Reservation slaying case soon to go to jury

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) – A jury soon will begin deliberating the fate of a man facing a murder charge in a 34-year-old killing on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Attorneys on Thursday are making their closing arguments in the trial of Richard Marshall, who is accused of providing the gun that was used to kill American Indian Movement activist Annie Mae Aquash (AH'-kwash) in December 1975.

Defense attorney Dana Hanna on Wednesday asked U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol to acquit Marshall after the prosecution rested its case but Piersol refused.

Prosecutors believe AIM leaders ordered Aquash killed because they thought she was a government informant. Federal investigators have denied Aquash was a snitch.

Marshall has pleaded not guilty to murder and aiding and abetting murder. His trial has lasted more than a week.