Peyote Charges Against Native American Dropped

Through the sage smoke and rain Monday, Paul Skyhorse Durant chanted for victory in front of the county courthouse. He won the day’s battle, but he may not have won the war.

The former bank robber with a long history as a Native American activist won at least a temporary victory--succeeding in getting charges dropped in a case involving possession of 250 pounds of peyote.

Prosecutors decided against filing charges at this time against Durant and a friend who calls himself Buzz Berry, saying they determined that it looked as if the two were going to use the peyote in legitimate Native American ceremonies, as they had contended.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. William Redmond said charges may be refiled after further investigation. And Sheriff’s Department officials refused to return the peyote.

“They’ve told us they will not under any circumstances return it,” Durant said.

He plans to file a motion in court this morning asking a judge to order the Sheriff’s Department to return the peyote.

Monday’s hearing came after an hourlong drumming and chanting ceremony in which Durant and his supporters burned sage incense and prayed in front of the courthouse.

Durant contended that he was being singled out for harassment by Ventura County law enforcement officials because of his history as a Native American activist and because of his run-ins with the law here and elsewhere.

“I think we should file charges against them for discrimination and failing to respect our religious rights,” he said.

He said Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury had a personal vendetta against him.

Durant was acquitted of murder in 1978 after a celebrated yearlong trial that Bradbury prosecuted. Durant and another man, Richard Mohawk, had spent more than three years in Ventura County Jail on suspicion of murdering cab driver George Aird, whose mutilated body was found in 1974 near an American Indian Movement camp in Box Canyon near Simi Valley.

In 1984, Durant and Mohawk were convicted in a Los Angeles federal court for a bank robbery during which a customer was shot and wounded. Durant was sentenced to eight years in prison, while his partner was sentenced to 20 years. He got out of prison in 1988.

At the time of his 1984 sentencing, Durant had asked for leniency, saying that his troubles with the law were due partly to alcoholism and that he wanted to help his fellow Native Americans.

During Monday’s hearing, Durant told Judge Steven Hintz that under a recent federal law protecting religious expression--the Religious Freedom Restoration Act-- he had the right to use and transport peyote.

“These are our sacraments,” said Durant, who compared the spineless, blue-green cactus buds to the Holy Communion or sacramental wine in Catholic religious ceremonies. The cactus is revered by some Native Americans as the flesh of God.

“Our right to use this is guaranteed by the federal government,” he said.

Durant and Berry were arrested Nov. 22 after deputies found 10,000 buttons of peyote in their car during a routine traffic stop.

“It’s not as if we were hiding it or anything,” Berry said.

“It was all over the van, you know,” Berry said. “We had it in back, up on the dashboard. We weren’t hiding it. Why should we?”

During Monday’s arraignment, prosecutor Redmond said the district attorney decided to drop the charges after the two men produced proof of their tribal membership as well as letters showing that they belong to the Native American Church.

But Redmond defended the arrest, saying that the papers the two men initially produced were not valid.

At Monday’s hearing, Durant and Berry produced letters from representatives of the Native American Church showing that they are both members of the church and registered members of Native American tribes. The letters said Durant is from the Ojibway Nation and Berry is from the Siletz Nation.

Despite the decision to drop the charges at least temporarily, officials would not return the 250 pounds of confiscated peyote.

“We still consider this an illegal substance, and we’re not releasing it until we get a legal opinion that says otherwise,” said Sheriff’s Capt. Mark Ball, a spokesman for the department.

Durant said he plans to fight that decision in court.

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BACKGROUND

The peyote cactus, or Lophophora williamsii, is revered by some Native Americans as the flesh of God.

The hallucinogen mescaline can be derived from the palm-sized spineless peyote bud, or button.

The blue-green cactus buttons are ingested by Native Americans during religious ceremonies.

For the 250,000 members of the Native American Church, peyote use is not a federal crime. But a strange mix of state interpretations makes its use permissible in 28 states and illegal in 22 others.

The cactus grows in the deserts of the Southwest.