Extradidion ordered for AIM related 1976- murder Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 19:07:47 -0600 (CST) http://north.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=graham-ruling-02212005 John Graham to be extradited on Anna Mae Pictou Aquash murder charge CBC News Feb 21 2005 01:41 PM MST WHITEHORSE - A British Columbia judge has ruled that there's enough evidence to recommend that John Graham be extradited to the United States, where the former Yukoner faces charges he murdered an aboriginal activist 30 years ago. John Graham is accused of killing an aboriginal activist in South Dakota three decades ago Graham's daughters began weeping as Justice Elizabeth Bennett read out the decision. The accused man simply stood, gave a small smile and waved to supporters. Outside the courthouse, he spoke briefly with reporters. "I am very disappointed," he said. "Surprised? No, not surprised, because the lawyers warned me." Graham's lawyer, Terry LaLiberte, says his client is being railroaded. He says he'll file an appeal on Graham's behalf. Arlo Looking Cloud was also convicted in connection with Aquash's murder last year. He told FBI agents that he watched Graham kill Aquash, but he later recanted, saying he'd been plied with alcohol and drugs prior to the alleged confession. The formal deportation order will not be issued until at least March 2, at LaLiberte's request. Justice Minister Irwin Cotler will make the final decision on whether Graham will be sent back to the U.S. to face trial. Aquash's family cheered today's ruling. "Certainly we're pleased as a family," says Denise Maloney Pictou, Aquash's daughter. "I'm personally pleased as her daughter that the B.C. Department of Justice believes the vicious, violent murder of this Canadian woman activist, sister and mother does matter." Pictou says she and the rest of her family will now patiently wait for the appeals process to move through the Candian courts. She remains convinced Graham will eventually stand trial for the murder of her mother. Both Graham, now 49, and Aquash were both members of the American Indian Movement at the time of Aquash's death. The FBI say Aquash was killed because AIM members suspected she was an informant during a very volatile time. Native groups have long claimed that government agents killed Aquash in an effort to undermine AIM. Aquash's fate was marked in Buffy Sainte-Marie's song Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Graham has been living under house arrest in Vancouver while awaiting the outcome of the hearing. ================ http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics/news/shownews.jsp?content=n022139A McClean's February 21, 2005 - 18:16 Appeal planned as Graham committed for trial in U.S. for mid-1970s murder VANCOUVER (CP) - A B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled Monday there's enough evidence to extradite John Graham to the United States to stand trial for the murder of a woman in South Dakota almost 30 years ago. As Justice Elizabeth Bennett read her statement to a packed courtroom, Graham sat with his arms crossed, often leaning forward as he intently listened to the ruling. Graham, 49, was arrested in December 2003 for the first-degree murder of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, a fellow activist in the American Indian Movement. Aquash, a Mi'kmaq from Nova Scotia, was shot in the back of the head at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where her body was discovered on Feb. 24, 1976. Graham has said he had nothing to do with Aquash's death, that the two met in Minneapolis and struck up a friendship as young AIM members and fellow Canadians. Although the judge has committed Graham for extradition, the formal order will not come until March 2 at the request of Graham's lawyer, who said he will apply to keep his client out on bail while he prepares an appeal. Graham's daughters broke down in tears and hugged when the judge reached the key part of her decision that recommended their father be returned to the U.S. to face a murder trial. After Bennett finished reading her statement, one woman waved an eagle feather as Graham's supporters - some wearing Free John Graham T shirts and buttons - began piling out of the courtroom and embracing him as he walked out. The final decision on whether Graham is sent to the U.S. rests with the federal justice minister. "I'm very disappointed," Graham said outside court. "Surprised? No, I'm not surprised. Because the lawyers warned me that the new extradition laws don't give our justice power to give up against the U.S." Terry LaLiberte, Graham's lawyer, said outside court that he will mount a constitutional challenge against Canada's Extradition Act. Since its amendment in 1999, the Act allows requesting countries to provide only a summary of evidence seeking extradition instead of having witnesses swear to an affidavit. "We hope the Supreme Court of Canada will afford a Canadian citizen some more rights, or the rights they'd be entitled to in Canada under the Extradition Act, because it's simply unfair the way it's been written," LaLiberte said. Under the Extradition Act - which is already the subject of legal challenges - Bennett had to consider whether there was enough evidence to commit Graham to trial had the offence occurred in Canada. While Bennett said some of the evidence provided by the U.S. was bereft of detail and presented in an unsatisfactory manner, those concerns were not relevant to her task. A judge hearing an extradition case must establish whether the person in the prisoner's box is the one wanted by the requesting country. In this case, several witnesses have said Graham used the alias John Boy Patton, although some described that person as having different hair colour, height and weight. While LaLiberte had argued that Patton couldn't possibly be his client, Bennett said the question of identity was answered by at least four witnesses who will testify that Graham and Patton are the same person. Graham's co-accused, Arlo Looking Cloud, was convicted of first-degree murder last year and is serving a life sentence. Bennett said several people will testify that they saw Graham, Looking Cloud, and a woman named Theda Clark drive away with Aquash the last time anyone saw her. Looking Cloud had confessed before his trial that he was saw Graham shoot Aquash in the back of the head with a silver .32-calibre revolver at or near the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation as she begged for her life and prayed for her children. Court also heard that in 1976, John Boy Patton confessed to killing Aquash and that he was later identified in photos as Graham. Looking Cloud has said through his lawyer that he will not testify against Graham, although Bennett said the man's evidence will still be available. The FBI has implied that Aquash was executed because AIM leaders believed her to be an informant for them during a volatile period between law enforcement officials and natives fighting for territorial rights. Aquash's daughter, Denise Maloney Pictou, who was 11 when her mother was murdered, said from Halifax that there may finally be justice for her mother if Graham stands trial. "This certainly is a very loud message to us that my mother's life did matter and that she is thought of as a human being and this does need to be addressed." Graham's three-decade saga has pitted natives against each other on both sides of the issue in Canada and the United States. Some believe that decades of poor race relations between natives and the American government mean Graham would be doomed to a fate similar to Leonard Peltier. Canada extradited Peltier home to the U.S. in 1976 after he was accused of killing two FBI agents on what was later revealed to be false evidence.