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about to meet two people that will change his fate for ever. As he is walking down those steps he doesn't know what is about to occur because no one has ever asked him or said anything was going to happen there, or asked him to come over there for any specific purpose, and as he is walking down those steps he sees an individual he had never met before by the name of John Graham. The evidence in this case will show that John Graham was known also as John Boy Patton and was a friend of Theda Clark's. There was a young woman laying on the couch under a blanket and they don't introduce her to Arlo. Arlo meets John Graham, also known as John Boy, they converse, don't talk really about much, and suddenly this John Graham is talking about a rope, and Theda is talking about a rope, and John Graham takes this young woman off of the couch, has her get up, and ties her hands behind her back. Arlo Looking Cloud doesn't know if they are together, doesn't know what their relationship is, doesn't really know what is going on, but he knows enough not to ask questions and not to talk to them about it. Well, John Boy leads this young woman, who turns out to be Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash, up these steps on this night in December of 1975. Arlo through the years has made statements about this, and you will find in this case that for thirty years approximately Arlo has been, well, not a productive member of society, he's lived on the streets, he has been drunk, he has used drugs, he has abused his body, and JERRY J. MAY, RPR. CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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out, that affect his memory and his ability to recall events and his ability to communicate about events, but that night this 22 year old boy who was there walked up those stairs and yes, he thought something was amiss, and he didn't do anything to stop it. And as they go out into the car this poor lady is put into the back of the car and Arlo drives. And he doesn't make any excuses about driving. But he thought that they were just going to Rapid City. Theda mentioned something about this girl talking too much. Nothing about we are going to take her to Rapid and she is going to be interrogated, nothing about we are going to take her to Rapid and she is going to be killed, nothing about please help us kill this woman in furtherance of the movement. So they drove all night to Rapid City. Arlo drives some of the time, he sleeps some of the time. There isn't much conversation in this car on the way up, and Arlo knows something isn't fitting right here, but he is not asking questions, and Theda and John Boy act as though they know what is going on, act as though they heard something about what might happen, but they don't talk to Arlo about it. They get to Rapid City in the early morning hours and they drive to an apartment that is up by the Mall out by the highway, Knollwood Heights. This apartment is rented by a woman that we find out later is named Thelma Rios. At the time Arlo did not know whose apartment it was, they get in to JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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is either moving in or moving out of the apartment. John Graham sleeps in a room with Ms. Pictou-Aquash, Arlo sleeps on the floor, there is no furniture in there, they sleep for a period of time. Theda Clark, the fifty'ish Indian woman who asked Arlo to drive up there in the first place does not stay in this apartment, and they just sleep there. Arlo wakes up at some point in the day, we don't know just exactly what time of the day, and he takes the car down to put gas in it. And as Arlo is at the gas station he runs in to a person that he knew from living on the reservation by the name of Tony Red Cloud. And this Tony Red Cloud asks Arlo to come over to his house. Arlo goes over to his house, spends some time with him, eats with him, don't know whether they drink or not, but they spend a period of time together. Arlo goes back to the Knollwood Heights apartment, and Theda and John Boy are mad at him because he is gone with the car. As he gets back they say we have to go to the reservation. And everybody gets in the car, they drive down to the reservation, Arlo drives for a period of time, doesn't drive all the way, remembers stopping, remembers sleeping a period of time, remembers switching drivers, ultimately ends up out in front of a house in Rosebud near the hospital. And at this time he is with Anna Mae, he is with Ms. Pictou-Aquash, and John Boy Patton and Theda Clark go in to this house, they don't tell Arlo what they are going JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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point he doesn't remember Ms. Pictou-Aquash saying anything about begging to be let go at that point. I guess the evidence will have to bear itself out on that. But none-the-less there's never been any discussion about anybody killing anybody up to that point in time. Up to this point in time they stopped several places in Rapid City, stopped on the side of the road and places to get gas and things like that. And John Boy and Theda come out of this house and Arlo is thinking, well, maybe I can finally get back to Denver. They come out, they get in this Pinto, they drive toward Kadoka. Arlo doesn't know what they are driving toward Kadoka for. He is wanting to go back to Denver, he is not driving the car, Theda is driving the car. John Boy is there, and they act as though they know what is going to happen, but nobody talks about it. The car pulls on that lonely highway going north toward Kadoka, straight up on the map to Kadoka, and Theda Clark pulls a U-turn and goes back and forth several times and stops on the side of the road. As she stops on the side of the road there is no conversation about what is going to occur. As she stops on the side of the road John Boy Patton gets out of that car, John Boy Patton who is bigger than Arlo, John Boy Patton tells Ms. Pictou-Aquash