Censored News Special Edition: Crow Indian parents seek justice for murdered son

Family says FBI agent was prejudiced toward Native Americans and failed to adequately investigate the murder of their son .

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

SEATTLE -- A Native American family is in Seattle today, seeking justice in the murder of their son, Steven Bearcrane, murdered on Crow Indian land in 2005. The family said the FBI agent in the case did not adequately investigate the murder and treated the family "like we were wasting his time."

"There is so much to this murder that it frustrates any one when they hear the details. The pain of losing our son is hard to deal with; but when there is absolutely no justice for our son or our family, we as a family suffer in our grief. Although the evidence shows murder the FBI did a very poor investigation and the US Attorney’s Office accepted it 'as is,'" the family said in a message to Censored News.

"We are now in Seattle for our hearing in the Ninth Circuit on Thursday, Aug 4, at 9 a.m. We had gotten a call late Monday from a woman who (we have never met) she said she heard about our case and is going to be at the court house with a banner and some others to meet us before we go in. WOW! this was very surprising! It is very comforting when others care," the family said.

Please see below the court documents and letter to the editor:
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The case is captioned Earline Cole v. Matthew Oravec, U.S. District Court case no.

CV-09-21-BLG-RFC-CFO, 9

th Circuit Court of Appeals case no. 11-35710.

Page 1 of 3

ATRICIA S. BANGERT

TTORNEY AT LAW, LLC

3773 Cherry Creek Drive North

Suite 575

Denver, Colorado 80209

Telephone: 303.228.217

Facsimile: 303.399.6480

Email:

pbangertlaw@aol.com

July 28, 2011

Honorable Michael W. Cotter

United States Attorney for Montana

2929 3

rd Avenue North

Billings, Montana 59102

: Steven Bearcrane

Dear U.S. Attorney Cotter:

This requests that you ask the Bureau of Indian Affairs (“BIA”) to conduct an

investigation into the murder of Steven Bearcrane, a member of the Crow Tribe. Steven

Bearcrane, was shot in the head and killed on February 2, 2005, by a Caucasian co-worker on a

ranch on which both men worked, within the Crow Reservation. The co-worker claimed that he

killed Steven in self-defense after Steven allegedly came at him with a knife. The FBI agent

investigating the homicide, Special Agent Matt Oravec, agreed with the killer. Oravec even took

it upon himself to tell the Crime Victim’s Compensation staff that Steven’s relatives were not

entitled to assistance under the Victim’s Crime Act (Crime Victims’ Rights Act, 18 U.S.C.

§3771, and, 42 U.S.C. §10607 (Victims Rights and Restitution Act of 1990)), because Steven’s

murder was a case of self-defense. A review of the evidence available to Steven’s parents,

Earline and Cletus Cole, proves that Special Agent Oravec did an inadequate investigation in the

case, they believe, because of his animosity toward Native Americans.

Further, the parents of Steven Bearcrane and other reservation members have filed suit

against the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Dakota alleging violations of equal

protection arising out of the agencies’ discriminatory provision of law enforcement services

(investigative and prosecutorial) to Native Americans.

1 Since the filing of that case, the FBI and

U.S. Attorney’s Office refuse to follow-up on new evidence in the case. Steven’s killer has not

been prosecuted and Steven’s mother, daughter and other family have to see him in town.

Page 2 of 3

Representative of the evidence showing inadequate investigation and prosecution is the

following: Crime-scene photographs show Steven lying in a pool of blood on the floor of the

ranch trailer in which he was killed. The knife with which Steven supposedly attacked the killer

was lying

in its sheath under an electrical cord, under the left side of Steven’s body (Steven was

right-handed). To believe that Steven’s killer acted in self-defense, Special Agent Oravec had to

believe that the knife was magical and somehow flew out of Steven’s hand back into its sheath,

and, then, flew under Steven’s body. Rather than believe in magical knives, it is more

reasonable to infer that Oravec has animosity toward Native Americans, such as Steven

Bearcrane, that affects his actions in cases involving Native American victims. In fact, Oravec

has been heard making disparaging remarks about Native Americans.

While in the Montana FBI Field Office, Special Agent Oravec exhibited the same

disregard of Native American victims in other cases. In the Springfield case, Robert Springfield

went on a hunting trip on the reservation and never came back. The FBI refused to investigate

his disappearance. When Mr. Springfield’s body was found many months later, the FBI refused

to investigate his death even though there were several persons who wanted to give statements.

Further, Oravec delayed Springfield’s identification, thus depriving the family of Social Security

death benefits.

Perhaps most disturbing is the FBI’s refusal to consider substantial new evidence about

Steven Bearcrane’s killing. Last winter, new evidence emerged about Steven’s murder and

Oravec’s animosity toward Native Americans. Specifically, a non-Indian woman who was also

working on the ranch the day of Steven’s murder executed an affidavit.

See attached affidavit.

In that affidavit, among other things, the co-worker stated that a month or so before Steven’s

murder, his killer bragged about being a sniper, and that could kill someone and make it look

like self-defense.” The co-worker stated that the ranch foreman had entered the trailer right after

Steven was murdered and saw no knife near his body, but did observe that a knife had been

planted later. She stated that the killer had a very aggressive dog who would not let anyone near

him if the dog felt that the killer was threatened. The co-worker stated that she tried to tell these

things to Special Agent Oravec, but that he cut her off and commented that “Indians can’t hold

their liquor and drugs.” She said that she tried to tell these facts to the Grand Jury but that the

Assistant U.S. Attorney, Maura Kohn, would not allow her to testify regarding these issues.

I sent that affidavit to Shon Hastings, an attorney representing the FBI and the U.S.

Attorney’s Office in the civil case, months ago. As far as I know, neither the FBI nor the U.S.

