[Ppnews] Hoover informed by FBI of cover-up of evidence in Black Panther case and took no action

[Political Prisoner News]

Original Content at 
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_michael__080203_j__edgar_hoover_info.htm

----------
February 3, 2008

J. Edgar Hoover informed by Omaha FBI of cover-up 
of evidence in Black Panther case during COINTELPRO and took no action

By Michael Richardson

The Nebraska Supreme Court is hearing the appeal 
of Ed Poindexter's 1971 conviction for the 
bombing murder of Omaha police officer Larry 
Minard.  Poindexter was head of the Omaha chapter 
of the Black Panthers, called the National 
Committee to Combat Fascism, when Minard was 
killed in an ambush bombing while answering a call about a woman screaming.


A fifteen year-old, Duane Peak, confessed and was 
convicted of planting the bomb.  However, in 
exchange for testimony against Poindexter and his 
co-defendant, Mondo we Langa (formerly David 
Rice), the young murderer was given a deal and 
sentenced as a juvenile walking free in 1974.


At the time of the bombing, the Black Panthers 
were the targets of a secret, and illegal, 
operation of the FBI ordered by Director J. Edgar 
Hoover to disrupt the group.  COINTELPRO agents 
in the field, eager to please Hoover, engaged in 
a wide variety of dirty tricks, including illegal 
acts, and dutifully notified Hoover.


Poindexter and Langa were already targets of 
COINTELPRO when Peak committed his crime and the 
Omaha Police went to work to make a case against 
the two Panther leaders working closely with federal agents.


Peak's testimony against Poindexter and Langa was 
critical to obtaining their conviction and his 
credibility was crucial.  However, the police had 
one big problem, the voice on the emergency call 
that lured Minard to his death did not sound like 
Peak.  If Peak had an accomplice who made the 
call then his testimony against Poindexter and Langa was suspect.


In exhibits now before the Nebraska Supreme 
Court, the COINTELPRO communiqués are under 
review and tell a disturbing tale of withheld 
evidence and Hoover's knowledge of the withheld 
information.  On the day of the bombing, August 
17, 1970, the Special Agent in Charge of the 
Omaha FBI office sent an Airtel message to Hoover.


"Enclosed for the laboratory is one copy of a 
tape recording obtained from the Omaha Police Department."


"The enclosed tape was recorded from an existing 
tape (the original) recording used by the Omaha 
Police Department in their normal emergency 
telephone calls for the period of 8/17/70 between 
the hours of 12:00 Midnight and 9:00 a.m."


"[Name redacted] inquired into the possibility of 
voice analysis of the individual making the call 
by the FBI Laboratory.  He was advised the matter 
would be considered and that if such analysis 
were made and if subsequent voice patterns were 
transmitted for comparison, such analysis would 
have to be strictly informal, as the FBI could 
not provide any testimony in the matter; also, 
only an oral report of the results of such 
examination would be made to the Police Department."


"Any assistance rendered along the lines 
mentioned above would greatly enhance the 
prestige of the FBI among law enforcement 
representatives in this area, and I thus strongly 
recommend that the request be favorably considered."


"In view of the forgoing, it is requested that 
the FBI Laboratory examine enclosed tape 
recording and make the appropriate voice print to 
be retained for comparison against other tape 
recordings of suspects to be submitted at a later date."


Two months later on October 13, 1970, after 
Peak's preliminary hearing and testimony that he 
made the emergency call, the Omaha Special Agent 
in Charge again notified Hoover of developments 
in the case and passed along the request to ignore the tape.


"Assistant COP GLENN GATES, Omaha PD, advised 
that he feels that any use of tapes of this call 
might be prejudicial to the police murder trial 
against two accomplices of PEAK and, therefore, 
has advised that he wishes no use of this tape 
until after the murder trials of Peak and the two 
accomplices has been completed."


"UACB, no further efforts are being made at this 
time to secure additional tape recordings of the original telephone call."


The recording of the emergency call was withheld 
from defense lawyers and jurors in the case never 
got to hear the voice that set the lethal 
trap.  The original tape was destroyed in April 
1978.  Later, a copy made at the order of George 
Winkler, head of police communications in Omaha, 
surfaced.  Poindexter's co-defendant, Mondo we 
Langa, raised the matter on appeal.


In 1983 the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that 
there had been no "expert in voice analysis" to 
support the claim that Peak's voice was not on 
the emergency call tape and denied Langa's 
appeal.  In 2004, Poindexter tried again and in 
2006 a vocal expert, Tom Owens, subjected the 
tape to a series of scientific tests concluding 
that to a high degree of certainty it was not 
Peak's voice on the withheld tape.


Now, twenty-five years after Langa's appeal about 
the tape, the Nebraska Supreme Court will again 
review the matter, this time considering both 
expert testimony and with knowledge about J. 
Edgar Hoover's role in the withholding of 
exculpatory evidence.  A date for a decision has not been set.

Permission granted to reprint



Authors Bio: Michael Richardson is a freelance 
writer based in Boston. Richardson writes about 
politics, election law, human nutrition, ethics, 
and music. Richardson is also a political consultant on ballot access.




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