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McClean's February 21, 2005 - 18:16<br>
<a href="http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics/news/shownews.jsp?content=n022139A" eudora="autourl">http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics/news/shownews.jsp?content=n022139A<br><br>
</a>Appeal planned as Graham committed for trial in U.S. for mid-1970s
murder<br><br>
VANCOUVER (CP) - A B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled Monday there's enough
<br>
evidence to extradite John Graham to the United States to stand trial for
<br>
the murder of a woman in South Dakota almost 30 years ago.<br><br>
As Justice Elizabeth Bennett read her statement to a packed courtroom,
<br>
Graham sat with his arms crossed, often leaning forward as he intently
<br>
listened to the ruling. Graham, 49, was arrested in December 2003 for the
<br>
first-degree murder of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, a fellow activist in the
<br>
American Indian Movement.<br><br>
Aquash, a Mi'kmaq from Nova Scotia, was shot in the back of the head at
<br>
the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where her body was
<br>
discovered on Feb. 24, 1976.<br><br>
Graham has said he had nothing to do with Aquash's death, that the two
met <br>
in Minneapolis and struck up a friendship as young AIM members and fellow
<br>
Canadians.<br><br>
Although the judge has committed Graham for extradition, the formal order
<br>
will not come until March 2 at the request of Graham's lawyer, who said
he <br>
will apply to keep his client out on bail while he prepares an
appeal.<br><br>
Graham's daughters broke down in tears and hugged when the judge reached
<br>
the key part of her decision that recommended their father be returned to
<br>
the U.S. to face a murder trial.<br><br>
After Bennett finished reading her statement, one woman waved an eagle
<br>
feather as Graham's supporters - some wearing Free John Graham T shirts
<br>
and buttons - began piling out of the courtroom and embracing him as he
<br>
walked out.<br><br>
The final decision on whether Graham is sent to the U.S. rests with the
<br>
federal justice minister.<br><br>
"I'm very disappointed," Graham said outside court.
"Surprised? No, I'm <br>
not surprised. Because the lawyers warned me that the new extradition
laws <br>
don't give our justice power to give up against the U.S."<br><br>
Terry LaLiberte, Graham's lawyer, said outside court that he will mount a
<br>
constitutional challenge against Canada's Extradition Act.<br><br>
Since its amendment in 1999, the Act allows requesting countries to
<br>
provide only a summary of evidence seeking extradition instead of having
<br>
witnesses swear to an affidavit.<br><br>
"We hope the Supreme Court of Canada will afford a Canadian citizen
some <br>
more rights, or the rights they'd be entitled to in Canada under the
<br>
Extradition Act, because it's simply unfair the way it's been
written," <br>
LaLiberte said.<br><br>
Under the Extradition Act - which is already the subject of legal <br>
challenges - Bennett had to consider whether there was enough evidence to
<br>
commit Graham to trial had the offence occurred in Canada.<br><br>
While Bennett said some of the evidence provided by the U.S. was bereft
of <br>
detail and presented in an unsatisfactory manner, those concerns were not
<br>
relevant to her task.<br><br>
A judge hearing an extradition case must establish whether the person in
<br>
the prisoner's box is the one wanted by the requesting country.<br><br>
In this case, several witnesses have said Graham used the alias John Boy
<br>
Patton, although some described that person as having different hair
<br>
colour, height and weight.<br><br>
While LaLiberte had argued that Patton couldn't possibly be his client,
<br>
Bennett said the question of identity was answered by at least four
<br>
witnesses who will testify that Graham and Patton are the same
person.<br><br>
Graham's co-accused, Arlo Looking Cloud, was convicted of first-degree
<br>
murder last year and is serving a life sentence.<br><br>
Bennett said several people will testify that they saw Graham, Looking
<br>
Cloud, and a woman named Theda Clark drive away with Aquash the last time
<br>
anyone saw her.<br><br>
Looking Cloud had confessed before his trial that he was saw Graham shoot
<br>
Aquash in the back of the head with a silver .32-calibre revolver at or
<br>
near the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation as she begged for her life and
<br>
prayed for her children.<br><br>
Court also heard that in 1976, John Boy Patton confessed to killing
Aquash <br>
and that he was later identified in photos as Graham.<br><br>
Looking Cloud has said through his lawyer that he will not testify
against <br>
Graham, although Bennett said the man's evidence will still be
available.<br><br>
The FBI has implied that Aquash was executed because AIM leaders believed
<br>
her to be an informant for them during a volatile period between law
<br>
enforcement officials and natives fighting for territorial
rights.<br><br>
Aquash's daughter, Denise Maloney Pictou, who was 11 when her mother was
<br>
murdered, said from Halifax that there may finally be justice for her
<br>
mother if Graham stands trial.<br><br>
"This certainly is a very loud message to us that my mother's life
did <br>
matter and that she is thought of as a human being and this does need to
<br>
be addressed."<br><br>
Graham's three-decade saga has pitted natives against each other on both
<br>
sides of the issue in Canada and the United States.<br><br>
Some believe that decades of poor race relations between natives and the
<br>
American government mean Graham would be doomed to a fate similar to
<br>
Leonard Peltier. Canada extradited Peltier home to the U.S. in 1976 after
<br>
he was accused of killing two FBI agents on what was later revealed to be
<br>
false evidence.<br>
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