Biography
American Indian Movement (AIM) activist framed with Paul Skyhorse in the 1974 killing of cab driver George Aird at the Camp 13 AIM camp in the hills north of Los Angeles. Held nearly four years awaiting trial before both defendants were acquitted in 1978, in a case widely seen as part of COINTELPRO-style targeting of AIM. Documented in PFOC Breakthrough magazine.
Movement reporting during the pretrial years (Revolutionary Cause, March 1977) reported that Mohawk could no longer straighten one arm after a beating in which he was chained to the bars for days with his arms cuffed up behind his back, and that both men were held in solitary in separate prisons, forcibly drugged, and "subdued" — beaten, choked and dragged out — in court when they tried to speak for themselves.
Amnesty International monitored the case throughout: Chilean lawyer Dr. Eugenio Velasco observed the trial on the organization's behalf, and in July and October 1977 Amnesty wrote to Governor Jerry Brown, Senators Cranston and Hayakawa, and the Los Angeles County Jail warden over allegations that the two prisoners were denied adequate medical treatment and ill-treated in the Ventura and Los Angeles county jails (Amnesty International Report 1978).
The Militant (September 23, 1977, p. 24) reported that Los Angeles County Jail guards punched Mohawk on August 30, placed him in solitary overnight, and suspended his self-representation privileges for forty-eight hours. The article said Judge Floyd Dodson declined to intervene despite acknowledging that officials had not obtained the required court order. This account is attributed to the contemporary report. Source: https://www.themilitant.com/1977/4135/MIL4135.pdf
The August 1977 report says prosecutors withdrew a proposed lesser-charge agreement that could have resulted in immediate freedom. The judge had rejected the agreement, and Supreme Court review was pending. A conditional plea offer is not an executed release. The Militant, August 26, 1977, volume41number31, original PDF page 22. Source: https://www.themilitant.com/1977/4131/MIL4131.pdf#page=22
The July 1977 report says the California Court of Appeals declined on July 11 to overturn Dodson’s rejection of a proposed lesser-charge agreement. Trial continued; the offer did not produce a release.
