Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

August 3, 2011

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."

"We had a son, Steven Bearcrane, who was murdered while at work and the person responsible was never charged or never spent a night in jail for this, even though he was intoxicated when he killed our son. We have filed suit against the FBI and US Attorney's Office of South Dakota for the way they grossly handled this case because we are Indian.  People are frustrated when they find out the details and that no charges were filed," the family said in a message to Censored News.

"The FBI agent is asking for immunity.  The way the offices treated us, in regards to Indians, is the reason there was no prosecution for Steven's murder. We are trying to get our story out into the news because of the injustice we have faced."

"There is so much to this murder that it frustrates anyone when they hear the details. The pain of losing our son is hard to deal with; but there is absolutely no justice for our son or our family. We as a family are suffering 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.
"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:
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2011/08/crow-indian-parents-seek-justice-for.html

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