The Martyrdom Of Collins Catch The Bear

(Paperback)

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The search for justice for a Lakota Sioux man wrongfully charged with murder told here for the first time by the legendary trial lawyer for among many others Karen Silkwood and Randy Weaver. This is the untold story of Collins Catch the Bear, a Lakota Sioux, who was wrongfully charged as part of a conspiracy with the murder of a white man at Russell Means's Yellow Thunder Camp in 1982, a controversial American Indian encampment in the national forest. Though Collins was innocent, he took the fall for the actual killer, a man placed in the camp with the sole intention of destroying the reputation of AIM. This story reveals the struggle of the American Indian people in their attempt to survive in a white world, on land that was stolen from them. We live with Collins and see the beauty that was his, but that was lost to the pressures of a racist, white society. Today justice is still struggling to be heard in this case, as well as many like it in the American Indian nations.

Reviews

*"Renowned defense attorney and activist Spence casts a long look backward at a haunting case.
"As a prosecutor, said Spences opposite in a trial four decades ago, you do the best you can with the witnesses youve got. That trial concerned a murder charge against a young Lakota man namedCollinsCatchtheBear, who had been raised with every disadvantage: alcoholic parents, foster families, juvenile detention, low self-esteem, and a quickness to cry tears of rage and act out, a tendency that sent him to a mental hospital, where a psychiatristconcluded that he suffered from a behavior disorder of childhood with unsocialized aggressive reaction, moderate to severe. Adds Spence, in short, this fourteen-year-old boy was pissed to the max. The boy was a Lakota who did not speak the language or know much of his peoples history; when he came into the orbit of Russell Means and the revived American Indian Movement of the early 1980s, he was eager to join.Collinswas soon swept up in trouble, accused of killing a white man who had threatened him and several other Sioux. The facts didnt add up. As Spence writes of the victim, his right hand was completely covered with blood, but not a drop of blood was on the pistol. Someone had put the pistol in the mans handafterhe was dead. Furthermore, the key witness for the prosecution was a professional liar, but the case went on.Collinswas convicted and sentenced, though a sympathetic judge lightened his sentence, an act of kindness that did no good. The young man was soon in and out of jail for other offenses and came to a bad end, in Spences view a modern-day martyr whom life had dealt nothing but bad hands.
A fine work of true crime and a lesson in how justice can be poorly served despite good intentions.
A fine work of true crime and a lesson in how justice can be poorly served despite good intentions.Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Spence (Court of Lies)relates the circumstances surrounding the 1982 arrest and subsequent trial of Collins Catch the Bear, a young Lakota Sioux accused of killing a white man in the Black Hills. Before discussing his own involvement in Catch the Bears defense, Spence describes the bleak childhood that Catch the Bearborn to impoverished, alcoholic parents on the Standing Rock Reservationspent in foster care and boarding schools, a peripatetic existence that led to struggles with alcohol, drugs, and crime. Spence lays out the scanty evidence against the defendant, the conflicting stories of the eyewitnesses, and the political climate surrounding Catch the Bears involvement with Russell Meanss controversial American Indian Movement (AIM). As Spence takes readers through the defense teams investigations, he shares the thought processes that shaped his conviction of Catch the Bears innocence, along with his suspicions of a deeper conspiracy. ...thoughtfullyportrays justice both manipulated and denied in this sharp indictment of the treatment of indigenous people."Library Journal

"Trial lawyer Spence (Police State: How Americas Cops Get Away with Murder) unveils in this sad, sobering account the horrific and heartbreaking story of Collins Catch the Bear, a Lakota Sioux who became Spences client after he was charged with the fatal shooting of a white man in 1982 near the Yellow Thunder Camp outside Rapid City, S.Dak. As Spence meticulously builds his case for Catch the Bears innocence, he describes how law enforcement officers manipulated witnesses by preying on their fears of the police, prosecutors focused on their own political goals to the detriment of justice, and activists tried to cover up the death and only succeeded in fueling the flames surrounding the case. He also addresses ingrained discrimination against and systematic marginalization of Native Americans, noting, In those days (and perhaps today in some quarters of the state), Indians were viewed with approximately the same affection as coyotes, rats, and other vermin. Spence, who has never lost a case, was ready to go to trial and was certain he would win, but Catch the Bear fired him and pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, second degree manslaughter, with a maximum sentence of 10 years. Spence considers Catch the Bear a martyr because he believed his client pleaded guilty to save the encampment; had Catch the Bear been tried and acquitted, Spence suggests, there would have been reprisals from the white community. This frightening work makes clear the ways the justice system can fail to protect the countrys most vulnerable citizens." Publishers Weekly

In a story chock full of vengeance, treachery, racism, tragedy, and despair, Gerry Spence recounts the torments endured by his young client, Oglala Lakota Collins Catch the Bear, before, during, and after his court room battles in 1982-1983. The trials occurred near the end of a period of intense Indigenous activism spearheaded by the American Indian Movement. Catch the Bear was unjustifiably prosecuted for events that had taken place when he was living at the Yellow Thunder Camp of Native activists in the Black Hills of South Dakota, lands held as sacred by the Lakota and other Tribal nations. Over those years, Spence witnessed, fought, and chronicled the personal and institutional racism that continues to typify the experience of Indigenous peoples living in the U.S. There are no heroes in this intimate, unvarnished account, and Spence spares no one, not even himself.He has thus managed to evoke the dark and lonely struggle that will be all too familiar to Natives and is critical reading for those non-Natives who seek to understand more about Indigenous experiences and history.David Wilkins (Lumbee), professor, University of Richmond

Author Bio

Gerry Spence is legend among the trial bar and one of the greatest trial lawyers of our times. His civil practice and defense of those charged with crimes has gained him an international reputation for his high profile cases and record results. His trials have been the subject of books and television. He is an author of nineteen books as well as a television celebrity, poet, artist and photographer. He received the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the Consumer Attorneys of California. In 2009 he was inducted into the American Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame. In 2013 he received the Lifetime Achievement award presented by the American Association for Justice. He is the founder of the nonprofit Trial Lawyers College in Wyoming, is the founding member of The Spence Law Firm, LLC, and practices in Jackson Hole, Wyoming with his many business partners. Spence served as one of Collins Catch the Bear's lawyers on the Yellow Thunder case.