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KEVIN: The confusion was related to a discovery order of all pertinent evidence in the case. The order dates from last October. It was signed by Judge Nichol. What happened today is perhaps a very significant, or could be seen in that light a significant breakthrough in the trial, which already is in its ninth week.

Just before lunch, just before the lunch recess, the government handed a document with Wounded Knee signatures to the defense table. That was done pursuant to this court order to turn over copies of documents intended to be introduced into evidence, or ones which were pertinent to the defense.

The document relates to a March 3, 1973, meeting in Wounded Knee, which Father Manhart testified last Friday he was present at and at which meeting he was a secretary taking notes. The document is this. I have a copy of it here. Perhaps it would be helpful if I read it.

"Resolution of citizens of the District of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. We, the undersigned, residents of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, hereby make the following resolution. Whereas the United States Department of Justice has the District of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, surrounded by agents of the FBI and United States Marshals.

And whereas, we, the undersigned, citizens of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, are presently engaged in peaceful and meaningful discussions concerning the events which have transpired here during the last few days, and in particular, the question of there being any necessity for the United States government, through the United States Department of Justice remaining in Wounded Knee any longer, it is therefore resolved that the United States Department of Justice and their agents and servants ceasefire and desist from firing upon our guest members of the American Indian Movement and members of the news media who are here at our invitation.

And that no persons who are present here now, or who may have come in the future, be harassed or intimidated when they are here at our invitation. That these discussions continue. We will advise the representatives of the United States of our progress as to whether we feel there is any need for the US Department of Justice to remain.

And further, it is resolved that the prejudice, now existing in the manner in which the United States Department of Justice is dealing with the events here, and that that prejudice is directed against the Indian citizens and their Indian guests who are here, and that, amongst other things, the white citizens are being permitted to go and come at will, but the Indian citizens are not permitted the same freedom. We therefore demand that the United States government immediately permit the Indian citizens and their guests to come and go at will."

This document is dated March 3, 1973, and it is signed by over 100 Indians claiming residence in the Wounded Knee District. Now, the effect of the statement is that the residents who are signing it are saying, I think, that we are backers of this so-called occupation, and we want to stop the United States Marshals from firing guns at those who are here in the village.

Now, Father Manhart testified that he recognized the document, or, one, like the document from a meeting in Wounded Knee last March. He said he gave his copy of that to Pedro Bissonette, the Oglala civil rights leader slain by the Bureau of Indian affairs just last fall.

This afternoon, William Kunstler, one of the defense attorneys, cross-examined Father Manhart after the priest said he felt that several signatures on this petition were false. The rationale that he proposed was that some of these signatures of husbands and wives were in the same handwriting.

The defense claims that Father Manhart has based his allegation of these forgeries on an altered Xerox copy of the original document. Now, I have the so-called altered copy of that original document. The defense says that the government still has the original copy, and the defense has then been given one, which has been changed.

And so quite a bit of confusion broke out in the courtroom. This afternoon, US Attorney Gienapp said, well, we're going to have to get the FBI agent from Minneapolis who has produced this and given it to us this morning to come to court. And while we're waiting for that, let me go and make more copies of this Xerox copy.

And then those in the court could hear Dennis Banks say to William Kunstler, "Well, you better send somebody with him to watch." And there was quite a bit of laughter in the court. And in fact, someone did go with the US attorney Gienapp.

Later, the agent was brought in, the FBI agent who had produced the document. The jury was dismissed. That agent's name is Jack Hoffer. He said he started working on the case of the American Indian Movement October 10, 1973, in Rapid City. But he testified that he first saw the document and the petitions, those that come from March 3 of last year, only this afternoon, after the phone call from the court ordering him to come from Minneapolis.

He said that the document was in an envelope, which he produced, and on that envelope was the name of another FBI agent, this man from Denver. Judge Nichols said the critical issue here, it seems to me, is who put the markings on the copy, who altered it, and then copied the altered copy, which now has been given to the defense.

