Robert Robideau

Robert Eugene Robideau (November 11, 1946 – February 17, 2009) was an American activist who was acquitted in the 1975 shooting deaths of two FBI agents in South Dakota.

Early years Robideau was born the second of 12 children in Portland, Oregon, on November 11, 1946, to William Robideau from the White Earth Reservation, who was of Ojibwa, Dakota, and French descent, and Yvonne Lavendure from the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. He attended Roosevelt High School in Portland and later graduated from Portland State University, where he earned a degree in cultural anthropology, as well as a degree in the arts from the Institute of Native American Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

American Indian Movement Robideau left Portland with his cousin Leonard Peltier and other family members, heading to South Dakota to become members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) and to participate in its protests against corruption and poverty on tribal reservations. The AIM occupied the reservation town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1973, known as the Wounded Knee incident. Defense attorney Lewis Gurwitz showed the jury a sacred pipe during opening arguments and stated that the pipe would be kept on the defense table during the trial as a sign that the Native American's religion forbids murder.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested Peltier, and he was charged and convicted of the slayings and sentenced to two life sentences. According to his niece, Starr Robideau, Robideau's body was brought back to Portland, Oregon where his funeral was held. A service honoring him was also conducted in Edgewood, New Mexico, in March 2009.