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BOOKS Echoes of murder Doubts haunt an Indian leader's jailing 0 n a blistering June morning in 1975, during a dayloog battle between na- tive Indians and Jaw enforcement officials on the Pine Ridge reserve near Wounded Knee in South Dakota, an assail- ant stumbled upon two stranded agents of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and shot each of them in the head. The officers died instantly, but their violent demise set into motion a complex series of events that cootinues to raise questions about the plight of the American Indian, bias within the U.S. judjcial sys- tem and the role played by Canadian authorities in the imprisonment of a man who is believed by many prominent individuals and human-rights organizations to be innocent. Now, after winning two libel suits that cost his publisher more than $2 million-the defence was one of the long- est and most expensive in publishing history-Amen- i can author Peter Matthies- ..., sen has re-released his con- 1 troversial 1983 book about ~ the event, /11 tlu Spirit of ij Crazy Hom (Viking, 645 l pages, $35). lcnowledged the truth of that allegation-but declined to grant the request for an appeal of Peltier's extradition. But now, in addition to Matthiessen's legal victory and the publication of his book, Peltier's supporters have other reasons to hope that the imprisoned activist's controversial case will call on witnesses to introduce new evidence of wrongdoing in the government's handling of the Pine Ridge investigation and Peltier's 1977 trial in Fargo, N.D. Among those expected to testify is Judge Paul Benson, who presided over the earlier trial. Said Frank Dreaver, co- founder of the Leonard Peltier Defence Com- mittee (Canada), a lobby group based in Scar- borough, Ont., and one of several such committees in North America and Europe: "Finally, we are seeing signs of hope." The history of In the Spirit of Crazy Horst rivals that of the story it tells. In 1983, Viking stopped the presses after former South Dakota governor William Janklow and FBI special agent David Price launched their lawsuits. By then, about 30,000 first~tion copies of the book- which now fetch up to $250 apiece-had made it into circulation. The lawsuits against Mat- thiessen and Viking sought a total of $55 Fuelled by an open rage at Indiana commemorating the 1890 .maaacre at Wounded Knee Jut year; Peltier (below): rage what he describes as "400 years of betrayals and excuses" by North American courts and politicians in their treat- ment of Indians, Matthiessen's hard-bitting and unabashedly one-sided tale appears in bookstores one year after the standoff began between police and Mohawk Warriors at Oka, Que. And Matthiessen's courtroom victories may represent the beginning of a reversal of the fortunes of American Indian leader Leon- ard Peltier, the dogged hero of /11 tlu Spirit of Crazy Hom. In 1977, a North Dakota court sentenced Peltier, now 46, to two consecutive life terms for the shooting deaths of FBI special agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams on that summer day 16 years ago. Since the verdict, Peltier has unsuccessfully appealed his case twice in U.S. courts. And in 1989, he even took his case to the Supreme Court of Canada, where Toronto lawyers Clayton Ruby, Frank Addario and Dianne Martin argued that, after Peltier's capture in western Alberta in 1976, the FBI bad falsified evidence in its successful efforts to extradite him. The hig1-! court ac- receive renewed attention. Director Oliver Stone is in the early stages of producing a feature-length film about the case. And Robert Redford has set a release date of early next year for his production company's just<0m- pleted documentary, directed by Michael Apt- ed ( Coal MiMr's Daugl,te,) and tentatively called Peltier. That film will include appear- ances by several of the activ- ist's most vocal supporters, including Canadian Liberal MP Warren Allmand, who in May introduced his fifth pri- vate member's bill into Par- liament seeking to annul the extradition proceedings and return Peltier to Canada. Meanwhile, a North Dako- ta court is scheduled to con- vene on July 29 for an eviden- tiary hearing at which Peltier's U.S. Ja~ers will million in damages for libel. Janklow, who was the attorney general of South Dakota at the time of Peltier's trial, claimed that the book had portrayed him as "morally decadent." Price said that it painted him as a "corrupt and vicious" individual. A South Dakota judge dis- missed Janklow's suit, calling Matthiessen's account "fair and balanced." In the Price case, a Minnesota Federal Court judge conceded that the book was "an entirely one-sided view of people and events." Still, the judge dis- missed the libel case, defend- ing Matthiessen's right to state his opinion and praising ; Viking's determination to un- ..., dertake the publication ci. i such "difficult but important ~ works." - Matthiessen, whose most ! recent book, Killi,cg Mr.