Wesley Bad Heart Bull

Wesley Bad Heart Bull (June 10, 1952 – January 27, 1973) was a Native American man whose murder at the hands of Darld Schmitz was the catalyst for the events later known as the Wounded Knee incident.

Early life Wesley Charles Bad Heart Bull was born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota on 10 June 1952. and had been jailed in Custer, Hot Springs, South Dakota, and Hill City on assault, disturbing the peace and public intoxication charges. Around 2:00 A.M., Bad Heart Bull lay in the street, bleeding from the wound made by a knife that was still buried in his chest. Bad Heart Bull died from blood loss, while en route to a Hot Springs hospital. This was the second assault that Schmitz had committed against a Native American. One source, The Observer-Reporter, wrote that he was out of jail on a $2,500.00 bond.

On 6 February 1973 (one source purports the hearing was to take place on 26 February 1973), Sarah Bad Heart Bull and Robert High Eagle left their homes in Hot Springs, South Dakota and drove to Custer, taking with them Trina Bad Heart Bull, Eddy Clifford and Francis Means, all of whom were present in Buffalo Gap the night Wesley Bad Heart Bull was murdered, to give statements to the Custer County State's Attorney, Hobart H. Gates, and to attend the Schmitz preliminary hearing. On that same day, AIM staged a protest over the "minimum" involuntary manslaughter charge issued to Darrell Schmitz, in Custer, South Dakota. However, the authorities had already made preparations, aided by natural occurrences, by the time AIM members arrived in Custer. There was a heavy snowstorm around Custer prior to the protest. Second, the Custer County authorities postponed the Schmitz preliminary hearing in anticipation of a caravan of American Indian Movement members who would be arriving in Custer on 6 February 1973. Guards had been stationed at all exterior doors of the courthouse to screen all persons who wished to enter the courthouse, and various law enforcement officers, such as the State Highway Motor Patrol, were put on stand by in the event of trouble. Four members of the American Indian Movement, Russell Means, Dennis Banks, Leonard Crow Dog and Harry David Hill, who were chosen by the group as delegates to confer with the state's attorney, were initially denied entry before eventually being allowed to enter the courthouse. As chaos enveloped the area, a state trooper threw the mother of the murder victim to the ground. including Russell Means, Dennis Banks, and Sarah Bad Heart Bull, as well as being charged with riot and arson.

Sarah Bad Heart Bull's release was advocated for by a caravan of defendants of the Custer Courthouse Incident, with defendants like Reginal Dixon-Brave testifying at Sarah's trial. She stated that she sympathized with Sarah's situation and went to Custer in order to get justice for the persecution that Native Americans have been facing for years.

Hill was identified by Thelma Rios, another AIM activist who he lived with, as having provoked the Custer Courthouse Incident.

Schmitz was acquitted of the second-degree manslaughter charge later that year by an all-White jury.

Vincent Eli Bad Heart Bull, Jr., who has been incarcerated since the age of 17,

Sarah Jennie Bad Heart Bull, mother of Wesley Bad Heart Bull, died on 18 February 2013, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, at the age of 83.