Leonard Peltier, 78, a Native American activist and citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians (ND), is now in his 48th year of incarceration. He is serving two life sentences in a maximum-security federal prison for his alleged role in the deaths of two FBI agents during a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota in 1975. Imprisoned at the age of 32, Mr. Peltier is now elderly, and his conviction is turning into a de facto death sentence.
Leonard Peltier is serving a sentence for aiding and abetting in a case where his co-defendants, charged with the murder, were found not guilty on grounds of self-defense. In fact, the prosecutors acknowledged in 1978 that they did not know who specifically fired the killing shots, and the facts did not directly indicate the person responsible for the killing. For this, he is serving a longer sentence than most principals in murder convictions.
Leonard Peltier’s unjust imprisonment has been recognized as the product of a flawed prosecution, trial, and conviction by national and international human rights organizations, leading voices on criminal justice issues, dignitaries from around the world, and many current and former members of Congress. Leonard’s advancing age and fragile health status places renewed urgency behind the worldwide support for the effort to gain his release.
Our cry for justice is joined by former U.S. Attorney James Reynolds, whose office handled the prosecution of Mr. Peltier’s case. Mr. Reynolds wrote to Pres. Biden on July 9, 2021 beseeching him to commute Mr. Peltier’s sentence. Reynolds’ letter highlights the injustice of Mr. Peltier’s continued incarceration, noting the prosecutorial misconduct and constitutional violations committed by his office at the time and one juror’s early trial admission of racism against Native Americans.
In June of 2022, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention joined the call for justice with the release of an opinion calling for the immediate release of Leonard Peltier. The opinion deemed Peltier’s detention prolonged, indefinite, and arbitrary and specifically noted the anti-Indigenous bias surrounding Peltier’s detention, stating that he “continues to be detained because he is Native American.”
Finally, on December 3, 2022, Retired FBI Special Agent Coleen Rowley added her voice to the call for clemency for Leonard Peltier in a remarkable letter to President Biden. Her letter noted the key role that the “long-standing horribly wrongful oppressive treatment of Indians in the U.S.” played in Peltier’s case and, critically, the “FBI Family” vendetta behind their opposition to clemency that has kept Peltier behind bars for nearly five decades.
There has also been recognition of the FBI’s role in creating the volatile atmosphere on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation as a result of its efforts to interfere with the work of the American Indian Movement (AIM). At the time of the shooting, the FBI was actively engaged in and funding a covert campaign to suppress the activities of AIM, whose advocacy on behalf of Indigenous people was viewed as “extremist” political activity.
The FBI’s misconduct resonates deeply in Indian Country and represents a time of open oppression, racism, and aggression by federal law enforcement on Indian reservations throughout the United States. Their continued opposition to clemency for Leonard Peltier is now an emotion-driven vendetta with no place in our criminal justice system today.
The time for justice and mercy is now.
Clemency for Leonard Peltier
President Biden’s powers of executive clemency give him the option of granting a pardon or commuting a sentence. A commutation of his sentence will address the injustice and misconduct in the prosecution of Leonard Peltier and allow him to live out his remaining years in his tribal homelands on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indian Reservation.
The U.S. Parole Commission has denied parole multiple times. After a lengthy investigation, the United Nations Human Rights Commission Working Group on Arbitrary Detention opined that his parole process was fraught with substantive and procedural due process violations and anti-Native American bias. The opinion called on the United States to take “urgent action to ensure Mr. Peltier’s immediate release.” Mr. Peltier has consistently maintained his innocence, and it is unlikely parole will be granted.
Leonard Peltier is eligible for compassionate release under Bureau of Prison (BOP) rules. He has been denied multiple times and he has no right to appeal these denials to a federal district court because he was convicted before November 1, 1987.
Although the BOP is equally unlikely to provide this relief, a temporary release to home confinement is not freedom for Leonard Peltier. Further, release to home confinement is subject to annual review, leaving him in constant peril of being returned to prison.
