Justice Dept. overruled ATF agent aiding FBI over unreliable informant in COINTELPRO plot against Omaha Black Panthers

Gates' duplicity in the case would not be known for years until after the trial when a Freedom of Information release of COINTELPRO memos revealed that Gates had asked the Omaha FBI Special Agent-in-Charge to drop Bureau analysis of the emergency call tape recording of the lethal message luring Minard to his death.  Peak, the murderous adolescent witness against Poindexter and Langa, had claimed he made the call but the voice on the tape did not sound like him.  Gates did not want the exculpatory information known to defense attorneys and succeeded in withholding the tape from the jury.

The COINTELPRO memo, dated October 13, 1970, was from the Omaha FBI office to J. Edgar Hoover:

"Assistant COP GLENN GATES, Omaha PD, advised that he feels that any use of tapes of this call might be prejudicial to the police murder trial against two accomplices of PEAK and, therefore, has advised that he wishes no use of this tape until after the murder trials of PEAK and the two accomplices has been completed."

Poindexter and Langa were convicted of first-degree murder for Minard's death by a jury unaware of the withheld evidence, Hoover's COINTELPRO orders, or false testimony by Omaha Police detectives about the case.  Both men are serving life sentences at the Nebraska State Penitentiary.

The Nebraska Supreme Court is now considering Poindexter's request for a new trial.  No date has been set for a decision.

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