James R. Weddell |
versione italiana
James R. Weddell is free! The 18 decembre 2003, at 11.00. For details click here.
Who's James R. Weddell?
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James R. Weddell, "Wanbli Ista" ("Eagle Eye" in Lakota language), is a Sioux-Dakota Indian from the Yankton reservation, in South Dakota. He was born on 24 December 1955. Since 1986, he had been incarcerated, sentenced to 80 years in prison for manslaughter in first degree. Judge by yourself. The evening of 28 February, 1986, an all-white gang known as The Gregers and
known to abuse Indians since 50 years, he saw was beating a young Indian boy, Enos
Weston. The beating, under the lead of Randy Caldwell, had been going on for the
all day.
James Weddell, Micky and Larry Honomichl, and Jerry Costello got out of their car and decided to help Enos Westoon. James tried to take the police bat which randy Caldwell was using from his hands, then saw Troy Greger to run toward the pickup where, he knew, Troy kept his rifle. While James was running after Troy Greger, he saw Caldwell hitting again Weston and he saw other people with other clubs around him. Then he saw randy Caldwell to fall on the ground. A Greger girl, sister to Troy, passed James and ran toward her brother. Randy Caldwell died for being struck to his left jaw with a metal object. James
was charged with that crime, together with Micky Honomichl (most likely the one
who struck the lethal blow), despite being far away from the scene at the moment
the accidental death occurred. The jury at trial was an all-white jury, disrespecting
the law that establishes that 15% should be of the same ethnicity of the persons
allegedly charged for the crime. And, even a relative of the victim was allowed
to serve on that jury!
After none months spent in the Sioux Falls penitentiary and with the dark perspective of other 79 years to spend in prison for a crime he did not commit, James decided to escape. Two years later, however, he got caught, adding another 15 years sentence for escape to the previous one. Since that moment, prison life became even worse for James. First, he was sent
to Marion, a maximum security federal penitentiary, and when he was finally
transferred back to South Dakota, retaliation against his escape came in many
ways, including scary attempts to his life.
After 8 years from the beginning of the habeas corpus based on new
evidences, judge Piersol, South Dakota representative of the Federal Supreme Court,
grants the writ on 29 September, 2003. He states that James must be retried or
released, within sixty days, recognizing that he did not have a fair trial on the
basis of two of the five issues raised by Terry Pechota (ineffectiveness of counsel
and the missing Indian representation on the jury panel).
So, on 18 December, 2003, a new hearing is held in Armour, on the Yankton reservation. Larry Long, the state attorney, comes in person and, at the presence of many family members, James is finally freed on probation after the court accepts his plea, as for as agreed with the state. James admits to participate in the fight and he's charged with the lesser offense of assault against randy Caldwell and Troy Greger, but he's relieved by the responsibility in the death of Caldwell. In the end, he is set free with 7 years sentence remaining suspended on probation. James needs to start his new life from scratch. He's trying to find a job, but it is not easy after such a long time in prison and at 48 years of age. He cannot go out of South Dakota (not at his daughter, in Minnesota, because that state does not accept exchange of prisoners, not even on probation) but he cannot reside in Charles Mix County, where he's from, and where most of the people he knows live. |
Gloria Mattioni thanks everybody who helped her to conquer James' freedom
and invites everybody to spread around the news of his liberation, and to update
the webpages distributed all over the world.
James also thanks you. |