Mark Lane, one of the defense counsel, said Father Manhart's allegation of forgeries has already been heard by the jury before the jury-- that is, before the jury was dismissed. But his allegations are based on a copy that the government has tampered with. Judge Nichols said, "Well, why wasn't this document, which is dated March 3 of 1973, why wasn't that available to the defense long before today?"

Mark Lane said this document is a very, very important one. It proves that our defendants, Russell Means and Dennis Banks, were invited into Wounded Knee. And this is the most important document since the government has maintained that the American Indian Movement was in Wounded Knee against the wishes of the reservation Indians, and yet the government seems to have suppressed this document.

Judge Nichols said, "I don't see how we can go on now without the testimony of the FBI agent from Denver who put the markings on the envelope. Perhaps he is the one who altered the document. US Attorney Heard said, "I don't see why it's necessary at this point to hold up the trial." William Kunstler said, "We can't go on with the witness, that is Father Manhart, testifying on the basis of this altered document."

The US Attorney Heard, "Why can't we call this witness later and proceed with the trial now?" Ken Tilson, another defense lawyer, "If you get agent Trimbach,"-- speaking of Joseph Trimbach, the head of the FBI department in Minneapolis, "into court, we can straighten the whole thing out, Your Honor.

Trimbach was at Wounded Knee on the date when these petitions were taken. He's in charge of the Minneapolis office. He was the ranking agent at Wounded Knee at that time. He'll know what happened to the original and who altered the copy"

US Attorney Gienapp, "I think the defense just wants to get this into evidence without laying any proper foundation." William Kunstler, "Your Honor, there's over 113 names on this petition. Virtually every household in the Wounded Knee district is represented just a few days after the beginning of the so-called occupation."

What Kunstler was saying was that the government has contended that the occupation was imposed on the Wounded Knee people from the outside, and this petition would seem to indicate otherwise. Judge Nichol, "Get the FBI agent from Denver in here tomorrow morning, and also will return with agent Hoffer again. But Joseph Trimbach from Minneapolis will not be required to come into court, that is tomorrow."

Well, I talk with US Attorney Heard after the court session, which ended quite late this afternoon, and he said, "I don't know why the FBI misplaced this document. And I don't know why we couldn't produce it until now, but I've never seen the document until today."

And I asked him, does this petition, with all the signatures from Wounded Knee residents, affect the indictments against Means and Banks? US Attorney heard replied, "It doesn't affect the specific charges, but it may affect the overall count of conspiracy." And what he's saying there, of course, is that the defendants are charged with conspiracy to take over Wounded Knee from the rightful occupants.

Now, that was the end of today's session, but I think some very major questions remain out of what may have appeared in the last few minutes to be quite a morass of confusing items. I think these questions are, first, how did the FBI get the petition to begin with.

Secondly, was it deliberately suppressed? Thirdly, why wasn't it handed over to the United States Attorney's Office for transfer, then to the defense under the court ordered discovery motion from last October? And finally, if the FBI-- rather, if it was among Pedro Bissonnette's papers taken by federal officers after the killing of that Indian leader last fall, what other papers, if any, does the government now possess but is yet to reveal?

SPEAKER: It sounds, again, Kevin, like we've hit a very significant point. I must confess that we've been having these nightly conversations for eight or nine weeks now. And at times, I guess we've both agreed some of the developments weren't too terribly significant. But these, last few days, things are really starting to move in the trial, aren't they?

KEVIN: I think so. I think this was quite a shock to everyone in the courtroom. And the defense says is that-- the defense lawyers say that they're quite outraged that they haven't received this before. Now, on the other hand, the government attorneys say that they never saw the document until today.

But in any case, it's very significant that it does exist. The defense has said that it's been searching for this document for a year, obviously, had no copy of its own, and now everyone seems to have a copy or at least a Xerox copy.

SPEAKER: And whether it's authentic or not remains to be seen.

KEVIN: I'm looking over mine now. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER: OK, Kevin, we'll be anxiously awaiting further developments and those will come, presumably with the arrival of that FBI agent from Denver in the morning.