Cases of nine people convicted for roles they played in Wounded Knee occupation come before appeals court. The appeal is a consolidated one, with two lines of attack: one on US jurisdiction (the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty guarantees sovereign rights of Lakota people), the other, government misconduct (the FBI paid informant Doug Durham to infiltrate AIM). The appeals court many not act on treaty issues, so the case may be sent to the Supreme Court. Lawyer Vine DeLoria says for too many years the government has treated Indian tribes as sovereign some of the time and wards of the state at other times. She wants an unambigious ruling on what the relationship is, which has implications for Pine Ridge Reservation. A ruling expected in two and a half months. Martin Bunzl and Bob Potter report.