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</font><font face="Verdana" size=2>Original Content at
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<b>March 5, 2009<br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=4>Framed by the FBI: A dozen reasons the
'Omaha Two' deserve a new trial (4 of 6)<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2><i>By Michael Richardson<br><br>
</i>
<img src="http://www.opednews.com/populum/uploaded/ed-20081119-419.jpg" width=205 height=290 alt="[]">
</i> <br><br>
<i>Ed Poindexter</i> <br><br>
On August 17, 1970, an Omaha, Nebraska policeman, Larry Minard, was
murdered in an ambush bombing at a vacant house. Two men, Edward
Poindexter and Mondo we Langa (formerly David Rice), are serving life
sentences at the Nebraska State Penitentiary for his killing. The
pair were leaders of Omaha's chapter of the Black Panther Party.
Most people assume justice was done in the case and little effort has
been made by the news media to dig into the hidden aspects of the crime.
<br><br>
Poindexter has a new trial request pending before the Nebraska Supreme
Court and an examination of the record, much of it still hidden by
Federal Bureau of Investigation censors, reveals a dozen reasons to
question the outcome of the trial.<br><br>
<b>New Trial Reason Seven: Conflicting police testimony about
dynamite--Murdock Platner <br><br>
</b>Captain Murdock Platner of the Omaha Police Department made two trips
to Capitol Hill to testify under oath about the 'Omaha Two' case.
Although the hearings were days apart in October 1970, Murdock gave
conflicting testimony about dynamite that police believed was used in the
August 17th bombing. <br><br>
Murdock not only contradicted Duane Peak's preliminary hearing testimony
about the source of the dynamite used to construct the bomb that killed
Larry Minard, but Platner also gave conflicting accounts of the seizure
of dynamite three weeks before the bombing leaving nine sticks of the
explosives unaccounted for. <br><br>
In two sessions of Congressional testimony a week apart, unreported by
the news media and kept from the murder trial jury, Platner gave two
differing amounts of dynamite seized by police under the command of
detective Jack Swanson. The difference is significant because a
week after Minard's death, Swanson allegedly found dynamite in the
basement of Mondo we Langa's residence. <br><br>
On October 6, 1970, Platner testified that "about 60" sticks of
dynamite were recovered in July with the arrests of Luther Payne, Lamont
Mitchell and Conrad Gray. <br><br>
"We have learned through confidential informants that the dynamite
was stolen from a place called Quick Supply Co. in Des Moines and
transferred across the State line into the Omaha area….There were
probably ten cases of this dynamite that was stolen from Des Moines and
brought into the Omaha area. We were in contact with a white man who we
knew was buying stolen property for these people, and we asked him to ask
them about dynamite, and we thought possibly we could buy it. We
eventually did buy about 60 sticks of dynamite from them." <br><br>
By October 14th the "about 60" sticks of dynamite shrunk to 51
leaving "about" nine sticks of dynamite unaccounted for.
Platner appeared before a different Congressional committee and offered a
different amount of explosives. <br><br>
"We received information from a party that had been approached to
buy dynamite. We had him buy it and he bought 10 sticks. It
was 2 ½ by 16-inch sticks. He came back later and said he could buy
more of this dynamite. So we set him up to buy and then we were
going to move in before it was delivered. We did move in and arrest
three young men in a car. In their possession they had 41 sticks of
this same type of dynamite." <br><br>
After Minard's death when Swanson searched Mondo we Langa's house, police
officer Marvin McClarty suspicioned Swanson was planting evidence the way
the search was conducted. Conflicting accounts by detectives over
who found the dynamite, and where in the basement it was found, have
dogged the case from the beginning. No crime scene photographs,
including photos of the basement, contain dynamite. The first
evidence photos in which the dynamite appears are of the trunk of a
police squad car. <br><br>
Was the dynamite in the squad car the nine missing sticks described in
Platner's testimony? <b> <br><br>
New Trial Reason Eight: Conflicting police testimony about search
warrant--James Perry <br><br>
</b>Lieutenant James Perry of the Omaha Police Department supervised
searches of Black Panther headquarters and residences during the search
for Larry Minard's killers. Perry's lack of credibility was not
known to jurors at the murder trial but did not escape U.S. District
Court Judge Warren Urbom who ordered a new trial for Mondo we Langa over
the search of his residence. A legal maneuver by the United States
Supreme Court shifting appellate responsibility to state courts prevented
the new trial from happening but Urbom's assessment of Perry's
credibility stands. <br><br>
"Lt. Perry's testimony that Delia Peak told him that Duane Peak,
Edward Poindexter and David Rice [Mondo we Langa] were constant
companions is in no way corroborated by the remainder of the record
before me. The police report of her interview reveals nothing about
Duane Peak's being a constant companion of David Rice's, and the rights
advisory form she signed indicates that only Sgt. R. Alsager and Richard
Curd were present for her interview. Moreover, her interview did
not begin until the very hour police first approached David Rice's house
and was not completed until after the decision had been made to enter his
house. The police report of her interview also reveals she had seen
Duane Peak at about 5:00 p.m. the night before. Thus, it simply is
not so that Duane Peak's family had not seen him in the two days before
they had entered the petitioner's house and is persuasive that Delia
Peak's family did not make a contrary statement. Finally, there is
no indication in the police reports of interviews with Duane Peak's
family prior to the entry of Rice's house that they were concerned that
he might have been eliminated. On the basis of the entire record
before this court and having heard and seen Lt. Perry testify, it is
impossible for me to credit his testimony in the respects
mentioned." <br><br>
Perry also claimed that Donald Peak had implicated Mondo we Langa, an
allegation that Judge Urbom flatly rejected. "Had Donald Peak,
Jr. so implicated David Rice, surely a similar arrest warrant for him
would have been issued at that time. Given these facts I simply
cannot credit this testimony of Lt. Perry." <br><br>
Perry talked with a British film crew in the 1980's and discussed the
case. "He [Mondo we Langa] was very free about what he thought
the answers to these problems were and they generally included killing
police officers. Ed Poindexter, not as vocal, was always present,
always around….Well there wasn't a policeman on the job who didn't know
who done that. It was just a matter of being able to prove
it. And that is what we done."<br><br>
***<br><br>
<i>Permission granted to reprint<br><br>
</i>Author's Bio: Michael Richardson is a freelance writer based in
Boston. Richardson writes about politics, law, nutrition, ethics, and
music. Richardson is also a political consultant. <br><br>
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