Attorney’s Office has taken any action with regard to the new evidence. I also sent the affidavit

to Edward Himmelfarb, the attorney representing the Department of Justice in the civil case

brought by Steven’s parents to force the FBI to treat Native American crime victims the same as

Caucasian crime victims. His only response was that the United States would not allow the

federal court to see the affidavit.

It is hard to understand, as a practical and ethical matter, why there has been such

reluctance, as well as active resistance by the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), and its agency, the

Page 3 of 3

FBI, to fully investigate Steven’s murder. It is even harder to understand why that reluctance and

active resistance continues after the agencies received the affidavit from Steven’s co-worker, a

person who has no interest in the murder other than to see justice furthered. The only conclusion

one can draw from these facts is that animosity against Native Americans is institutionalized in

some DOJ offices.

Further, it is this kind of disregard and disrespect for Native American crime victims that

has contributed to the horrendous and unforgivable crime on reservations: the most recent Bureau

of Justice Statistics report showed that: (a) from 1976 to 2001 an estimated 3,738 American

Indians were murdered; (b) among American Indians age 25 to 34, the rate of violent crime

victimizations was more than 2½ times the rate for all persons the same age; and (c) rates of

violent victimization for both males and females were higher for American Indians than for all

races.

See American Indians and Crime: A BJS Statistical Profile, 1992-2002, 12/04 NCJ

203097). The highest crime rate

per capita occurs on Indian reservations. See Testimony of

Hon. Anthony Brandenburg, Chief Judge, Intertribal Court of Southern California before the

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, regarding a Legislative Hearing on S. 797, the Tribal Law

Enforcement Act of 2009, June 25, 2009. A report released by the Department of Justice found

that Native American women suffer violent crime at a rate three and a half times greater than the

national average (

Native American Women and Violence, Lisa Bhungalia, National NOW Times,

Spring, 2001); in fact, one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetime and 75

percent of perpetrators of those crimes are non-Indian (

See American Indians and Crime: A BJS

Statistical Profile

, 1992-2002, 12/04 NCJ 203097). Even the human rights group “Amnesty

International” has documented the deplorable lack of investigation and prosecution of sexual

abuse involving Native Americans.

See, for example,

http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGAMR510352007

Because of their concerns that the FBI or other parts of the Department of Justice can be

impartial or can perform an adequate investigation, Earline and Cletus Cole respectfully request

that you ask the BIA Law Enforcement Services to conduct an investigation into Steven

Bearcrane’s murder. The Coles believe that the criminal investigators within the BIA may be

able to provide valuable assistance to the DOJ in determining whether prosecution is warranted

in Steven’s murder. Please feel free to contact me if you wish to discuss the matters contained

herein. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Patricia S. Bangert

cc: Honorable Ken Salazar, Secretary, DOI

Honorable Larry Echo Hawk, Assistant Secretary, BIA

Darren Cruzan, Deputy Bureau Director, OJS--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

July 15, 2011

Dear Editor

My name is Cletus Cole and I am an enrolled member or the Gros Ventre Tribe of Fort Belknap. I am married and have a home in the rural area of Billings, Montana. This home is located 11 miles out and within the boundaries of the Crow Reservation.

My wife Earline and I have 1 daughter and 4 sons, one of which we have lost one in the most tragic way imaginable. Earline and our children are all enrolled members of the Crow Tribe.

Steven, the son we lost, is the reason for this letter. Steven was at work when he was shot and killed on February 2, 2005, and the shooter is a non-Indian and was never charged with anything or never spent one night in jail. This happened down the road from our home where Steven was employed as a ranch hand.

There is so much to this murder that it frustrates any one when they hear the details. The pain of losing our son is hard to deal with; but when there is absolutely no justice for our son or our family, we as a family suffer in our grief. Although the evidence shows murder the FBI did a very poor investigation and the US Attorney’s Office accepted it “as is.”

The FBI agent assigned to the Crow Reservation at that time always treated Indian victims and their families with no worth or importance. The agent showed us no concern when meeting at the FBI office with us about Steven’s case. In fact, the agent acted like we were wasting his time.
We filed a civil case claiming racial discrimination against the FBI and the US Attorney’s office of South Dakota in the Federal District Court in Billings to try to get the court to order them to do their jobs in regard to Indian victims of crime. The FBI and DOJ and their employees claimed sovereign immunity. However, the court would not let the FBI agent claim sovereign immunity but everyone else was able to. In other words, sacrifice the lowest man on the totem pole. The FBI agent through the DOJ is now appealing in the 9^th Circuit court and our court date for oral arguments is Aug. 4, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. in Seattle WA.

We as Indian people know firsthand what prejudice is and when the offices that should protect us and administer “JUSTICE FOR ALL” do not do this, then that leaves us as “Vulnerable Victims of All” people who want to commit crimes against Indians. Crime happens everywhere but, as you know, it is most rampant on reservations.

The MSU-Missoula journalism school picks an issue to investigate and sends teams out to investigate and write a magazine which is published every May and distributed in the Great Falls paper. Crime on reservations was the topic of 2009 there was a story from every Montana reservation. The story of Steven’s murder was the cover and center-page story and told of all the extremes measures we have done to pursue justice. Going to the 9^th Circuit Court is another is another endeavor we are doing in the hopes of achieving justice.

Injustice is not only in Montana but we have found along the way that reservations in other states also experience this. This case will set precedence for all Indian people in the 9^th circuit states over the treatment of Indian victims and we feel it is very important to have as much support as can be given. We are asking if any person or persons would come and attend the hearing and make their presence to be seen at this hearing. Your attendance will show the 9^th Circuit Court Judges the seriousness of the injustice done to Indians and that injustice because of our race is wrong.

Sincerely,

Cletus and Earline Cole