Pubdate: Wed, 29 Jun 2005
Source: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Copyright: 2005 The Salt Lake Tribune
Contact:  http://www.sltrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/383
Author: Pamela Manson

NO BAIL FOR UTAH CO. PEYOTE PROMOTER

Called a danger to community: Witnesses testify James "Flaming Eagle" had
threatened them for cooperating in an investigation

A federal magistrate said Tuesday that a Utah County man who promotes the
use of peyote in American Indian religious ceremonies is a danger to the
community and ordered him held until his trial on drug charges.

But U.S. Magistrate Samuel Alba allowed Linda Mooney, 51, wife and
co-defendant of James "Flaming Eagle" Mooney, to be released from jail
pending the trial. The two were arrested Thursday after a federal grand jury
indicted them on charges of illegal possession and distribution of the
hallucinogenic cactuses.

A third defendant, Nicholas Stark, 54, of Ogden, was not arrested and has
been issued a summons in the case.

Alba handed down his decision after hearing testimony that James Mooney, 61,
allegedly continued to obtain peyote for his Oklevueha Earthwalks Native
American Church after his 2000 arrest on state drug charges. In addition,
several witnesses said Mooney had threatened them with financial ruin - and
worse - for cooperating in an investigation of whether the Mooneys had the
legal right to use the substance.

Peyote can be used legally only by members of the Native American Church.
James Mooney obtained a membership card in 1997 to the Oklevueha Band of
Yamassee Seminole Indians, which is a tribe that is not federally recognized
and one that traditionally does not use peyote. The tribe revoked the card a
few months later, but Mooney allegedly continued to use it to get peyote.

In a 2000 raid, police seized 12,000 peyote buttons from the church in
Benjamin. The Mooneys were charged with drug felonies. Those charges were
dropped in 2004 after the Utah Supreme Court ruled that church members,
regardless of race, legally can use peyote.

But federal authorities contend that only church members who also are
enrolled in federally recognized tribes are eligible to use the substance.

At the hearing Tuesday, Jim Pritchard said Mooney suspected him of being a
confidential informant for the Utah County Sheriff's Office. Pritchard, who
with an associate used to conduct American Indians ceremonies for state
prison inmates, testified that Mooney called his associate and said he
should tell the prisoners "to get rid of me." But his associate did not
comply.

Pritchard and another witness, Terri Holland, a former employee at the
Oklevueha Earthwalks Church, both said the Mooneys accused them in a federal
lawsuit of violating their constitutional rights. The legal action, which
also names Utah County officials as defendants, is pending.

Holland said James Mooney accused her of lying to investigators and said
there could be serious repercussion. Her former boss said he wouldn't sue
her if she made a five-minute video saying she had been manipulated into
testifying against Mooney. She refused.
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