US vs LEONARD PELTIER TRIAL TRANSCRIPT EXCERPTS Case Number CR77-3003

SA ROBIN MONTGOMERY
CROSS EXAMINATION B

ROBIN MONTGOMERY,
being first duly sworn, testified as follows:
 DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. SIKMA:

 Q  Would you please repeat your name for the jury.
 A  Robin L. Montgomery.
 Q  What is your occupation?
 A  I'm a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
 Q  And where is your place of assignment?
 A  Omaha, Nebraska.
 Q  I direct your attention to the 27th of June, 1975. Where were you on that date?
 A  I was in the vicinity of Jumping Bull Hall.
 Q  On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation?
{950}
 A  That's correct.
 Q  I direct your attention to the afternoon of that day. Did you have occasion to make any particular search on that particular afternoon?
 A  That's correct.
 Q  And in what area particularly were you searching on the afternoon of June 27, 1975?
 A  I was searching the grounds directly beneath where the bodies had been found of the two agents.
 Q  I ask you to turn around and look behind you. There is a large map which is marked Government's Exhibit 71 and there is a pointer there on your right. Would you take that pointer and point to the jury where it was that you were making an examination.
 A  Right here (indicating).
 MR. SIKMA:  May the record reflect that the witness pointed to the area just to the right of what's marked "Coler's Car."
 Q  (By Mr. Sikma) Mr. Montgomery, was there anything on the ground that attracted your attention or did you make a visual inspection of the ground in that particular area on that day?
 A  That's correct. The ground had some, still some blood on the ground, flies. We dug, I dug underneath the ground to try and obtain some type of evidence possibly.
 Q  Were there any cars parked in that particular area on the {951} afternoon of the 27th?
 A  There were not. No cars there.
 Q  And this was a day after the bodies of Special Agents Williams and Coler had been released?
 A  That's correct.
 Q  I will show you what has been marked as Government's Exhibit 54 on page 1 and also on page 4. I ask you to look at page 1 and page 4. Do you recognize the area which is depicted in those photographs?
 A  That's correct.
 Q  Now can you tell me whether or not you can relate the area depicted in that photograph to the area which you were testifying about searching the grounds?
 A  This is the area which there was some deep tire tracks. The grass was matted where the bodies had lain and this is the area which we dug up at the time.
 Q  And did you find anything while you were digging in the ground in this area?
 A  That's correct.
 Q  And what did you find?
 A  Found a piece of metal that was of an unusual configuration.
 Q  I will show you, after showing Counsel, Government Exhibit 34H for identification.
 I will show you Government Exhibit 34H for identification and ask you whether or not you can identify Government Exhibit {952} 34H?
 A  This is the piece of metal that I recovered from digging underneath where the body had lain.
 Q  And what did you do with this item?
 A  After recovering it, I placed it in an 1A envelope and made out what we call a green sheet and submitted it as evidence to the evidence room at that time.
 MR. SIKMA:  Your Honor, I would offer into evidence Government Exhibit 34H.
 MR. LOWE:  No objection.
 THE COURT:  34H is received.
 Q  (By Mr. Sikma) Now when you testified that you found Government Exhibit 34H and you also looked at Government Exhibit 34, did you find that in the area which is depicted in the photographs on page 1 and 4 of Government Exhibit 54?
 A  That's correct, I did.
 MR. SIKMA:  I have no further questions at this time.
 MR. LOWE:  May we have a moment, Your Honor?
 THE COURT:  You may.

BY MR. LOWE: CROSS-EAMINATION

 Q  Special Agent Montgomery, at the time you examined this ground, what did you have to assist you? Did you have any mechanical items to assist you? Did you probe it?
 A  I had a knife, what we call a K-bar I guess you might call it. It was a large knife I used to separate the ground and some {953} cardboard that I placed the dirt on in doing that.
 Q  Did you use a metal detector to determine whether there was any liklihood of metal in the area or did you just take a guess?
 A  I did not.
 Q  How large an area did you probe in?
 A  Probed in an area where the blood was the thickest and probably a three foot by four foot, something relatively small area.
 Q  Were you there when the bodies of the two dead agents were found?
 A  I was.
 Q  Did you see them before they were moved?
 A  I did.
 Q  Did you see them before they were turned over?
 A  I did not.
 Q  Do you know whether they were turned over or not?
 A  I did not; no.
 Q  When you saw the two agents and they were still there, were they laying facedown or faceup?
 A  I couldn't make that determination. I was too far away.
 Q  And you would not have any way of knowing whether the spot you were probing was on an area which was underneath one of the dead agents when he was lying there prior to the arrival of the FBI force or not, would that be true?
{954}
 A  Could you repeat that again.
 Q  Taking the agents as they were before any other FBI agents came upon them --
 A  Yes.
 Q  -- and disturbed the area at all or moved them, they were both there. You have no way of knowing, I gather, from your own knowledge whether the area in which you found the remnant was located under one of the bodies or not or whether it was just off to the side of one of their bodies?
 A  Once again, where the majority of the blood was was where the search was conducted. That's the best answer I can give.
 Q  As to whether the blood was there under the agent or when they rolled him over?
 A  I don't know where.
 Q  You have no way of knowing, do you?
 A  I have no way of knowing that.
 MR. LOWE:  Excuse me a moment.
 No further questions, Your Honor.
 MR. SIKMA:  That's all I have at this time, Your Honor.
 THE COURT:  You may step down.