American Indian Movement Leader Leonard Peltier Finally Freed from Prison in Last-Minute Move by Biden Administration

[Source: mprnews.org]

By Jeremy Kuzmarov

Biden, however, refused to pardon Peltier despite evidence that he never shot and killed FBI agents whose murders he was charged with

In a last-minute move before his departure from office, President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of American Indian Movement (AIM) leader Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents, Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in June 1975.

In a statement, the White House said the commutation would enable Peltier to spend his remaining days in home confinement, “but will not pardon him for his underlying crimes.”

Peltier’s daughter, Kathy Peltier, said she was in shock after learning what Biden had done after past presidential requests for clemency were unsuccessful. “I’m just thankful that he had the balls and the guts to do it,” she said of Biden’s decision.

In a statement provided by the NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led advocacy organization, Peltier said he was ready to leave prison. “It’s finally over — I’m going home,” Peltier said. “I want to show the world I’m a good person with a good heart.”

CovertAction Magazine is happy that Peltier is going home. However, our investigation determined that Peltier was not the one who killed the two FBI agents (Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams) whose murder he was charged with, though he was present when they were killed.

Peltier’s trial, furthermore, was not fair, as the U.S. government withheld a ballistics report indicating that the fatal bullets did not come from his weapon. There is also strong evidence of witness intimidation by the FBI.

One prosecution witness, Michael Anderson, testified during cross-examination that he was threatened by an FBI agent, and said that he agreed to testify in exchange for criminal charges against him in another case being dropped.

Another witness, Myrtle Poor Bear, said that she had been coerced into signing a false affidavit implicating Peltier and that her life had been threatened. “They had the law in their hands, and could do anything,” she said of the FBI.

AIM and Pine Ridge

A member of the Turtle Mountain band of Chippewa Indians from North Dakota, Peltier had been a leader of AIM, which staged an occupation of the Pine Ridge Reservation in the early 1970s in an effort to reclaim land that had been taken during the 19th century Indian Wars.

Pine Ridge was strategically located at the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre, where the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry regiment killed about 300 Lakota Sioux civilians in revenge for the killing of General George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn 14 years earlier.

Peltier had traveled to Pine Ridge in South Dakota in 1975 to help AIM members defend themselves against the head of the Oglala Sioux tribal council, Richard Wilson, who worked with the FBI and deployed his private militia, Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOON), against AIM.

GOON killings went unpunished as the homicide rate on the Pine Ridge Reservation became among the highest in the U.S.

Conflicting Narratives

On June 26, 1975, Coler and Williams were on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to arrest a man, Jimmy Eagle, on a federal warrant for armed robbery in connection with the theft of cowboy boots, according to the FBI’s investigative files.

While they were there, the agents radioed that they had come under fire in a shootout that lasted ten minutes, the FBI said.

Peltier was fingered in part because his gun—an AR-15—matched the one that killed the agents (this evidence was put into dispute), and because he was found by an Oregon state trooper after he had fled with Agent Coler’s handgun in a bag with his fingerprint on it.

In Peltier’s version of events, he was in bed at 11:00 a.m. when he heard gunshots and fellow AIM members told him “Man, we’re being attacked. We’re being attacked.” Peltier then said “Oh, my God.” and grabbed an old rifle and started running up to the house and fired his gun after being fired upon.

The FBI has said the agents were shot without provocation, though AIM said that they triggered the shootout, and killed an Indigenous man, Joe Stuntz, whose death was never investigated.

In the FBI’s version, Peltier was stopped while driving in a red truck because he had an outstanding warrant for the attempted murder of a police officer. Peltier allegedly exited the vehicle along with Norman Charles and Stuntz, and began firing at the FBI agents.

Peltier says he knows that his shots did not hit the FBI agents and he was not the one who killed them. This assessment was corroborated by Bob Robideau, who was charged with Peltier but was exonerated in a separate trial. He said in 2004: “I am ‘Mr. X’ (which is no lie) and I did kill them [the FBI agents] with the honor befitting a warrior, but they died like worms.”

Robideau in turn stated that he had no remorse because it was a “defensive action” against “our enemies.”

Lingering Injustice

During a June 8, 2024, interview, Peltier’s serving attorney Kevin Sharp, a former U.S. District Judge in Tennessee, stated:

“Pine Ridge was a powder keg with the Goon Squad operating there with the government’s help. AIM was there to protect those who were not part of the Goon Squad. There were many murders and assaults in a three-year timeframe. When plain-clothed agents in unmarked cars arrived, a firefight ensued. Leonard did not shoot the agents, and the FBI knew this but withheld evidence. The court of appeals acknowledged this but couldn’t overturn the conviction due to legal standards. Judge Heaney, who wrote the opinion, later supported clemency for Leonard. Now, 38 of Judge Heaney’s former clerks support parole for Leonard, including three who worked on his case. The government admits they don’t know who killed the agents, but it wasn’t Leonard. It’s time to release Leonard and start the healing process.”

With Peltier’s release, perhaps the healing process that Sharpe spoke about can indeed begin.

Peltier’s case has for decades energized the activist community because Peltier has remained a symbol of the continued injustice done to Native Americans in the United States.

What is really needed is not just clemency but a full pardon. This would send a signal that the U.S. government did wrong by Peltier—just as it had done wrong to so many of his ancestors and comrades in the AIM.

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Via https://covertactionmagazine.com/2025/02/01/american-indian-movement-leader-leonard-peltier-finally-freed-from-prison-in-last-minute-move-by-biden-administration/