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Richard Marshall found not guilty in

1975 AIM slaying
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Richard Marshall found not guilty in 1975 AIM slaying

Heidi Bell Gease Journal staff rapidcityjournal.com | Posted: Friday, April 23, 2010 6:30
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Richard "Dickie" Marshall, left, celebrates as he leaves the Pennington

County Jail in Rapid City on Thursday. Marshall was found not guilty Thursday on
federal charges of murder in the 1975 killing of Annie Mae Aquash. (Photo by Ryan
Soderlin/Journal staff)

Two defendants awaiting trial

Two other defendants in the Annie Mae Aquash case are still awaiting trial in state court.
Those charges relate to incidents that allegedly happened in Rapid City before Aquash
was killed on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
John Graham, also known as John Boy Patton, 53, is charged with premeditated murder,
felony murder committed during a kidnapping and felony murder related to rape.

Thelma Rios, 64, is charged with premeditated murder and felony murder committed
during a kidnapping.

Their trial is scheduled for July 6. Both face life in prison if convicted.

A federal jury deliberated for less than two hours Thursday before finding Vine Richard
"Dickie" Marshall not guilty of murder in connection with the 1975 slaying of American
Indian Movement activist Annie Mae Aquash.

Marshall's supporters, who filled one side of the U.S. District courtroom, erupted in
cheers and applause when the verdict was read about 2 p.m. Marshall stood and hugged
Dana Hanna, his court-appointed attorney.

Afterward, Hanna noted that people have said a Native American cannot get a fair trial in
front of an all-white jury in South Dakota. "We have proved them wrong today," he said.

Prosecutors had tried to prove that Marshall, 59, provided the handgun used to kill
Aquash, who some in AIM believed was a government informant.

Arlo Looking Cloud, who was convicted in 2004 of her murder and is serving life in
prison, was the government's key witness. After years of denying that he, John Graham,
Theda Clarke and Aquash had stopped at Marshall's home in Allen just hours before
Aquash was killed near Wanblee, Looking Cloud came forward in 2008 to say they had
stopped in Allen and that Marshall had given them a handgun.

On the witness stand last week, Looking Cloud claimed he did not tell the story sooner
because he was afraid of Marshall.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Mandel suggested to jurors that there was another reason
Looking Cloud didn't talk sooner. If he had mentioned going to Marshall's to get a gun,
Looking Cloud would have been admitting he knew Aquash would be killed, Mandel
said.

Mandel cited evidence that Clarke had given Graham a note that read something like,
"take care of this baggage."

"Folks, there wasn't any baggage," he said. "There was only a human being they wanted
taken care of, and that was Annie Mae Pictou ... ‘Take care of it?' Hey, you can draw
your own conclusions as to what that meant."

In order for Marshall to be convicted, federal prosecutors had to prove beyond a

reasonable doubt that he had both provided the gun and known it would be used to kill
Aquash. Hanna suggested in his closing arguments that the government had proven
neither.

"This case of the government consists of the words that came out of Arlo Looking
Cloud's mouth and Serle Chapman's mouth," neither of which Hanna said were credible.

Hanna argued that Looking Cloud made up the story about Marshall in hopes of getting
out of prison and because Looking Cloud believed Marshall had "ratted him out" to
investigators.

And Hanna questioned why Chapman, a British writer, did not tell investigators until
2008 about an unrecorded conversation in which he said he asked Marshall about the
gun.

Hanna also addressed what he called the "elephant in the room": Who ordered Aquash's
death? He said AIM leader Dennis Banks, along with Leonard Peltier, had the most to
fear from her because she knew about their criminal activities and had heard Peltier
confess to shooting two FBI agents.

"She was killed because of what might happen in the future," Hanna said. "She could
have put Dennis Banks and Leonard Peltier away for decades," he said.

Denise Pictou Maloney, the older of Aquash's two daughters, had said before the verdict
that the case was a step toward justice, regardless of its outcome, because of the evidence
that came forth.

The verdict "was a toss, we knew that," she said Thursday. "But it is what it is. And in
our territory, the fact that he saw my mother at his house with those people, and did
nothing to help her, makes him an accessory in our eyes. And he will never be forgiven
for that in our territory."

A jury of five women and seven men began deliberating the case at 11:35 a.m. Thursday,
more than a week after the trial began. Jurors contacted late Thursday afternoon declined
to comment.

Marshall could not be reached for comment.

Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or heidi.bell@rapidcityjournal.com

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