Leonard Peltier Released from Prison After Biden Commutes Sentence

Image credits: Angel White Eyes / NDN Collective

Leonard Peltier, the Native American activist who has maintained his innocence in the killing of two FBI agents 50 years ago, has been released from a federal prison in Florida after then-President Joe Biden commuted his two life sentences. The act of clemency permits Peltier, who is 80 and has been in declining health for years, to serve his remaining days in home confinement. Peltier was transferred by jet to the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation, where he will be welcomed with celebrations to "reconnect with his home community and adjust back into life among his people," according to the NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led advocacy organization.

Peltier's case has drawn prominent support from international human rights groups and civil rights icons, including Coretta Scott King, Pope Francis, and the Dalai Lama, as well as congressional lawmakers and celebrities. However, Biden's decision was also condemned by law enforcement groups who said Peltier was unremorseful in the deaths of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams. The federal Bureau of Prisons declined to comment prior to Peltier's release, citing security and privacy reasons, or discuss the conditions of his confinement. The extent of the rules on Peltier were still being worked out, but his age and health should be taken into consideration, said Jenipher Jones, the lead lawyer in his case. Peltier will be receiving medical attention upon his release as he struggles with ailments, such as diabetes, hypertension, and partial blindness from a stroke.

Over the decades, Peltier's case has been marked by controversy and debate. He was a member of the American Indian Movement, a grassroots activist organization that began in Minneapolis in the 1960s to challenge police brutality and the oppression of Indigenous rights. Peltier was at Pine Ridge in the wake of a drawn-out protest two years earlier at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, where armed AIM activists and Oglala Sioux tribal members had occupied the town and clashed with federal law enforcement officers. On the day Coler and Williams arrived at Pine Ridge, they radioed that they had come under fire in a shootout that lasted 10 minutes, the FBI said. Both men were fatally shot at close range. Peltier was identified as the only person on the reservation in possession of an AR-15 rifle that could fire the type of bullet that killed the agents, according to investigators.

However, dozens of people had participated in the gunfight, and at trial, two co-defendants were acquitted after they claimed self-defense. When Peltier was tried separately in 1977, no witnesses who could identify him as the shooter were presented, and unknown to his defense lawyers at the time, the federal government had withheld a ballistics report indicating the fatal bullets didn't come from his weapon, according to court documents Peltier filed on appeal. The FBI contended a subsequent testing of shell casing evidence did match extractor marks from a casing retrieved from the trunk of Coler's car with the AR-15 associated with Peltier. Peltier's release marks an end to what he and others have said is his fight for justice, and he will now be able to live out his remaining days in the comfort of his home and community, surrounded by his loved ones and the support of his people.

The following are some key points and timeline of events in Peltier's case: * 1975: FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams are killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. * 1977: Peltier is convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and given two consecutive life sentences. * 2022: Peltier's lawyers file an appeal, citing new evidence and arguing that his conviction was unjust. * January 2025: Then-President Joe Biden commutes Peltier's sentence, allowing him to serve his remaining time in home confinement. * February 2025: Peltier is released from prison and returns to his home on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. Some of the stakeholders involved in Peltier's case include: * Peltier and his family * The NDN Collective and other Indigenous-led advocacy organizations * The federal Bureau of Prisons and the FBI * Law enforcement groups and the families of the slain FBI agents * International human rights groups and civil rights icons * Congressional lawmakers and celebrities who have supported Peltier's release.