#BanAIMKillers #MMIW
Justice for Annie Mae Pictou Aquash Woman Warrior
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Annie Mae Pictou Aquash (Mi'kmaq) Naguset Eask - Sun Woman March 27, 1945 - December 12, 1975 Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia
REMEMBERING ANNIE MAE, WHO SHE WAS AND WHAT SHE STOOD FOR..... To know Annie Mae is to understand and honor the injustices she suffered in life and in death. To this we dedicate this page. Annie Mae Pictou Aquash (Mi'kmaq) Naguset Eask - Sun Woman March 27, 1945 - December 12, 1975 Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia Annie Mae Pictou Aquash, a member of the Mi'kmaq Nation from Nova Scotia, Canada, was more then just a Native rights activist during the 1970's.

She was a women, mother of two beautiful girls, daughter, wife, sister, and friend who was kidnapped, raped and then executed. She was the true meaning of what a Native warrior stood for. She fought for all that she believed in… women's rights, our children, our elders, our land, our freedom of religion, our treaty rights and so much more. Annie Mae joined the American Indian Movement (AIM) for just those reasons. She believed their intentions were honorable and just, that they stood for everything she stood for. She traveled in the early 1970s' to South Dakota to participate in taking a stand in defending the rights of Indigenous people who couldn't help themselves.

But the deeper she got involved with AIM and the more she learned the truth, she began to question the integrity of the group and how women and grassroots people were being treated. Her dedication and ability to stand strong in the face of adversity eventually would lead to her execution. Because she questioned the actions and morality of a few individuals it was decided that she no longer needed to have a voice and did not deserve the right to live. In the last few days of her life Annie Mae suffered indignities no human being or woman should ever have to suffer. Yet, even until the end she fought for all that she believed in, though sadly some of those that she used to believed in, didn't believe in her and as a result to protect themselves, they took her life. They kidnapped her… they raped her… they shot her execution style in the back of the head, as she prayed for her children, then they left her to die in the frozen plains of South Dakota. Annie Mae's murderers have walked free for over 3 decades and her daughters still wait for justice… and while those responsible may have taken her life, Annie Mae's spirit carries on, like the warrior she was and still is.

The latest on the investigation into the murder of Annie Mae Pictou Aquash March 21, 2003: The United States Department of Justice issue indictments against two suspects, Arlo Looking Cloud and John Boy Patton Graham December 1, 2003: John Graham, a.k.a. John Boy Patton is arrested and charged with murder. February 6, 2004: Looking Cloud was tried and convicted by a jury in Rapid City, South Dakota of being Party to First Degree Pre-Meditated Murder.

December 2004: Graham was brought before a B.C. supreme court judge for an extradition trial. February 21, 2005: Judge Bennett ruled that John Graham should be extradited to the United States to stand trial in his involvement in the murder of Annie Mae Pictou Aquash. Graham then appeals the extradition. December 6, 2007: Graham's appeal to the Canadian Supreme Court is formally turned down. John Graham has exhausted his legal remedies and is extradited to the United States the same morning. December 7, 2007: Graham is presented to a federal magistrate in Rapid City, South Dakota and pleads not guilty to Murder in the 1st Degree. December 11, 2007: A federal judge sets Graham's trial date to February 12, 2008. The trial is later rescheduled to June 17, 2008. March 2008: Graham’s lawyer asked for another three months to prepare because the evidence includes 112 audio tapes and about 5,000 documents. August, 2008: A 6th Grand Jury reviews evidence and hears from witnesses/suspects in the Aquash case. August 26, 2008: Vine Richard (Dick) Marshall is arraigned and charged with aiding and abetting 1st degree murder after a federal grand jury indicts him on August 20, 2008. May, 2009: Federal murder charges against John Graham are dropped for a second time based on motions by his defense attorney that Graham is not an "American Indian" as defined by U.S. law.

Dismissal of charges are appealed to District Federal Court. July, 2009: A federal appeals court during late July upheld the dismissal of a key charge against John Graham accused of the 1975 slaying of Annie Mae Aquash, a leader and member of the American Indian Movement, opening the possibility he could be tried in state court. August, 2009: John Graham and Richard Marshall are scheduled to stand trial on October 6th in Rapid City, S.D. September, 2009: Federal prosecutors ask for another delay in the trial of John Graham and Richard Marshall. Prosecutors say they've asked for a rehearing on the dismissal of one of the three counts against Graham and can't proceed on the two remaining charges until that appeal is resolved. September 10, 2009: South Dakota state prosecutors indict John Graham and Thelma Rios on murder charges in the killing of Canadian Annie Mae Aquash near Wanblee, S.D. in December of 1975. October 6, 2009: Thelma Rios arraigned on one count of felony murder in relation to kidnapping and one count of premeditated murder in the death of Annie Mae Aquash. November 6, 2009:

Federal Appeals court turns U.S. Government appeal down and upholds dismissal of murder charges against Graham on technical jurisdictional grounds. November 6, 2009: Thelma Rios trial set for March, 2010 (Update as of December 29: Trial date rescheduled for Tuesday, July 6, 2010) December, 2009: Court date for Graham and Marshall set for February 16th, 2010 in Rapid City, South Dakota. April 22, 2010: A federal jury found Vine Richard “Dickie” Marshall not guilty of murder in connection with the 1975 execution slaying of American Indian Movement activist Annie Mae Aquash of Nova Scotia, Canada. November 2010: Thelma Rios, 65, was charged in state court with one count each of felony murder in relation to kidnapping, and premeditated murder. She pleaded guilty to one count of accessory to kidnapping and was sentenced to five years in prison, which was suspended by Judge John Delaney. December 10, 2010: John Graham was acquitted of premeditated murder, but found guilty of felony murder in connection with a kidnapping, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. January 24, 2011: John Graham, convicted in the 1975 slaying of Annie Mae Aquash, will serve life in prison, a judge decided, closing a major chapter in an investigation that’s taken more than three decades.