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- Dear Friends,
Maka Duta has been charged with falsifying requests for
absentee ballots on the Crow Creek Sioux reservation. She says the
accusations are unjust and has filed suit against former South Dakota
attorney general Mark Barnett.
Maka Duta, also known as Rebecca
Red Earth-Villeda, faces a trial on 19 counts
of forging absentee ballot applications. Each count carries a maximum
prison term of five years.
Barnett has stressed that the case involves a small number of
applications only. "We don't have any evidence that she ever got her
hands on any ballots, that any fraudulent ballots were ever cast by
anything that she had anything to do with," he said.
Despite this avowal, the Wall Street Journal and others have used the
case to suggest Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) stole the 2002 election.
They're scapegoating Maka Duta to discredit the growing power of
Native people at the ballot box.
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- Unfortunately the Democrats have abandoned Maka Duta and she is
facing these charges alone and needs legal and financial support.
Please contact me about donating to Maka Duta's defense.
I'll make sure any funds are spent on effective legal representation for
her. Thank you for your generosity in this trying situation.
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- Victor Rocha
- victor@pechanga.net
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