It's up to Jesse Crowchild, a crusading First Nations lawyer, to prove the young man's innocence. Jesse is fighting the good fight for the downtrodden, but he is scarred emotionally by a tragic family accident

It's at this point it must be mentioned that Innocent Until Proven Indian is not a true mystery novel. Oh, it's a crime story for certain, but the reader knows who the real killer is from the start of the book. In a real mystery, the writer should keep the reader guessing.

In this case, the cops are just lazy and not downright racist in the way they think he's guilty. It's up to a minor character, Mike Morningstar, a retired police officer, to show just how badly those lazy white cops bungled the investigation.