Abdelrahman
Leonard Peltier, a prominent advocate for Native American rights, has been released from a federal prison in Central Florida after nearly 50 years of incarceration for the deaths of two F.B.I. agents. The 80-year-old activist will now complete the remainder of his two life sentences under home confinement in North Dakota, where he is affiliated with the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.
The decision to commute Peltier’s sentence was one of the last actions taken by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. before ending his term. Calls for clemency came from various quarters, including Nobel Peace Prize winners, former law enforcement officials—one being a lead prosecutor in Peltier’s case—human rights organizations, and notable figures such as Steven Van Zandt, guitarist for Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band.
Opposition to Peltier’s release also emerged from F.B.I. officials, including Christopher Wray, the former director, who labeled him as “a remorseless killer” and regarded clemency as a betrayal to the memory of agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, who lost their lives during the incident.
Peltier was convicted for involvement in a 1975 shootout between activists and F.B.I. agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which resulted in the deaths of two agents and one activist. While he admits to firing his weapon, Peltier claims he did so in self-defense and denies having inflicted fatal injuries on the agents.
Among the more than 30 individuals present during the shootout, Peltier stands as the sole person convicted. Two other Native American activists faced murder charges but were acquitted. Notably, evidence favorable to their defense, such as ballistic information, was excluded during Peltier’s trial, leading his supporters to contend that the trial was fundamentally unjust. An appeals court acknowledged in 1986 that the government had intentionally withheld evidence but concluded that such evidence likely would not have altered the outcome of the verdict.
On the day of his release, Peltier was scheduled for a medical assessment prior to his relocation to North Dakota.
