The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments on April 15 for one of the men accused of murdering American Indian Movement activist Anna Mae Pictou Aquash.

John Graham is from the Southern Tutchone First Nation in Canada. He says he can't be tried in federal court for Aquash's murder on the Pine Ridge Reservation because he is not an "Indian" under U.S. law.

A federal judge in South Dakota agreed and Marty Jackley, the U.S. Attorney for South Dakota, filed a new indictment that linked Graham to a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe who is also charged with Aquash's December 1975 murder. But Jackley also filed an appeal of the judge's decision that will be heard by the 8th Circuit in St. Louis, Missouri, next month.

The appeals comes barely a month before Graham and Richard Marshall, an Oglala Sioux man, are set to go to trial for Aquash's murder. The trial is supposed to start on May 12. Marshall has filed a motion to dismiss.

Arlo Looking Cloud, who is Oglala, is serving a life sentence for his role in Aquash's murder. He was convicted in February 2004.

Get the Story:
1975 AIM slaying gets appeal hearing before trial (AP 3/22)
Feds urge judge not to dismiss AIM slaying charges (AP 3/23)

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