JUSTICE FOR LEONARD PELTIER: Imprisoned for Nearly Five Decades
Leonard Peltier, 78, a Native American activist and citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians (ND), is now in his 48th year of incarceration. He is serving two life sentences in a maximum-security federal prison for his alleged role in the deaths of two FBI agents during a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota in 1975. Imprisoned at the age of 32, Mr. Peltier is now elderly, and his conviction is turning into a de facto death sentence.
Leonard Peltier is serving a sentence for aiding and abetting in a case where his co-defendants, charged with the murder, were found not guilty on grounds of self-defense. In fact, the prosecutors acknowledged in 1978 that they did not know who specifically fired the killing shots, and the facts did not directly indicate the person responsible for the killing. For this, he is serving a longer sentence than most principals in murder convictions.
Leonard Peltier’s unjust imprisonment has been recognized as the product of a flawed prosecution, trial, and conviction by national and international human rights organizations, leading voices on criminal justice issues, dignitaries from around the world, and many current and former members of Congress. Leonard’s advancing age and fragile health status places renewed urgency behind the worldwide support for the effort to gain his release.
Our cry for justice is joined by former U.S. Attorney James Reynolds, whose office handled the prosecution of Mr. Peltier’s case. Mr. Reynolds wrote to Pres. Biden on July 9, 2021 beseeching him to commute Mr. Peltier’s sentence. Reynolds’ letter highlights the injustice of Mr. Peltier’s continued incarceration, noting the prosecutorial misconduct and constitutional violations committed by his office at the time and one juror’s early trial admission of racism against Native Americans.
In June of 2022, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention joined the call for justice with the release of an opinion calling for the immediate release of Leonard Peltier. The opinion deemed Peltier’s detention prolonged, indefinite, and arbitrary and specifically noted the anti-Indigenous bias surrounding Peltier’s detention, stating that he “continues to be detained because he is Native American.”
Finally, on December 3, 2022, Retired FBI Special Agent Coleen Rowley added her voice to the call for clemency for Leonard Peltier in a remarkable letter to President Biden. Her letter noted the key role that the “long-standing horribly wrongful oppressive treatment of Indians in the U.S.” played in Peltier’s case and, critically, the “FBI Family” vendetta behind their opposition to clemency that has kept Peltier behind bars for nearly five decades.
There has also been recognition of the FBI’s role in creating the volatile atmosphere on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation as a result of its efforts to interfere with the work of the American Indian Movement (AIM). At the time of the shooting, the FBI was actively engaged in and funding a covert campaign to suppress the activities of AIM, whose advocacy on behalf of Indigenous people was viewed as “extremist” political activity.
The FBI’s misconduct resonates deeply in Indian Country and represents a time of open oppression, racism, and aggression by federal law enforcement on Indian reservations throughout the United States. Their continued opposition to clemency for Leonard Peltier is now an emotion-driven vendetta with no place in our criminal justice system today.
The time for justice and mercy is now.
Clemency for Leonard Peltier
President Biden’s powers of executive clemency give him the option of granting a pardon or commuting a sentence. A commutation of his sentence will address the injustice and misconduct in the prosecution of Leonard Peltier and allow him to live out his remaining years in his tribal homelands on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indian Reservation.
Status of Other Remedies
The U.S. Parole Commission has denied parole multiple times. After a lengthy investigation, the United Nations Human Rights Commission Working Group on Arbitrary Detention opined that his parole process was fraught with substantive and procedural due process violations and anti-Native American bias. The opinion called on the United States to take “urgent action to ensure Mr. Peltier’s immediate release.” Mr. Peltier has consistently maintained his innocence, and it is unlikely parole will be granted.
Leonard Peltier is eligible for compassionate release under Bureau of Prison (BOP) rules. He has been denied multiple times and he has no right to appeal these denials to a federal district court because he was convicted before November 1, 1987.
Although the BOP is equally unlikely to provide this relief, a temporary release to home confinement is not freedom for Leonard Peltier. Further, release to home confinement is subject to annual review, leaving him in constant peril of being returned to prison.