Kanietekeron (Larry Thompson) Arraigned in St. Lawrence County

On Monday, February 27th, 57 year old Larry Thompson of Akwesasne appeared in front of Hon. Jerome Richards, Judge for the County of St. Lawrence in Canton, NY. Thompson was being arraigned on the charges of criminal mischief, resisting arrest and reckless endangerment. The charges were laid against Mr. Thompson after an incident ensued more than six months ago (August, 2011) when Larry used a backhoe to dig up contaminated soil left at the former GM plant in Massena, New York, leading to the arrest and subsequent indictment of Mr. Thompson.

Larry Thompson entered the courtroom wearing traditional regalia, along with several other individuals showing support for Thompson. Thompson is representing himself in the case and refused to answer the court’s questions regarding a plea, “because he doesn’t recognize the court’s jurisdiction or NYS Law, and wouldn’t abide by American law, but instead Tribal law”, as reported by various news sources. Larry stated, on camera, that “I can appreciate the fact that he’s ignorant to the laws. He’s only going down what he was programmed and trained, ours is ancient law”, referring to the Judge’s continued request for Mr. Thompson’s plea and continued attempts to appoint a public defender to represent him. Judge Richards was quoted as saying, “You are a human being subject to the laws of this state. My job is to make sure you have a fair trial.”

In a previous interview with Larry, he recalled trucks at General Motors dumping huge piles of what he believed to be asbestos, machinery, wires and chemicals that cause heart, kidney, liver, skin, lung, rare cancers, birth defects and other terrible diseases right next door to his home. “It’s a perfect example of who the law protects,” Larry stated in a recent interview, “It’s the big corporations and they got off scot-free. They got bailed out by the United States Government and the people are left with the contaminants that are still leaching into the ground, the water and the air.”