American Indian activist Leonard Peltier speaks during an interview at the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1999. An FBI agent who spent most of his life in prison will have a parole hearing on Monday, June 10, 2024.
Joe Ledford/Kansas City Star/AP
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Joe Ledford/Kansas City Star/AP
Native activist Leonard Peltier has spent much of his life in prison since being convicted of killing two FBI agents in South Dakota in 1975. A parole hearing is held at a federal prison in Florida.
He is 79 years old and in failing health, and if his request for parole is denied, it could be a decade or more before he is considered again, said his attorney, Kevin Sharp, a former federal judge. Sharp and other supporters have long argued that Peltier was wrongly convicted and say the effort now could be his last chance for freedom.
“This entire hearing has been the fight of his life,” said Nick Tilsen, president and CEO of NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led advocacy group. “It’s time for him to go home.”
The FBI and its current and former agents dispute the innocence charges. Nearly half a century later, the fight for Peltier freedom within the Aboriginal rights movement remains so fierce that “Free Peltier” T-shirts and hats are still being hawked online.
“It may be fanatical to think of him as some kind of hero. But he was certainly not that; he was a cold-blooded murderer,” Mike Clark, president of the Association of Former FBI Agents, said in a letter arguing that Peltier should remain incarcerated.
Here are a few things you need to know about this case:
What happened in the seventies?
Peltier, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe, is active in the American Indian Movement, a local organization in Minneapolis that began in the 1960s and works to address police violence and violence against Americans. Aboriginal discrimination issues. It soon became a national force.
In 1973, AIM made headlines when it occupied the Wounded Knee Village on the Pine Ridge Reservation, leading to a 71-day standoff with federal agents. Tensions between AIM and the government have been high for years.
The FBI considered AIM an extremist organization and placed spies and informants within the organization. Sharp accused the government of creating what he called a “tinderbox” that exploded on June 26, 1975.
On this day, agents came to Pine Ridge to serve an arrest warrant as the fight over Indigenous treaty rights and self-determination continued.
Agents Jack Koehler and Ronald Williams were shot in the head at point-blank range after being wounded in a shootout. Also killed in the shootout was AIM member Joseph Stuntz. The Justice Department concluded that a law enforcement sniper killed Stutz.
Two other AIM members, Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, were acquitted of the killings of Kohler and Williams.
After fleeing to Canada and being extradited to the United States, Peltier was convicted in 1977 and sentenced to life in prison, despite the defense claiming the evidence against him was fabricated.
“Your conviction was riddled with misconduct by the prosecutors, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI who investigated the case and frankly the jury,” Sharp said. “If they had tried to do this today, he would not have been convicted. “
How did the FBI respond?
FBI Director Chris Wray said in a statement that the agency firmly opposes Peltier’s latest parole request.
“We must never forget or put aside that Peltier knowingly murdered these two young men and never expressed remorse for his cruelty,” he wrote, adding that the case had been repeatedly upheld on appeal.
The FBI Agents Association, which represents most active agents, sent a letter to the parole board opposing parole. The organization said any early release of Peltier would be a “cruel act of betrayal”.
What is the legacy of the American Indian Movement?
Tilson, a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation, attributes much of the rights Native Americans have today to AIM and other organizations, including religious freedom, the ability to operate casinos and tribal colleges, and contracts with the federal government Oversees contracts with schools and other agencies.
“Leonard has been a part of creating this, but he’s been unable to be the beneficiary because he’s been incarcerated for almost 50 years,” Tilson said. “So he hasn’t been able to enjoy the results of these wins and watch them to how they transformed and transformed the Indian nation.”
When will the hearing be held?
The hearing is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Monday at a high-security detention center at the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex. The federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that the hearing was closed to the public.
Sharp, Peltier’s attorney, said the hearing will feature witnesses for and against parole. Family members of the two slain FBI agents will also be in attendance.
Sharp expects the hearing to last one day. The decision must be made within 21 days. If paroled, there is a release process that does not take long. If denied, Peltier could consider appealing to federal district court, Sharp said.
Parole was denied at Peltier’s final hearing in 2009, and then-President Barack Obama rejected a clemency request in 2017. ) deal with.
