FARGO (KFGO KVRR) – Lynn Crooks of Fargo, who prosecuted former American Indian activist Leonard Peltier for the murders of two FBI agents in 1975, has died. Crooks was 83.
As an assistant U.S. attorney, Crooks led the government’s team of prosecutors during Peltier’s trial in Fargo in 1977.
Peltier was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. The shootings happened during a confrontation South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Crooks also prosecuted Yorie Kahl, the son of Posse Comitatus member Gordon Kahl. The Kahls, along with Scott Faul, were involved in a fatal shootout with law enforcement officers near Medina, N.D.
The shooting resulted in the deaths of U.S. Marshal Kenneth Muir and Deputy Marshal Robert Cheshire.
“Lynn was a wonderful man. A great trial lawyer. But more important, a kind and caring man with lots of friends who loved him,” according former federal prosecutor and East Central District Court Judge Norman Anderson, a longtime colleague.
Crooks was an assistant U.S. attorney from 1969 to 2002.
After retiring, Crooks became an outspoken supporter of Marcy’s Law, which was designed to expand the legal rights of crime victims.
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