SUMTERVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Weeks after then-President Joe Biden infuriated law enforcement officials by commuting his life sentence to home confinement in connection with the 1975 killings of two FBI agents, Native American leader Leonard Peltier was released from a Florida prison on Tuesday.
A prison official claims that Peltier, 80, drove out of Coleman Penitentiary in an SUV. Approximately two dozen fans gathered outside the gates to celebrate his release, but he didn’t pause to talk to media or them.
Peltier, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota, was returning to his reservation, where the tribe set up a home for him to reside in while he serves his home confinement, and where relatives and friends will join him in celebrating his release on Wednesday.
Peltier has said throughout his nearly 50 years in prison that he did not kill FBI agents Ronald Williams and Jack Coler during a confrontation that day on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Many Native Americans think he was wrongfully condemned as a political prisoner for fighting for tribal rights as part of the American Indian Movement.
Nick Estes, a professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe who pushed for Peltier’s release, stated, “He represents every person who’s been roughed up by a cop, profiled, or had their children harassed at school.”
Peltier was not pardoned by Biden. However, those who think Peltier is guilty criticized him for commuting his sentence on January 20 to home confinement, stating that Peltier had been incarcerated for the whole of his life and was in terrible condition. Among them is former FBI Director Christopher Wray, who in a confidential letter to Biden that The Associated Press was able to receive referred to Peltier as a remorseless killer.
According to Jenipher Jones, one of his lawyers, Peltier was eager to return home.
Prior to his release, Jones stated, “We’re so excited for this moment.” He’s feeling upbeat. He has a warrior’s soul.
Outside the prison, his supporters were ecstatic, with some waving flags that read “Free Leonard Peltier.”
Ray St. Clair, a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe’s White Earth Band who flew to Florida to witness Peltier’s release, remarked, “We never thought he would get out.” It demonstrates that you should never give up. We can use this to fix the harm that has been done. This is a beginning.
Peltier was involved with AIM, a group that was founded in the 1960s and advocated for tribal self-determination and Native American treaty rights.
The two FBI agents were slain during a confrontation on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1975, which resulted to Peltier’s conviction. Coler and Williams were there to serve arrest warrants for assault with a dangerous weapon and robbery, the FBI said.
During the trial, the prosecution contended that Peltier shot both operatives in the head at close range. Peltier admitted to being there and firing a gun from a distance, but he claimed that his rounds weren’t the ones that killed the agents and that he was acting in self-defense. After claiming to have witnessed Peltier shoot the agents, a woman eventually renounced her evidence, claiming it was forced.
He received two consecutive life sentences after being found guilty of two charges of first-degree murder.
Dino Butler and Robert Robideau, two further AIM members, were exonerated on the grounds of self-defense.
The fairness of Peltier’s trial and the evidence used against him have been questioned by a number of his supporters and even by some prosecutors. Peltier’s appeals have been rejected by multiple federal judges, however, as noted by Michael J. Clark, president of the FBI’s Society of Former Special Agents.
Clark referred to the move as a negative reflection on Biden and stated, “We vehemently oppose the commutation of his sentence.” Everyone was kind of taken by surprise at the last minute. Right up until the very end of his presidency. It’s simply difficult.
Peltier was not eligible to be considered for parole again until 2026 after being refused it in July.
Peltier was removed from his family and brought to a boarding school when he was a small child. The same fate befell thousands of Indigenous children over decades, many of whom experienced institutional sexual, psychological, and physical abuse.
“He hasn’t really had a home since he was taken away to boarding school,” said Nick Tilsen, CEO of NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led advocacy group based in South Dakota and a longtime supporter of Peltier’s release. He can’t wait to paint at home while watching his grandchildren play.
