Opinion

Levi Rickert: City wastes tax dollars on Clyde Bellecourt trial

Monday, September 23, 2013

Levi Rickert, editor of Native News Network, discusses the re-trial of Clyde Bellecourt, a co-founder of the American Indian Movement, in connection with an arrest at an Idle No More event last December:

"smh" is internet chat slang for "shaking my head."
That is what I did when I heard an assistant city attorney said he would retry Clyde Bellecourt for a misdemeanor trespassing charge.
This after a Minneapolis jury spent nine and half hours over three days deliberating Bellecourt's guilt. The deliberations turned into a hung jury. The judge who presided over the week-long trial declared a mistrial.
Bellecourt, 77, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, was on trial for his arrest last Christmas Eve for trespassing. On that day, he had gone to the IDS Center IDS Center on Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis.
Bellecourt was at the mall at the end of an "Idle No More" round dance flash mob that was put on to bring attention to the hunger fast of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence.

Get the Story:
Levi Rickert: “smh” at the Assistant City Attorney Wanting to Retry Clyde Bellecourt for Trespassing (Native News Network 9/19)