"The Lord knows I tried but something happened which forced me to realize that I had no alternative but to say what I said. No matter what anyone says from now on I refuse to call myself a man, or anything close to a man because I did what I did. Even though there was no other way, because they already had enough evidence to convict those other two bloods."
Peak continued his lament trying to explain his testimony.
"I not only turned against those two bloods, but I turned against myself and my own people. I could have denied everything and all three of us would have gone up to the chair. And then again if I denied everything one of those other bloods would have gave them a story and sent me and the other dude up."
Peak ended up getting his deal and was sentenced as a juvenile delinquent serving just 33 months before his release.
Two Omaha detectives, Jack Swanson and Robert Pheffer, gave conflicting testimony both claiming to have been the one who discovered dynamite at Langa's house. Pheffer would later contradict his own trial testimony and embellish his tale with finding wired suitcases that were never listed on any police inventory sheets and not seen by anyone else.
Assistant Chief of Police Glenn Gates later would ask the Special Agent-in-Charge of the Omaha FBI office to forget about a tape recording of the emergency call that led Minard to his death. Gates had sent a tape into FBI headquarters for analysis but lost interest when it was determined the tape would be "prejudicial" to the prosecution because the voice on the tape did not match Peak, leaving an unidentified accomplice on the loose.
The police case against the two Panther leaders would unravel if a search for all involved was conducted. The request by Gates to ignore the deadly tape recording was sent directly to J. Edgar Hoover who personally monitored developments in the COINTELPRO operation.
The supplier of the dynamite that killed Larry Minard was a suspected police informant, Raleigh House, who only spent one night in jail for the crime and was never formally charged or brought to trial.
Ed Poindexter and Mondo we Langa were convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment and are presently incarcerated in the maximum-security Nebraska State Penitentiary. Both men deny any involvement in the death of Minard.
A request for a new trial by Poindexter is pending before the Nebraska Supreme Court. No date has been set for a decision.
Permission granted to reprint.
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