Sander

murder

trial starts

Morton man

accused in

gang-related

killing in June 2002

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

ST. PETER -- The murder trial of Christopher Richard "Big Smoke" Sander, 25, of rural Morton, got under way in the Nicollet County Courthouse Monday afternoon.

Sander is charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting murder for the benefit of a gang in the death of Frank Irving Parker, 22, of Minneapolis, on June 9, 2002.

The killing took place in rural Morton.

One of three key witnesses for the prosecution, Danielle Grey Eagle, testified Monday she only saw a maroon GMC Yukon Denali pull up to the murder scene and heard someone yell "Let's do this!" moments before she ran just as gunfire erupted.

Parker, 22, of Minneapolis, was confirmed as a member of the Native Mob street gang by Robert Fairbanks, one of his best friends, who also testified Monday.

Fairbanks and Grey Eagle were the first of the prosecution's witnesses in Sander's trial. Dennis William "Bundy" Pendleton, Jr., of Morton, pleaded recently to the crime.

Parker was found dead on the lawn of the Morris Pendleton residence after an all-night party that followed a pow-wow on the Lower Sioux Reservation. Prosecutors said Parker was shot over a dispute between the Native Mob and the Gangster Disciples, to which Sander and Pendleton supposedly belong.

One of the first people to respond to the initial 911 call was Deputy Mark Farasyn of the Redwood County Sheriff's Department.

Farasyn testified that he arrived at the Pendleton residence to find Parker dead on the lawn with three young women -- one of them Grey Eagle -- outside.

Farasyn testified that he interviewed Grey Eagle at the scene, but he wasn't able to take a formal statement from her at the time because she was intoxicated. He and Agent Denis Fier of the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension interviewed her in New Ulm on June 11, 2002.

During that interview, Grey Eagle told them she was standing outside the house when the Denali pulled onto the driveway and that Sander was driving and Pendleton was the passenger. She told them she saw Parker fall and saw Sander and Pendleton drive away. She stated no one else could have fired shots at Parker.

While on the stand, Grey Eagle said she started drinking the afternoon of June 9, 2002. She remembered Parker pulling out a handgun of his own in order to settle a dispute between Grey Eagle and Parker's girlfriend earlier in the evening.

Grey Eagle told the court she didn't remember who was outside the house at the time the Denali pulled up, but said she didn't remember much else because she was "blacking out."

Under cross examination by the defense, Grey Eagle testified that although she spoke with Farasyn at the scene, she did not tell him that she saw them shoot and kill Parker. Instead, she said that she ran away after she saw the Denali pull up in the driveway and heard the shots being fired as she fled.

She said she thought Sander yelled "Let's do this!," because she knew the difference between Sander's and Pendleton's voices. She said she didn't see any guns in the car at the time of the comment. She denied talking to Redwood County Sheriff Rick Morris that morning or telling police she saw Sander or Pendleton inside the SUV or that she told police she saw a gun inside the Denali or that she remembered being taken to detox in New Ulm but did remember waking up there.

Grey Eagle said she thought Sander was driving simply because she knew what kind of car he drove and she had her back to the SUV while she ran away.

Fairbanks testified for the prosecution that he was in the house when the shooting occurred. He then went outside and shot at the Denali after hearing the shots that killed Parker.

The trial continues today at 8 a.m. at the Nicollet County Courthouse in St. Peter.