Washington (AP) Leonard Peltier, an indigenous activist who was imprisoned for the 1975 murders of two FBI agents, will soon return home. After decades of community-led lobbying claiming that Peltier’s incarceration was an example of the U.S. government’s abuse of Native Americans, President Joe Biden reduced his sentence on Monday.
Peltier, who is currently 80 years old and in deteriorating health, will move to home confinement, according to the White House. Since he has consistently insisted in his innocence, some of Peltier’s supporters praised the decision, but the commutation does not constitute a pardon for crimes committed. However, Biden’s last-minute departure infuriated law enforcement officials who suspect him of wrongdoing.
In a statement, the National Congress of American Indians praised the landmark ruling, stating that the case has long represented the structural injustices that Indigenous Peoples had to deal with.
Against the protests of former FBI Director Christopher Wray, the president commuted Peltier. Wray reaffirmed his belief that Peltier is a heartless murderer and pleaded with the president to do nothing in a confidential letter to Biden earlier this month that The Associated Press was able to access.
“It is completely unjustified and would be an affront to the rule of law to grant Peltier any relief from his conviction or sentence,” Wray wrote.
The American Indian Movement, which has struggled with prejudice and police brutality against Native Americans since the 1960s, included Peltier as a member.
When the movement occupied the community of Wounded Knee on Pine Ridge, the Oglala Lakota Nation’s reservation in South Dakota, in 1973, it made headlines and engaged federal officials in a 71-day siege.
In the midst of conflicts for Native treaty rights and self-determination, Peltier has long acknowledged that he was present and firing during the June 26, 1975, confrontation with FBI agents who had come to Pine Ridge to serve arrest warrants.
Agents Ronald Williams and Jack Coler were shot in the head at close range after being wounded in a shootout, according to the FBI. Joseph Stuntz, an AIM member, was also slain. After escaping to Canada, Peltier was extradited to the US and found guilty on two first-degree murder charges. Despite defense allegations of fabricated evidence, he was given a life sentence in 1977.
Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, Peltier’s co-defendants and two other movement members, were found not guilty of the murders.
Peltier was not eligible for release again until 2026 after being rejected parole as recently as July.
Chauncey Peltier, who was ten years old when his father was imprisoned, said on Monday that he felt both ecstatic and shocked.
“It means my dad can finally go home,” Peltier remarked. One of the longest-held political prisoners in the United States and one of the largest cases of human rights violations in history. Finally, he is able to return home. I can’t really put into words how I feel, man.
According to his son, the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota, is home to Peltier’s tribe, the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.
Peltier was still being held at USP Coleman, a high-security prison in Florida, on Monday, according to Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Emery Nelson. According to Peltier’s attorney, February 18 is the provisional date for his release.
Following decades of protests and lobbying by Native American leaders and others who believe Peltier was unfairly convicted, the commutation was announced Monday. He has long been regarded as a political prisoner by Amnesty International. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, civil rights leader Coretta Scott King, actor and filmmaker Robert Redford, and musicians Pete Seeger, Harry Belafonte, and Jackson Browne were among those who pushed for his release.
However, prosecutors, law enforcement officials, retired FBI agents, and their families vehemently opposed a pardon or any leniency of Peltier’s sentence. Peltier’s bids for clemency were also denied by Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. The years 1993, 2009, and 2024 all saw him denied parole.
As Biden was leaving the White House, Mike Clark of the FBI’s Society of Former Agents denounced the commutation as a shameful move. Like Clark, the FBI Agents Association was indignant.
It will simply be awful for the families of the two agents. Additionally, the man is a heartless murderer. Clark added, “And now he’s going home.” There was no opportunity for the two agents to return home.
Biden granted a record amount of commutations and individual pardons. He granted a broad pardon to his son Hunter, who was charged with tax and firearm charges, and announced on Friday that he was commuting the sentences of over 2,500 individuals found guilty of misdemeanor drug offenses.
The first Native American member of the Cabinet, outgoing Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, wrote on X that the commutation represents a measure of justice that has eluded so many Native Americans for so many decades.
She said, “I’m glad Leonard can now visit his family at home.” I commend President Biden for taking this step and for realizing the implications for Indian Country.
By STEVE KARNOWSKI, JOHN HANNA, ZEKE MILLER, and COLLEEN LONG, Associated Press. Karnowski reported from Minneapolis, while Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas. Contributions were made by Associated Press writers Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; and Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa.
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