Boston College Law Review Volume 34 Article 6 Issue 4 Number 4 7-1-1993 Guilty Until Proven Innocent: Leonard Peltier and the Sublegal System Joseph C. Hogan III Follow this and additional works at: http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr Part of the Criminal Law Commons, and the Indian and Aboriginal Law Commons Recommended Citation Joseph C. Hogan III, Guilty Until Proven Innocent: Leonard Peltier and the Sublegal System, 34 B.C.L. Rev. 901 (1993), http://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclr/vol34/iss4/6 This Notes is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Boston College Law Review by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Boston College Law School. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT: LEONARD PELTIER AND THE SUBLEGAL SYSTEM You are about to perform an act which will close one mare chapter in the history of the failure of the United States to do justice in the case of a Native American. After centuries of murder . could I have been wise in thinking that you would break that tradition and commit an act of justice?' At 11:00 a.m. on June 26, 1975, FBI Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams entered the Jumping Bull compound in Oglala, a traditional Native American community on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. 2 Coler and Williams were in search of an Indian wanted on charges of assault and thefts Within the next hour, a shoot-out occurred in which both Coler and Williams