Native American Activist Leonard Peltier Released From Prison

Leonard Peltier, a Native American rights advocate who spent nearly 50 years incarcerated for the deaths of two FBI agents, was released from federal prison in Central Florida on Tuesday morning.

At 80 years old, Peltier will now serve the remainder of his two life sentences under home confinement in North Dakota, where he belongs to the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.

The decision to commute Peltier’s sentence was one of the final acts carried out by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. before leaving office. Those pushing for his clemency included Nobel Peace laureates, former law enforcement officials—among them the lead prosecutor in his case—human rights groups, and public figures such as Steven Van Zandt, guitarist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band.

However, the FBI, including its former director Christopher Wray, vehemently opposed clemency, calling it a betrayal to fallen agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams. Wray described Peltier as “a remorseless killer.”https://svtoday.org/

At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Peltier’s lawyers, who argue that he is innocent, stated that he should not even be placed under house arrest. “We still have work to do,” said his lead attorney, Jenipher Jones. “It is our position that any detention of Leonard is unlawful.”

Though not all Native Americans support Peltier, the conference celebrated him as a symbol of injustice. “Leonard did 50 years for us, and tomorrow, we’re welcoming him as a hero in our homeland,” said Chase Iron Eyes, a Native American civil rights lawyer.

Peltier was a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), which raised awareness about the U.S. government’s mistreatment of Native Americans. He was convicted for his involvement in a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which resulted in the deaths of two FBI agents and one activist. Prosecutors claimed the agents were shot at close range.

Although Peltier admitted to shooting from a distance, he maintains that he acted in self-defense and did not kill the agents.

Among the more than 30 individuals present during the shootout, Peltier was the only one convicted. Two other AIM members who were tried for murder were acquitted on self-defense grounds. Exculpatory evidence that was introduced in their trials was not admitted in Peltier’s, a point that his supporters argue undermined the fairness of his trial.

In 1986, an appeals court ruled that the government had withheld evidence, including ballistic analysis from the scene, but concluded that its disclosure “probably” wouldn’t have altered the jury’s guilty verdict.

In 2021, James Reynolds, a former federal prosecutor involved in Peltier’s case, was among those who urged President Biden to grant clemency. Reynolds noted that the prosecution had failed to prove Peltier’s guilt and had overlooked the FBI’s role in creating the dangerous circumstances on the reservation that day.