Donny Bear Robe Wants to Change His Plea to Not Guilty

DONNY BEAR ROBE WANTS TO CHANGE HIS PLEA TO NOT GUILTY

I accompanied the Bear Robe's to Rapid City today, on a mission to help them get a plea change from guilty to not guilty for their son, Donny. What a shock that court appointed, Gary Colebach, had when I walked into the office with Cecil and Carmelita. He didn't even acknowledge me, but just shoved some papers under Cecil's nose, telling him how the sentencing was going to go. I let him talk on for awhile, then I interrupted, "Excuse me. I hate to interrupt here, but I would like to say a few words here. My name is Janis Schmidt."

"I know exactly who you are," growled Gary.

"Good," I said. "I am here today to see to it that Donny’s request to change his plea from guilty to not guilty gets to the judge. He sent a letter to his father, who has shared it with me, and it is his decision that he wants a jury trial, which is also the wishes of his parents."

"I don't think that is a good idea," said Gary, "and it is against my advice."

"I think that is his right, isn't it? At any rate, I was asked to help draft a letter to the judge to list the reasons why he wishes to change his plea." And I read the letter which is as follows:

To: Judge Batty

From: Donny Bear Robe
Re: Plea Change
March 4, 2005

Honorable Judge Batty,

I request to change my plea from guilty to not guilty, because I am not guilty of any felony crime nor did I kill anyone. For the following reasons, I want a plea change:
1. I was coerced into a plea bargain, by Counsel assuming I am guilty, and he frightened me. I thought I was innocent until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
2. I have incompetent Counsel, who told me I could change my plea back at any time, no problem.
3. I was under duress and stress from the State, who never once listened to my side of the story of what happened.
4. My father, Cecil Bear Robe, has hired a private investigator who has uncovered new evidence that will prove the following:
A. Police ramming a vehicle in a high speed chase is standard procedure in order to stop the chase
B. Police struck victim with bumper
C. Police moved body and destroyed blood trail
D. Police Captain, Harold Brewer and Special Investigator, Marvin Bad Wound, covered up for guilty police officers
E. Someone hired a Bill Bielecki to videotape Donny and 6 passengers in the pickup. Bielecki said he was from the Justice Department, Civil Rights, and that he was going to help. When everyone was subpoenaed to a grand jury, we realized this man was a fraud, and tried to report him to the U.S. Attorney, who refused to investigate.
5. I have not been allowed to prepare for my defense. My court appointed attorney did not do a very thorough investigation. Nor did he help prepare a defense.
6. I was forbidden to question any potential witnesses, nor did my attorney make any attempt to question witnesses. We were told not to talk to anyone. How can one find out the truth without asking questions?
7. I want the opportunity to testify in my own behalf. I want, as my right, a trial by jury.
8. I am now aware that criminal misconduct has taken the place of justice on my behalf, an innocent man.
All these statements are true to the best of my knowledge.
Donny Bear Robe

I did not look at Gary as I read the letter. Carmelita did, though. She said she saw him turning livid red. He then began to argue that he had done a good job and that the evidence would not support a verdict of not guilty.

I said, "Of course not. That's because no evidence was gather in Donny's defence."

"The police report will show that Donny is guilty.”

"The police sometimes lie and cover up crimes. However, I am not here to argue the merits of the case. I am here to see that this letter gets presented to the judge."

"I cannot advise my client to sign this."

"I don't think it is up to you, now is it? It is Donny's wish to have a jury trial. That is his right, is it not?"

"Well, I can no longer be his attorney."

"Fine. How do we get this letter to Donny to sign and then get it to the judge? What is the procedure?"

"He can mail it."

Carmelita said, "That would be way to late."

"That's right," I said.

So Gary said he would take the letter to Donny to sign or not. That he would also take the sentencing guideline. I said, "Fine."

We left the Public Defender’s office. It was about noon. I said, "All of this has made me very hungry. So Cecil took us to a restaurant.

