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<b>March 10, 2008<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=4>Dynamite supplier for bomb that killed
Omaha policeman walked free in COINTELPRO case against Black
Panthers<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2><i>By Michael Richardson<br><br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>The investigation
into the tragic bombing murder of Omaha Police patrolman Larry Minard on
August 17, 1970, which led to the conviction and lifetime imprisonment of
two Black Panther leaders, was marred by false police statements,
withheld evidence and ended with the named supplier of the fatal
explosives going unpunished.<br><br>
The two convicted Panthers, Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa (formerly
David Rice), were leaders of the Omaha chapter of the National Committee
to Combat Fascism and both were targets of J. Edgar Hoover's secret and
illegal Federal Bureau of Investigation operation, code-named COINTELPRO,
which was ordered to "disrupt" the Black Panthers.<br><br>
Poindexter and Langa, who deny any involvement in the crime, were
implicated by 15 year-old Duane Peak, the confessed bomber. Peak
obtained his freedom with brokered testimony against the Panther leaders
and served less than three years in juvenile detention for the murder of
Larry Minard.<br><br>
Although Peak gave police a half-dozen different versions of the crime
before naming Poindexter and Langa, the young killer stated he obtained
the dynamite for his suitcase bomb from another Panther, Raleigh
House. Peak testified at his preliminary hearing that he obtained
the explosives from House, repeated the claim during his deposition, and
testified at the 1971 murder trial that House supplied the dynamite for
the bomb. <br><br>
Officer Minard was killed and seven other Omaha policemen were injured
when they responded to an emergency call about a woman screaming in a
vacant house. A booby-trapped suitcase at the scene exploded when
Minard examined it killing him instantly.<br><br>
Federal agents and Omaha police had recruited informants within the Black
Panther group as part of the campaign to disrupt the organization and had
a lengthy list of suspects when they began a sweep of Omaha's
Near-Northside in the days following Minard's murder.<br><br>
At least 60 people were brought in for questioning and over a dozen were
arrested on various charges while the police searched for Peak. On
August 23, 1970, the police arrested Raleigh House, a former
"lieutenant of information" of the Omaha Black Panther chapter,
and, according to the <i>Omaha World-Herald, </i>charged him with
suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder. House was jailed with a
$10,000 bond placed on him. After House's arrest, Assistant Chief
of Police Glenn Gates told the newspaper that naming suspects had made,
"every member of the Police Division extremely glad."
Gates called Minard "a brother officer" whose death "does
strike fear into the heart of officers on the street."<br><br>
Gates would later ask the FBI to cancel a voice analysis of the emergency
call tape that lured Minard to his death. The emergency call was
allegedly made by Peak. According to a secret COINTELPRO memo that
surfaced years later from the Omaha FBI Special-Agent-in-charge to J.
Edgar Hoover, Gates explained the tape would be "prejudicial"
to the prosecution. In 2007, voice analyst Tom Owen testified in an
Omaha courtroom that to a high degree of probability the voice was not
that of Peak--leaving an unidentified accomplice on the loose.<br><br>
Mysteriously, out of the 13 people arrested while Peak was still at large
during the first weekend following the bombing, one suspect was released
after just one day in jail, Raleigh House. Even more unusual was
that House did not have to post $10,000 bail, instead he was released on
a signature bond. Police told the <i>Omaha World-Herald </i>that
House was freed under the authorization of Chief Deputy County Attorney
Arthur O'Leary who refused to comment on House's release.<br><br>
After Peak was arrested and questioned, he implicated House as the source
of the dynamite. At his preliminary hearing in open court, Peak
testified Raleigh House drove him to House's residence where House picked
up a suitcase full of dynamite and gave it to him. <br><br>
Peak persisted in his deposition and again at the murder trial that House
supplied the dynamite that took Minard's life. However, House, who
had been released on his own recognizance, was never formally charged for
providing the explosives according to Douglas County District Court
records.<br><br>
Two months after the bombing, and just days after Peak's preliminary
hearing where Peak fingered House, Omaha Police Captain Murdock Platner
traveled to Washington, D.C. and gave a false statement under oath to the
U.S. House Committee on Internal Security about the source of the
dynamite. Platner falsely testified, "In the preliminary
hearing he [Peak] testified that David Rice [Langa] brought a suitcase
filled with dynamite to his house or to somebody's house, I'm not for
sure just which place."<br><br>
From the Nebraska State Penitentiary where Poindexter is serving a life
sentence for a crime he denies, the imprisoned Panther leader has an
explanation. "Raleigh House was implicated by Duane Peak, but the
state did not pursue it because they were after only Mondo and myself,
the so-called ring leaders. Selective prosecution is the term for
that….they got who they were after."<br><br>
Poindexter has been seeking a new trial because of evidence withheld from
the original jury and contradictory testimony of police witnesses.
Additionally, the role of the FBI in the case and the abuses of justice
under Hoover's COINTELPRO operation were not known until long after the
original trial was over. The matter is now pending before the
Nebraska Supreme Court where no date has been set for a
decision.<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2>Authors Bio: Michael Richardson is a
freelance writer based in Boston. Richardson writes about politics,
election law, human nutrition, ethics, and music. Richardson is also a
political consultant on ballot access. <br><br>
<br><br>
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