## Facts

- In 1975, Leonard Peltier, a member of the American Indian Movement, was present at an encampment near the Pine Ridge Reservation known as “Tent City” during a period of political conflict.
- On June 26, 1975, FBI Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams entered the area while investigating felonies and attempting to locate suspects for violent offenses.
- The agents followed a red-and-white van into the Jumping Bull compound; gunfire began shortly after, and other armed individuals joined the shooting.
- Both agents were later shot and killed at close range with small-caliber bullets.
- The government presented evidence that Peltier was in the van, knew the agents were following, and believed he was a target due to an outstanding warrant for attempted murder.
- Trial evidence included testimony placing Peltier with an AR-15 rifle near the agents’ vehicles during the shooting, forensic/ballistics evidence consistent with an AR-15-type weapon, and evidence of subsequent flight and possession of an agent’s weapon (including a bag bearing Peltier’s thumbprint).
- Peltier and others were indicted for the agents’ murders; two co-defendants were acquitted in a separate trial, and Peltier was tried separately, convicted on both counts, and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

## Issues

1. Whether the district court abused its discretion by admitting evidence of Peltier’s prior attempted-murder charge, related circumstances, and later flight as proof of consciousness of guilt.
2. Whether excluding defense evidence concerning Myrtle Poor Bear’s repudiated affidavits and alleged investigative misconduct violated the Sixth Amendment right to compulsory process or otherwise denied a fair trial.
3. Whether co-defendants’ acquittals collaterally estopped the government from prosecuting and convicting Peltier for the same killings.
4. Whether alleged irregularities in obtaining Peltier’s return from Canada under the Webster–Ashburton Treaty required dismissal for lack of jurisdiction, and whether other trial-management rulings (including refusal to reread testimony) required reversal.

## Decision

- The Eighth Circuit affirmed the convictions and consecutive life sentences.
- The court held that admitting evidence of flight and related other-acts material was within the trial court’s discretion and was not unfairly prejudicial in light of its probative value and limiting instructions.
- The court held that excluding the Poor Bear affidavits and related testimony did not violate compulsory process because the proffered evidence was collateral, minimally probative on the identity of the shooters, and risked confusing the jury; the witness was deemed unreliable.
- The court rejected collateral estoppel based on the co-defendants’ acquittals because the prior general verdicts did not necessarily decide an ultimate fact that would bar Peltier’s prosecution.
- The court rejected treaty/extradition and related jurisdictional challenges and found no reversible error in the trial court’s management of jury requests and other proceedings.

## Legal Principles

- Evidence of flight and related conduct may be admitted to show consciousness of guilt if its probative value is not substantially outweighed by unfair prejudice; appellate review is deferential to the trial court’s evidentiary balancing and limiting instructions.
- The Sixth Amendment right to compulsory process does not require admission of defense evidence that is irrelevant, cumulative, unreliable, or whose minimal probative value is outweighed by risks of confusion and prejudice.
- Collateral estoppel in criminal cases applies only when a prior proceeding necessarily decided a specific ultimate fact in the defendant’s favor; co-defendants’ acquittals on general verdicts typically do not preclude a separate defendant’s prosecution absent such a determination.
- Alleged irregularities in extradition or the manner of a defendant’s return to the United States generally do not defeat a federal court’s jurisdiction once the defendant is before the court.

## Conclusion

The court upheld Peltier’s murder convictions, concluding that the trial court permissibly admitted flight/other-acts evidence, properly excluded Poor Bear-related “frame-up” material as collateral and unreliable, and correctly rejected arguments based on co-defendants’ acquittals and claimed treaty or extradition defects.


United States v. Peltier, 585 F.2d 314 (8th Cir. 1978)