We then went to the jail. It was the first time I had seen Donny. He had all the gentle Lakota characteristics about him as his father. I asked him if he had killed Geri Plenty Arrows. He said he didn’t even know she was in back of the pickup. Then I asked if he wanted to change his plea to not guilty. He said yes. I held up a copy of the request for plea change letter and asked if this was his reasons. He said yes. At about that time, Gary Colebach came in with the same letter and a copy of the sentencing agreement. I hung up the phone, they talked, and I could see Donny signing the letter.

On the way out, after we left the cell block, Coleman told us he would take the letter to Judge Battey.
I, then suggested to Carmelita that we go over to the Public Library, when often times, a person could find useful information. We looked up the number for ACLU and left a voice message. Then I came across the State Attorney, Larry Long. Called and talked to him. He said that the State could not become involved in Indian affairs. I asked where these people might find an attorney. He said one should have been appointed by the court. When I told him the public defender quit when Donny insisted on changing his plea to not guilty, Mr. Long said that Donny has a right to an attorney, that he would be calling over to the Public Defender’s office to see about it.

Sunday, I get a call from Cecil. He said that someone from here had been called to go to Rapid City Friday, for a hand picked jury in Donny’s case. I said, "How can that possibly be? We haven’t heard yet on the request for a plea change." The person he named is a relative to Geri, the dead victim in all this.
Something is going on here, and it doesn’t smell good. It looks like the Federal Court is scaring Lakotas into pleading guilty which accounts for the rather large number of Lakotas incarcerated in South Dakota prisons, almost 1000. If they change their plea back to not guilty, they get their jury trial in a couple of days.

It just about takes your breathe away to realize what is going on here. The Tribal police aided and abetted in a murder, moved the body, destroyed the evidence, hired Bill Bielecki to videotape Donny and passengers in the pickup to frame up Donny. Harold Brewer and Marvin Bad Wound contact the U.S. Attorneys office stating that a murder has taken place on the Reservation, and name Donny as the guilty person. No investigation takes place. The prosecution just goes with the story they were presented. Donny is arrested and put in Pennington County Jail. He is assigned court appointed attorney, Gary Colebach, from the Public Defender’s office. Gary doesn’t investigate, questions no one, doesn’t even question Donny. The only thing he does is scare the hell out of Donny and his poor parents, that if he goes to trial, he will be found guilty of 2nd degree murder and will be put away for life. Or he can take this sweetheart deal of a plea bargain, plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter, and get 6 years, with probation. Not knowing any better, they took the deal back in December. Donny plead guilty. Donny just lost all his rights. Now he is really at the mercy of the court, who doesn’t have to listen to him. When Cecil tried to get the plea changed a couple of weeks ago, both the court appointed Colebach, and Public Defender, Vikken, would not allow them to send a request to the judge to change the plea.

At no time did it interest anyone to find out the truth. No one questioned Donny as to what happened from his perspective. No one asked what happened at that party. No one asked the Bear Robes what they saw when they found Geri’s body. No one questioned that no way could Donny have run over someone falling out of the back of the pickup. No one questioned why Officers Whari and Hollow Horn pursued a vehicle in a chase of over 7 miles, which is in violation of the OST Code. No one questioned why the officers rammed Donny’s pickup, causing him to lose control. Once he had plead guilty, no one is going to ask these troubling questions. His sentencing date was set for March 8th.

Not knowing what else to do, or who to turn to, that’s when Bear Robe’s contacted Lucy Bull Bear to find out what to do. Lucy contacted me, and together we are conducting our own investigations on what really happened. The first thing for Donny to do is to request a hearing to get the plea changed back to not guilty.

Janis Schmidt is an artist, writer, and a teacher. Lucy Bull Bear is a first cousin to Arlo Looking Cloud. Together, they are conducting their own investigations into criminal misconduct of officials. If you have any questions, call Lucy at 605-455-1138.