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 In Memory of Standing Deer His website with photos, archives, guestbook >>> A warm thank you from Anna Standing Deer to all his friends and supporters. All are invited to visit the new with Standing Deer's writings... There is also a guestbook to look and sign, and also the first responses - Standing Deer Presente. Thank you all! Standing Deer Remembered by Ken Freeland Sunday January 26, 2003 at 04:29 PM A short report on the memorial held for murdered Native American activist Standing Deer on 26 January at http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2003/01/7018.php the memorial held in his honor at the Miller Funeral Home in Southwest Houston. One-by-one, people he had touched with his wisdom and love stood before the mourners to recall with great fondness the man each described as one of the As the sweet smell of burning sage wafted through the air, his family members and many friends recalled his continual smiling, laughter, joke-telling and story-telling. Also testified to was Standing Deer's courage in the face of the oppression of the prison system, and his fearlessness in breaking with the people who were setting him up to take part in Leonard Peltier's the length of his prison stay, and his treatment while there. This riveting story, as recounted by Standing Deer, was read aloud to the audience, and a frisson of awe swept the room at this electrifying report of this man's fortitude in the face of such powerful pressure. had vowed not to die till Leonard Peltier was released from prison. So clearly he is still with us, and will not truly rest until Leonard is free. Leonard was notified of Standing Deer's brutal murder, but as luck would have it, had run out of allotted telephone minutes and statement from prison. Speakers agreed that the best tribute to pay to Standing Deer would be the continuation of the struggle to free Leonard Peltier. For more information on the local Houston effort to free Leonard, contact Jac at jacbat@pdq.net the progressive community. But the struggle for Peltier's release will only grow stronger from it. As someone very close to Standing Deer said at the conclusion of the memorial (in a Native American language): "We are all related." July 8, 2003, 1:53PM By LISA TEACHEY Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle A Lakota Indian from Maryland was sentenced today to life in prison for the slaying of a 70-year-old parolee who had become an activist for prison inmates and an advocate for American Indians. Pius Vinton Smashed Ice, 38, will not be eligible for parole for 30 years. He pleaded guilty in May to the Jan. 20 stabbing death of Standing Deer, a Choctaw Oneida also known as Robert Hugh Wilson. Smashed Ice originally told police that burglars broke into Standing Deer's townhouse in the 11600 block of Chimney Rock and that he came home to find Standing Deer dead, authorities said. Smashed Ice later admitted he had killed Standing Deer during a violent argument. Standing Deer had spent about a quarter century behind bars for state and federal robbery convictions. He was killed a little more than a year after he was paroled. Standing Deer was best known in the American Indian community for his friendship with longtime activist Leonard Peltier and for exposing an alleged plot to assassinate Peltier. 
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