to get out of the car and begins leading her off in to the ditch. At this point it is either John Boy or Theda say to Arlo come on, get out here. JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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happen, he starts to walk up there, he doesn't march her up to the side of the cliff, he doesn't grab her arm. He doesn't help take her to the cliff. He is following along not knowing what is going to happen, and he is thinking they are going to let her go way out here. Then he hears her start to pray, and in his mind he starts to think we are going to pray. Bam, at that point John Boy Patton pulls out a gun and shoots this woman in the back of the head. Arlo reels from it, Arlo did not know that was going to happen. Arlo has never met this man before. She falls over this cliff, the white shale cliff of the Bad Lands, she falls 25 feet down into the bottom of this ravine. The photo you see here was taken years later, but in the pictures you see in the evidence in this case it is white shale, it is clear, free of vegetation. And Arlo standing there on this edge of this ravine, and John Boy Patton turns around and he looks at him and he has a gun, and what does this young 22 year old man think of? What does he do? He doesn't know what is about to happen. He says to Graham give me the gun. Graham reaches out, hands him the gun. And Arlo fires the gun over the ravine until the gun is empty, and he did it because he was afraid this man who just put a bullet in this woman's head would do the same to him. And he hands the gun back to him, relieved that the gun is empty. As he hands the gun back, they walk back to the JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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Denver. They stop at a bridge and John Boy Patton, John Graham wants to bury the pistol. Arlo wants to help bury the pistol, because if John Graham doesn't have a pistol, then no one else will get shot. They go down below the bridge and Arlo helps dig that hole and they bury that pistol, and they drive to Denver. When they get to Denver Arlo Looking Cloud falls off the face of the earth as it relates to the American Indian Movement. When they get to Denver he stays away from the American Indian Movement. While he lived close to Troy Lynn, and we will see her, and she is a friend of his and had been a friend of his prior to that time, and while he may see Theda from time to time because they live in the same town, he stays away from the American Indian Movement. You will hear evidence in this case that on the other hand, Mr. Graham, John Boy Patton had a meteoric rise in the American Indian Movement, and you will hear evidence in this case he was sun dancing with the National AIM president, and you will hear evidence in this case that he actually, well, he stayed with the Movement. The story doesn't end there. The story doesn't end there. The story also picks up in 1994. In 1994 when Arlo Looking Cloud sits down with the FBI, sits down with the BIA, sits down with a lawyer, and tells them what happened, and at the end of this long interview when Arlo Looking Cloud told the authorities how John Graham executed Anna Mae, Arlo JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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street person. You will hear evidence again that the following year, the following year in the summer of 1995 this man, Arlo, five foot six and a hundred fifty pounds is approached again by the authorities, and they asked to take him out to the scene near Kadoka and to the various places that he traveled in this ever changing day of fate, and this crossroads of his life, this December, 1975 that changed his existence for ever. And what does Arlo Looking Cloud do, he goes with them and he explains to them just exactly how John Graham executed this woman that Arlo had never met before. At the close of this case I will be asking you to decide the main issue in this case. Which is whether or not the government can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Arlo Looking Cloud aided and abetted a murder and had the intent for somebody to die. I will ask you, too, to look at his words and understand that a young man who was merely present at something so horrible as a murder is not responsible in the way the shooter is. Thank you. THE COURT: Call your first witness. MR. McMAHON: Call Roger Amiotte. ROGER AMIOTTE, 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. Roger, would you tell the jury your name, please? A. Roger Amiotte. Q. You can sit back a ways from that mic. Where do you live, Roger? A. I live eighteen miles south of Kadoka, or ten miles east of Wanblee. Q. What is your occupation? A. Pardon? Q. What do you do for a living? A. I am a rancher. Q. How long have you ranched? A. Since I was seventeen. Q. Did you ranch in that area during February of 1976? A. Yes, I did. Q. During the February of 1976, did you have an occasion to discover a body on your land? A. Yes, I did. Q. Would you tell the jury how that happened? A. Oh, I was getting livestock out on the highway which adjoined my pasture, and I was checking fences, and with a plan of extending a fence in to a Bad Land wall. When I rounded the curve, rounded the curve in a draw or a gully, and discovered a body. 25 JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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A. Yes, it was. Q. What did you do when you discovered the body? A. I immediately returned to my house, which is a mile away, and called the Tribal police. Q. Then did they come to your house? A. Yes, they did. Q. Did you take them out to where the body was? A. Yes, I did. MR. McMAHON: Your Honor, do you want me to ask permission to approach each time? THE COURT: No, you can approach. (Exhibit 4 marked For identification.) BY MR. McMAHON:. Q. Mr. Amiotte, I hand you what's been marked Exhibit 4, Can you tell me what that is? A. That would be the body that I discovered. Q. Is that a picture of the body as you actually saw it there that day when you first found it? A. Yes, it is. As near as I can tell that would be. MR. McMAHON: Offer Exhibit 4, Your Honor. MR. RENSCH: No objection. THE COURT: Exhibit 4 is received. 