The Martyrdom of Collins Catch the Bear

Trial lawyer Spence (Police State: How America’s 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 Spence’s 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 Bear’s 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 country’s most vulnerable citizens. (Sept.)