have been on March 11, is that correct? A. That's right. Q. 1976? A. Yes. Q. What did you find on your initial exam of the body? A. The body was fairly poorly preserved, there was a great deal of powdered preservative that was on the body. The deterioration was fairly substantial, and as I examined the body I asked to have some X-rays taken. In examining the body JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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Q. What portion of the head? A. Excuse me? Q. What portion of the head was this? A. It was showing in the back of the head, and I felt with my fingers on the side of the head, I felt something firm on the left temple area, and about that time the person I had do the X-rays came in and so X-rays were taken at that point. Q. Were there any X-rays available from the first autopsy? A. No, there were none. Q. What did the X-rays reveal? A. The X-rays revealed a metal projectile in the head area where I felt something. (Exhibit 31 & 32 marked For identification.) BY MR. McMAHON: Q. Dr. Peterson, I have handed you Exhibits 31 and 32. Can you identify those, please? A. These appear to be the X-rays that were taken that day, or reproductions of them, and they do show the projectile. MR. McMAHON: I offer Exhibit 31, Your Honor. MR. RENSCH: No objection. THE COURT: Exhibit 31 is received. MR. McMAHON: And 32. JERRY J. MAY. RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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THE COURT: Exhibits 31 and 32 are received. BY MR. McMAHON: Q. Now Doctor, I have Exhibit 31 on the screen. Can you explain what we are looking at there? A. This is a front view of the head, it shows basically the bones of the skull. On the right side of the X-ray, actually it's turned on its side, but would appear to be the right, actually the left side of the individual, is a bright white area, that is a projectile. It is lead, and as a result it doesn't allow X-ray beams to go through it so the film doesn't get exposed there, that's why it is white as opposed to being dark. Q. I have drawn a circle around it, is that what you are talking about? A. That's the item, yes. Q. Was that a bullet? A. Yes, it was. Q. So that would have been located in the front left? A. Right in the left temple area. Q. Now I have put Exhibit 32? A. And that is a side view. There is some jogging of the top of the skull, that's because it had been opened at the first autopsy. In the left temple area is another view, a side view of that same intense white object which is again the JERRY J. MAY. RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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Q. Is that the bullet? A. That's it right there. You have to look carefully, because there is some white there from the bone, but the bullet is there. It gives I think a good depiction of where the bullet lay. Q. Did you remove the bullet? A. Yes, I did. Q. What did do you with the bullet? A. I gave it to an FBI agent, Mr. Wood. (Exhibit 30 marked For identification.) BY MR. McMAHON: Q. Doctor, I have handed you what has been marked Exhibit 30, can you identify that, please? A. That is a picture of the bullet that has the sequential number I used on my cases at that time, and of the scale that I used. So this is the, a photograph of that projectile. Q. Is that a photograph that you took during the autopsy? A. Yes, it is. MR. McMAHON: Offer Exhibit 30, Your Honor. MR. RENSCH: No objection, Your Honor. THE COURT: Exhibit 30 is received. BY MR. McMAHON: JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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