The State - News from May 7, 1987

A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled that American Indian Movement leader Dennis Banks and three others could be prosecuted in Oregon on 1975 federal charges of transporting guns and dynamite. Saying that previous orders in the case had been misunderstood, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered U.S. District Judge James Redden to proceed with trial, despite earlier rulings that the constitutional right to a speedy trial had been violated. Redden’s dismissal of the case on those grounds was upheld on appeal but was later reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Redden refused to reinstate the charges, saying his ruling had been left intact by both the Supreme Court and the 9th Circuit. But the appellate panel said Redden had apparently failed to understand that his dismissal of the charges had been overturned, even though the order did not explicitly mention due process of law.