Indian Country

By Nomaan Merchant
Sioux Falls, South Dakota (AP) November 2010

The alleged shooter in the murder of American Indian Movement activist Annie Mae Aquash is expected to go on trial for murder starting this week.

John Graham, a 55-year-old man from Canada, is accused of shooting Aquash in the head and leaving her to die on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.

Prosecutors say Graham and two other members of AIM kidnapped Aquash in late 1975 because they suspected Aquash of being a government spy.

It took authorities almost three decades to charge Graham and a second member of AIM, Arlo Looking Cloud. Looking Cloud was convicted in 2004 and is serving a life sentence.

Denise Maloney Pictou, one of Aquash’s daughters, says she hopes Graham’s trial will help bring justice to her family.