AIM Brothers: Busted Not Broken

From ‘Open Road’, Spring 1982, Vancouver (MST territory), BC

“If you were an Indian in Canada today, you’d run away too.” John Trudell knows what he is talking about, but today he speaks for Dino and Gary Butler, two other members of the American Indian Movement.

On February 23, 1981 a Vancouver police cruiser attempted to pull over the Butlers’ car. They fled and police claim shots were fired. Weapons were seized after the Butlers’ car overturned.

Since then they have been held in Oakalla prison. Behind these bars they have prayed and fasted and won. They won the right to smoke the Pipe.

In the courtroom, the Butlers’ lawyer Stan Guenther argues that the jury panel of 59 white people and one East Indian is not representative. Motion denied.

Guenther requests that the Pipe, symbolizing truth and connection with God be allowed into the courtroom.

Dino writes last March: “I am a follower of the Sacred Pipe which represents All Creation. It is told that a very long time ago a Buffalo Calf appeared to the Lakota People and gave them a Pipe.” The judge will not allow the Pipe.

Trudell says, “You swear on a bible, we use a Pipe. It’s just a Pipe, we made it out of wood.”

Denied the presence of the Pipe in the courtroom, the Butlers decline to participate further in the proceedings and fire their lawyers.

Chief Justice McEachern requests a plea, but the Butlers sit silently, not even acknowledging the request. The charges include: attempted murder and possession of a weapon with dangerous intent, among others

RCMP Sergeant Graham testifies he examined a car “looking for lead fragments.” He found two. Grant Meadwell says he was patrolling when he saw Dino walking with a parka over his arm. He approached Dino who gave him the parka. He discovered two hand guns in the pocket and placed Dino under arrest.

The two officers who began the chase offer conflicting scenarios. They saw Dino in a phone booth, Gary waiting in a car. They called in the license plate number to the central computer. Constable Peter said Dino ran to the car and took off quickly: they were pulled over for speeding. Constable Holden says Dino quietly walked to the car and drove off; they were stopped for a regular traffic check.

When they switch on their siren the car pulls over. As the police get out of their car, Dino and Gary take off, accelerating onto a freeway. Supporters say that as the police were getting out of their car they were reaching for their revolvers.

RCMP officer Shannon testifies he saw the accident and the men fleeing and chased them, identifying himself as a police officer, but Dino turned and pointed a gun at him. He backed off.

RCMP officer Hall testifies that he examined the seized weapons but did not check if the guns had been cleaned — if so it would have proved the Butlers fired no shots, otherwise it is inconclusive.

Hall also examined the lead fragments from the car. He said they were “consistent” with bullet fragments, but at the preliminary hearings he admitted they were consistent with lead from a wheel balancing weight.

Dennis Reilly, a B.C. Hydro employee, testified that he saw the natives fleeing and gave chase. He said one man ran at him with a gun. He is asked to identify the man. Dino sits with his head bowed. The judge orders him to raise it so Reilly can see him. He does not respond.

McEachern orders the deputy sheriffs to make Dino raise his head. Everybody tenses. A deputy sheriff enters the box and lifts Dino’s head.

On the final day Dino tells the court he is a Pipe carrier of the Tuney tribe [correction: Tututni] of Oregon. “The voice you hear coming from me is the voice of generations before me and generations to come.” He told the court they had only heard half the truth. He mentioned Reilly: “I could not lift my head to that hypocrite who was lying after he swore on the Bible.”

Gary asks to have Trudell, his people’s Pipe carrier, to address the jury. Request denied: Trudell is not a member of the Bar in B.C.

The jury returns quickly. Guilty, but the attempted murder charge is reduced to attempting to wound.

Dino and Gary are taken back to jail. They know the inside of jails. Dino and Leonard Peltier were charged with murder after the Wounded Knee uprising. Dino was acquitted.

Trudell knows. He knows the names of five other AIM warriors now dead. Murdered. He knows the reality of the FBI threats. Once he burned an American flag in front of the FBI building. The next day his wife, mother-in-law, and child were killed in a house fire. “A deliberate act of political assassination.” he says.