Posted on 06/18/2004 8:26:07 PM PDT by nuconvert
AIM Activist's Funeral to Go on, Family Fighting Request for Third Autopsy
By Carson Walker/Associated Press
Jun 18, 2004
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Days before the planned funeral and reburial of an American Indian Movement activist killed nearly 30 years ago, lawyers for two men charged in her death are seeking a third autopsy in hopes of absolving their clients. The family of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash intends to go ahead with Monday's funeral on the Indian Brook Reserve near Halifax, Nova Scotia, and only the reburial is in question, said Denise Maloney, her older daughter.
U.S. prosecutors believe Aquash was killed in December 1975 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Her body was found in February 1976 but it wasn't until March 2003 that two men were indicted in the slaying.
A federal jury in Rapid City convicted Arlo Looking Cloud in February and he was sentenced in April to life in prison. John Graham remains free on bond in Vancouver, British Columbia, and plans to fight extradition.
A Canadian judge granted a temporary injunction Friday to stop the reburial there. A Halifax lawyer said he sought the injunction on behalf of Graham's lawyers and would next ask the court to order the third autopsy.
Maloney said the family is trying to get the order reversed.
One of Graham's lawyers, Howard Rubin, wants another autopsy in hopes of finding DNA material that could help his client's extradition case.
After Aquash's body was found in 1976, the local pathologist concluded she died of exposure. She was buried on the Pine Ridge reservation but exhumed after the FBI used her severed hands to identify the body.
A second autopsy by another pathologist found a bullet wound in the back of her head and concluded the death was homicide.
Rubin said in his court filing that the first autopsy was "bungled" but did refer to a substance that appeared to be semen. He wants Graham's DNA compared to anything found on the body and Aquash's clothing. A failure to match Graham's DNA "may focus the investigation on other persons," Rubin said.
Looking Cloud's lawyer, Terry Gilbert, said he has pushed for the third autopsy since Looking Cloud's sentencing in April, but got nowhere with U.S. prosecutors.
The prosecutors are barred from speaking about pending cases.
very interesting
died of exposure - bullet in the back of the head.hmmm
arkincide
could be! hehe
her severed hands to identify the body.
bullet wound in the back of her head.
How thick can you get???? Amazing these kind of people can keep their job.
Hands? What hands?
Hole? What hole?
It's not at all clear, did they sever her hands on purpose after death in order to id the body? That sounds pretty gruesome.
But missing a bullet wound? Amazing. They should have called CSI!
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