Leonard Peltier

Bullet Holes

Leonard Peltier mugshot

It remains one of the most controversial questions of the entire Peltier affair: Was the AR-15 that was pulled from the burning station wagon actually the weapon Peltier had carried on June 26, and if so, was it the same weapon that killed Coler and Williams?

The feds insisted that it was. But Peltier's supporters, arguing that the FBI withheld some evidence and manipulated other facts, continue to maintain, as Harbury puts it, "there is no forensic evidence as to the exact type of rifle used to commit the murders. Several different weapons present in the area during the shootout could have caused the fatal injuries. There was more than one AR-15 in the area at the time of the shootout. The AR-15 rifle claimed to be Mr. Peltier's was found to be incompatible with the bullet casing near the agents' car. Although other bullets were fired at the crime scene, no other casings or evidence about them were offered by the prosecutor's office. In short there is no reasonable evidence that Mr. Peltier committed the murders. Instead there is very strong evidence of FBI misconduct."

In its report, the FBI concludes that it withheld no evidence, but seems to admit that it could have handled the evidence better. The shell casing found in Coler's trunk, the FBI writes, "was recovered by an agent examining the car for fingerprints rather than firearms evidence." As a result, the feds say, that casing was not included in an initial shipment of evidence including several shell casings sent to the FBI's ballistics lab for testing.

"The FBI laboratory made a partial examination of seven .223 shell casings from the first shipment of evidence," the report continues. "These casings were government-issue and could therefore be distinguished from those which were later associated with Peltier's AR-15. In addition, the AR-15 that had been recovered from the burned-up vehicle in Kansas had an extremely smooth firing pin. The weapon that had fired the seven shell casings which were examined in the first shipmentleft a very distinct firing pin impressionthe initial comparisons of those seven shell casings were negative," meaning they could not be linked to the gun believed to be Peltier's.

A later examination, the FBI maintained, proved a link between shell casings recovered at the scene and the AR-15 that the government claimed Peltier was carrying.

But the feds made no mention of the earlier test in its case against Peltier. In fact, it took years for Peltier's defense team to even learn about the existence of the earlier test. As Bachrach wrote in a memorandum on the case obtained by Crimelibrary, "the linchpin of the case was a mysterious link between a mysterious casing found a few days after the shooting in the trunk of Agent Coler's vehicle. The FBI lab purportedly linked this casing to an AR-15 which Peltier purportedly wielded. After [Peltier's] conviction, Freedom of Information Act documents released by the FBI unequivocally showed that the FBI lab had conducted tests early on which demonstrated there was absolutely no link between the casing and the gun. Hence this withheld evidence blew apart any link tying [Peltier] to the shooting."