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Richard Marshall indicted in AIM slaying of Aquash





Anna Mae Aquash

Anna Mae Aquash

RAPID CITY – Federal grand jurors in Rapid City have indicted a third man in connection with the 1975 slaying of an American Indian Movement member on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Vine Richard Marshall, better known as Dick Marshall, of Rapid City, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to aiding and abetting the first-degree murder of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, according to a release from U.S. Attorney Marty Jackley, who refused to comment further.

Prosecution witnesses have testified Aquash, 30, of Nova Scotia, was killed because AIM leaders thought she was a government spy. AIM leaders have denied any involvement in her death.

Fritz Arlo Looking Cloud was convicted in 2004 and is serving life in federal prison for his part. John Graham, a Canadian, is scheduled to stand trial starting Oct. 6 in Rapid City.

Marshall, 57, was an AIM leader and served 24 years in prison for the 1975 shooting death of Martin Montileaux before being paroled in 2000.

AIM members alleged Marshall was framed for the murder of Montileaux, who was shot in the neck at a Scenic bar. An FBI report quoted Montileaux as alleging that “Russell Means’ friend” shot him before he died.

Charges were filed in state court against Marshall and Means, another AIM leader who went on to become an actor and activist. Marshall was convicted but Means was acquitted.

At Looking Cloud’s trial, witnesses said Looking Cloud, Graham and another AIM member, Theda Clark, drove Aquash from Denver to Rapid City and eventually to Marshall’s house at Allen.

Marshall’s wife, Cleo Gates, testified that Looking Cloud, Graham and Clark stopped by with Aquash the night she was killed. Gates said Aquash stayed with her in the kitchen while the others went into a back bedroom with her husband.

According to an article in News From Indian Country, Aquash was given coffee and a donut while Dick Marshall, Looking Cloud and Graham had a conversation in the back room of their Allen home. According to accounts of the evening attributed to Dick Marshall, Aquash was also given a change of clothes.

A South Dakota Grand Jury charges that on or about the 12th day of December, 1975, near Wanblee and in Allen, the defendant, Vine Richard Marshall, a/k/a Dick Marshall, willfully, deliberately, maliciously and with premeditation and malice aforethought, did aid and abet in the unlawful killing of Annie Mae Aquash in violation of 18 U.S.C 111, 1153 and 2.

The indictment was filed Aug. 20, 2008.

When a prosecutor asked whether Richard Marshall kept a gun back there, Gates said he did not.

Witnesses said Aquash was eventually taken to the Badlands and that Graham shot her as she begged for her life.

Also Tuesday, prosecutors responded to a motion from Graham’s lawyer to compel the government to turn over more evidence.

Jackley and Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Mandel wrote that two people involved in the investigation were not paid informants but cooperating witnesses who were reimbursed for expenses.

Graham’s lawyer John Murphy, in his motion, asked for details of “expense reimbursements” of $69,066 to Serle Chapman and $49,083 to Darlene “Kamook” Nichols. She testified at Looking Cloud’s trial.

The prosecutors said they didn’t include the names to protect their safety.

“These individuals were not paid informants and no payments were made to them to work for the United States. The cooperation provided by them was not contingent upon receiving payment from the United States,” Jackley and Mandel wrote.

“The only monies paid to them were reimbursements of travel expenses they incurred in seeking information in this case and payment toward expenses that they incurred when relocating due to harassment, retribution and retaliation based upon the assistance they had provided.”

The government is not obligated to turn over anything further, the prosecutors wrote.

Murphy also asked for an unredacted copy of a Feb. 18, 1976, report by FBI Special Agent David Price that states an unnamed informant saw Aquash alive Feb. 12, 1976, in Allen and described what she was wearing and driving. A rancher found her unidentified body Feb. 24, 1976, north of Wanblee. Prosecutors have said they believe she was killed there two months earlier — around Dec. 12, 1975.

In their response, Jackley and Mandel wrote that an unredacted version would only reveal the informant’s source number, and that the government is entitled to protect the identity of such informants.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol, who will oversee Graham’s trial, issued an order that federal Magistrate Veronica Duffy will rule on Graham’s motion to compel.

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