Richard "Dick" Marshall Indicted for Aiding and Abetting the 1975 Murder of Anna Mae Aquash

"[Richard] Marshall, the bodyguard of American Indian Movement (AIM) leader Russell Means in 1975, has been accused by federal witnesses close to the case of having provided the gun for which Aquash was killed."---Paul DeMain, News From Indian Country

Paul DeMain, the editor of News from Indian Country, reports that on August 20, 2008, the U.S Indicted Richard "Dick" Marshal for aiding and abetting the December 1975 murder of Anna Mae Aquash, a Canadian Indian who was an activist in the American Indian Movement (AIM). His full name is Vine Richard Marshal, but he is better known as Dick Marshall.

U.S. Attorney Marty J. Jackley in South Dakota has confirmed in a press release (8-26-08) the August 20 indictment by Federal grand jurors in Rapid City. Since Anna Mae Aquash was Canadian, our northern neighbor's papers are also writing about this new indictment.

In 1975, Richard Marshall was reportedly the bodyguard of American Indian Movement (AIM) leader Russell Means. He currently lives in Rapid City, South Dakota.

The Kansas City Star (8-26-08) reports:

Marshall, 57, was an AIM leader who served 24 years in prison for shooting a man [Martin Montileaux] to death in 1975. Marshall was paroled in 2000.

Marshall's wife, Cleo Gates, testified at Looking Cloud's trial that three AIM members - Looking Cloud, Graham and Theda Clark - drove Aquash to Marshall's house. Gates said Aquash stayed with her in the kitchen while the others went into a back bedroom with her husband.

When a prosecutor asked whether Richard Marshall kept a gun there, Gates said he did not.

Witnesses said that Aquash was eventually taken to the Badlands and that Graham shot her as she begged for her life.

News From Indian Country reports:

[Richard] Marshall, the bodyguard of American Indian Movement (AIM) leader Russell Means in 1975 has been accused by federal witnesses close to the case of having provided the gun for which Aquash was killed. Aquash was brought to the home of Richard and Cleo Marshall (now) Gates late in the evening of December, 11 1975 or morning of Dec. 12 from Rapid City, South Dakota by Arlo Looking Cloud, John Boy Patton Graham and Theda Nelson Clark.

Aquash had been previously interrogated at the law offices of Attorney Bruce Ellison in the AIM - Wounded Knee Legal Defense/Offense Committee (WKLDOC) in Rapid City, S.D., and later transported to an empty apartment owned by Thelma Rios Conroy. There she was forced to cut the labels off her clothes and transported to Marshall's Pass Creek home in Allen, according to former members of AIM now cooperating with authorities in the investigation.

According to the testimony of Cleo Clifford Marshall Gates, Aquash was given coffee and a donut while Dick Marshall, Looking Cloud and Graham had a conversation in the back room of their Allen, South Dakota home. According to accounts of the evening attributed to Dick Marshall, Aquash was also given a change of clothes. The trio then left and went the home of Russell Mean's brother, William (Bill/Kills) on the Rosebud Reservation where it is alleged that several leadership members of the American Indian Movement were present, or consulted by telephone about the fate of Aquash.

Aquash was shot several hours later as the sun rose in Wanblee, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation, a couple of hours after leaving the Means' home around 3 or 4 am.

A South Dakota Grand Jury charges that on or about the 12th day of December, 1975, near Wanblee and in Allen, in Indian Country, in the District of South Dakota, the defendant, Vine Richard Marshall, a/k/a Richard Vine Marshall, a/k/a/ Dick Marshall, an Indian, willfully, deliberately, maliciously and with premeditation and malice aforethought, did aid and abet in the unlawful killing of Annie Mae Aquash, a/a/a Annie Mae Pictou, wherein she was shot with a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C 111, 1153 and 2.
The indictment was filed Aug. 20, 2008.

Marshall was convicted in the March 1, 1975 shooting of Martin Montileaux and later confessed to the act in order to obtain parole for life. Montileaux was shot in the back of the head, at the base of the skull by one bullet while standing in a bathroom stall of the Longhorn Bar in Scenic, South Dakota. Russell Means was on the other side of Montileaux when he was shot.

Marshall was a Movement leader at the upper security level, comparable to Theodore (Ted) Means of South Dakota AIM Security, (a brother of Russell Means) and Leonard Peltier who was assigned to Dennis Banks as a bodyguard while at Pine Ridge in 1975. Marshal served 24 years in prison for the Montileaux killing. He was placed on parole in 2000 for life.

Marshall was represented by AIM attorney Ken Tilsen of Minneapolis in 1975, an attorney closely affiliated with Vernon Bellecourt and the office of AIM Internal and Domestic Intelligence - the arm of the American Indian Movement, Bellecourt claimed was responsible for weeding out FBI pigs and informants. Tilsen came into possession of Annie Mae's wallet which was not found on her body, and rather than providing it to federal authorities, sent it to the sisters of Annie Mae Aquash in early 1976.

Fritz Arlo Looking Cloud of Denver was convicted in 2004 and is serving a life prison term for being a party to Aquash's death. Another man, John Boy Patton Graham of Canada, is scheduled to stand trial on October 6th, 2008 on the same charges. The federal government does not need to prove who actually pulled the trigger in either an aiding and abetting, or party to 1st degree murder charge - only that the "defendant" participated in, or had knowledge while aiding the crime.

According to a taped conversation with Graham in 2001, reviewed by the Associated Press, Graham admitted to being with Aquash, Clark and Looking Cloud moments before she was shot. Graham however, denied that he pulled the trigger.

The interview was set up by the late AIM leader Vernon Bellecourt at a time Bellecourt was denying publicly to the press, that he even knew who Graham was. The interview was suppose to be an attempt to enhance the alibi of John Graham according to a cooperating federal witness who made the recording. The witness is expected to testify about the interview if charges against Graham go to trial on October 6th.

[Be sure to read the entire article and a selection from the transcript of the 2004 testimony of Arlo Looking Cloud. Keep checking the NFIC Aquash Files for new information. According to Mr. DeMain, Native American investigative journalists know of 13 people murdered by the AIM.]