Peltier's Appeal for FBI Records Denied
PELTIER'S APPEAL FOR FBI RECORDS DENIED (PDF)
Leonard Peltier's appeal for FBI records fails Updated: 04/30/2009 12:17:25 AM CDT
Imprisoned American Indian activist Leonard Peltier has lost another round in court in his effort to compel the FBI to disclose about 10,500 pages of documents about his case.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis on Wednesday rejected Peltier's claim that the district court should have reviewed all the documents, not just a sample of about 500 pages.
The appeals court said Peltier didn't make that argument during the trial, so the Minnesota district court did not abuse its discretion.
Further, the appeals court said the lower court was correct in ruling that the Freedom of Information Act's exemptions cover the bulk of the disputed documents, shielding them from disclosure.
Peltier is serving two life sentences for the deaths of two FBI agents during a 1975 standoff near Oglala, S.D., on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He has appealed his conviction several times without success.
In 2001, he requested and received more than 70,400 pages of FBI records on himself. The FBI claimed thousands of additional pages were exempt from the FOIA because they could reveal confidential sources, among other reasons. — Associated Press
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