WASHINGTON. Since 1977, Leonard Peltier, a Native American Native American activist, has been serving two life sentences in federal prison for his role in the murder of two FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. supporters have long considered the product of an unfair prosecution and a mistrial.
Now his supporters, including members of Congress, are making what they see as a last-ditch effort to get a pardon for Mr. Peltier, 77, who suffers from diabetes, hypertension, partial blindness from a stroke and an aortic aneurysm. Mr Peltier, considered a political prisoner by many Native American activists, also recently tested positive for the coronavirus.
Efforts to overturn his conviction have failed over the years, as have campaigns to pardon or commute his sentence. Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama left office without acting on clemency requests, Mr Clinton after hundreds of former and current FBI agents angrily marched towards the White House to protest his consideration of such a move and bureau director at the time made his disagreement clear.
Representative Raul M. Grijalva, Democrat of Arizona, sent letters to the White House on Mr. Peltier’s behalf, including a letter last month after he tested positive for Covid-19. This letter was signed by eight other members of Congress. Mr. Peltier’s lawyer is also dealing with the matter as part of the normal pardon process at the Ministry of Justice.
It is unclear whether President Biden will consider a clemency petition. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The FBI declined to comment on whether it would now object to a commutation of Mr. Peltier’s sentence.
Mr. Peltier’s fight for freedom has long enjoyed the support of global activists and celebrities, including Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and actors Robert Redford and Danny Glover.
Allie McCracken Jarrar, a human rights activist with Amnesty International, said the organization had been fighting for Mr Peltier’s release for years, hoping to undo what the organization saw as an abuse of the criminal justice system.
“Over the past 44 years, prominent figures and prominent organizations have turned to president after president for clemency,” she said. “Long overdue is his pardon so that he can live out the remaining years of his life with his community.”
Mr. Peltier grew up on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota; the tribe members say they will take care of him if he is released.
The deadly encounter that landed Mr. Peltier in prison took place on a ranch on the Pine Ridge Reservation, about 10 miles from Wounded Knee, where hundreds of unarmed Lakota were killed by American soldiers almost a century ago.
Native American activists returned to occupy the village during a prolonged protest in 1973, hoping to get the federal government to investigate what they said was Oglala Sioux leadership corruption, treaty violations, and problems with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. .
Two FBI agents Jack Kohler and Ronald Williamsdied in a shootout. One of the activists was also killed, but his death was never investigated.
Mr. Peltier belonged to the American Indian Movement, which sought to draw attention to federal violations of Native American treaty rights; he was found guilty of the murders in 1977 and has been in federal prison in Florida ever since.
He admitted to participating in the shootout in self-defense, but says he did not kill the agents. He and his supporters also say that FBI agents coerced witnesses and that prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence in Mr. Peltier’s extradition from Canada and his trial in North Dakota.
Mr. Peltier’s arrest came during a major riot on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
On February 27, 1973, Oglala Lakota activists and members of the American Indian Movement took over Wounded Knee to draw attention to federal government violations of treaty rights and a tribal president accused of corruption and allying with the federal government.
A 71-day armed conflict between Native Americans and federal law enforcement at Wounded Knee left two activists dead and a federal agent shot and paralyzed.
Even after the siege, conflict continued on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Killings were frequent, and the federal and tribal police on the reservation acted like paramilitaries. This was followed by a shootout on the Pine Ridge reservation in 1975, when two FBI agents and a Native American activist were killed, which eventually led to charges against Mr. Peltier and two others involved in the deaths of the agents.
Mr. Peltier’s co-defendants were found not guilty of killing the agents after they spoke in self-defense. They were tried in Iowa, and Mr. Peltier was tried in North Dakota, where the judge blocked some of the evidence allowed in the Iowa case.
Peltier’s supporters say holes have appeared in the government’s case against him over the years of appeals.
His conviction is based solely on the fact that he was present at the gunfight that day, not that he fired the fatal shot or had a hand in anyone’s murder, said James Reynolds, a former U.S. Attorney in Iowa, whose predecessor Evan Hultman, handled the initial prosecution of Mr. Peltier.
Mr. Reynolds is among those who have lobbied for Mr. Peltier’s release by writing letters to the Obama and Trump administrations. He said that although the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that Mr. Peltier’s trial was fair, he no longer believes so.
“How many things does he need to have on his side before you say enough is enough,” Mr. Reynolds said. “They’ve been fighting this for over 40 years and unfortunately that’s the government’s position.”
Kevin Sharp, Mr. Peltier’s lawyer, said the pardon could be an important step towards bridging the differences between Native Americans and the federal government.
“It’s important to break with the past,” said Mr. Sharpe. “The FBI will say they are no longer FBI them. J. Edgar Hoover. I believe them when they say so. But if you really want to break out of the J. Edgar Hoover FBI, they have to release this prisoner.”
Ruth Anna Buffalo, a Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara citizen and state representative for North Dakota, was among two dozen Native American state legislators who signed a letter to Mr. Biden in October asking for clemency for Mr. Peltier.
She said the president has yet to engage Native Americans in his administration’s efforts to overhaul aspects of the federal justice system. She said that pardoning Mr. Pelletier would be a step in the right direction.
“We are not asking for special treatment,” Ms. Buffalo said. “We ask to be treated like human beings. None of us are free until Leonard is free.”