25 JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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MR. McMAHON: May I put this on the screen, Your Honor? THE COURT: You may. BY MR. McMAHON: Q. Mr. Amiotte, can you see the picture on the computer next to you? A. Yes, I can. Q. Is that the same picture you just identified as Exhibit 4? A. Yes, it is. Q. Last year did you have an occasion to show Mr. Bob Ecoffey where that body was located when you found it? A. Yes, I did. (Exhibit 8 marked For identification.) BY MR. McMAHON: Q. I am going to hand you Exhibit 8. Is that a picture that shows part of the land that you ranch? A. Yes, it does. Q. Does it also show where the body was located? A. Yes, it is accurate. Q. Did you in fact take Mr. Ecoffey out there to show him where the body had been located? A. Yes, I did. JERRY J. MAY, RPR. CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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Q. And you see a little white area in that photograph? A. Yes, sir. Q. Is that where the body was located? A. Yes, it is. Q. Let me ask you, Mr. Amiotte, is that land within the confines of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation? A. Yes, it is. Q. Is it land that is held in trust? A. Yes. Q. One more thing. In that picture I think if you look at the back of it, it was taken in August of 2003? A. Yes, sir. Q. Does that picture accurately depict the land as it looked back in 1975? A. Well, not exactly, because owing to erosion, natural erosion will, the cliff or the bank at the bottom where she was laying is now, or is now less vertical than it was at that time. Q. So that cliff isn't quite as steep now? A. Pardon? Q. The cliff isn't quite as steep now as it was? A. No, it isn't, it is more of a gradual. Q. Other than that, is it a pretty accurate depiction of what the land looked like in 1975? A. Yes, it is. JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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is hard to see, but it looks like there is a fence along there. Let me just ask you, was there any fence located between the highway and that cliff where you found the body in 1975? A. No, there wasn't. This is basically, it was unfenced for probably a stretch of a half to three quarter mile. MR. McMAHON: Offer Exhibit 8, Your Honor. MR. RENSCH: No objection. THE COURT: Exhibit 8 is received. MR. McMAHON: May I publish that, Your Honor? THE COURT: You may. BY MR. McMAHON: Q. Mr. Amiotte, would you draw a circle around the white area where the body was located. Just put your finger on the screen and draw a little circle around it. A. (Witness marks exhibit). Q. The fence that I was talking about, is this the fence that is there now that runs right along there? A. Yes, it is. Q. That wasn't there back in '75? A. No, that was entirely open to the highway at that time. (Exhibit 6 marked For identification.) JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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Q. Mr. Amiotte, I am going to hand you what's been marked Exhibit 6. I would like you to take a look at that and tell us if you recognize that? A. Yes, I do. Q. What is it? A. It is a picture of the body that I discovered, and it appears to be a picture of myself setting at the top of this. Q. Was that taken back when you first discovered the body? A. Yes, I am sure it was. MR. McMAHON: Offer Exhibit 6, Your Honor. MR. RENSCH: No objection. THE COURT: Exhibit 6 is received. MR. McMAHON: May I publish this? THE COURT: You may. BY MR. McMAHON: Q. Should be on your computer screen now, Mr. Amiotte. Is that the picture that you just identified as Exhibit 6? A. Yes, it is. Q. How far is that from the top to the bottom of that cliff approximately? A. Approximately thirty foot. MR. McMAHON: Thank you, I have no further questions, Your Honor. THE COURT: Cross examine. JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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CROSS EXAMINATION BY MR. RENSCH: Q. Afternoon, sir. A. Good afternoon. Q. How far is it from the edge of the road to the tip of the cliff? A. Approximately a hundred foot. Q. Do you call it a cliff, or do you call it a ravine, what do you refer to it as? A. Well, actually it was a natural barrier for livestock at that time. The east side of it was pretty much a cliff situation. Q. How close did you get to the body, sir? A. Somewhere between thirty and fifteen feet. Q. Did you see any bullet holes in the ground? A. No, I didn't. Q. Did you find any rope or anything up on top of the cliff? A. No, sir. Q. Other than the body being present, did you see anything that was out of the ordinary about the ground around the body? A. No, sir. MR. RENSCH: Thank you, nothing further. THE COURT: Any redirect? MR. McMAHON: No, Your Honor. JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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may step down. Call your next witness. MR. MANDEL: United States would call Nate Merrick, Your Honor. NATE MERRICK, called as a witness, being first duly sworn, testified and said as follows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. MANDEL: Q. Good afternoon, sir, could you state your name, please? A. My name is Nathan Merrick. Q. Mr. Merrick, where do you live these days? A. I live in Walthill, Nebraska. Q. What do you do down there? A. I work for the Tribal Court, Omaha Tribal Court, I am a public defender, paralegal. Q. Back in 1975 were you employed on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation? A. Yes, sir, I was. Q. When did you start working there? A. I arrived at Pine Ridge in 1973 just during the Wounded Knee occupation. I was a police officer assigned there for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Q. Was that your first assignment? JERRY J. MAY, RPR, CM 400 South Phillips Avenue, #305A
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