33 Lawmakers Urge Biden To Release Leonard Peltier - Huff Post
Legislators; "We must hold our government accountable when we see a case of injustice."
Leonard Peltier, a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians (ND), is in his 48th year of imprisonment. He is serving two life sentences for aiding and abetting in the deaths of two FBI agents during a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota in 1975. In that case, his co-defendants who were principally charged with the crime were found not guilty on grounds of self-defense.
Mr. Peltier will be 79 years old on September 12, 2023. He is now a frail and elderly man who continues to serve out his sentence at the maximum-security facility at the United States Penitentiary-Coleman, in central Florida. Imprisoned at the age of 32, his conviction is turning into a de facto death sentence.
Last week, 33 members of Congress urged President Joe Biden to grant clemency to Peltier. In the letter to Biden, the members stated "As Members of Congress, we sign this letter with a deep commitment to the crucial role we play in upholding justice for all Americans — and to also hold our government accountable when we see a case of injustice, as demonstrated by the long incarceration of Leonard Peltier."
The letter is signed by 30 House members and three senators, Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Tina Smith (D-Minnesota). It’s the fourth time that Democrats in Congress have publicly appealed to Biden to release Peltier since he became president. For the first time, a Republican member of Congress, Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee, signed the letter and joining the appeal to Biden to grant clemency to Peltier.
You can read the Congressional letter to President Biden and additional information about Leonard Peltier's case and work toward clemency, in the article "33 Lawmakers Urge Biden To Release Leonard Peltier — Including 1 Republican" from the Huffington Post. For more information about organizations and advocacy for the release of Peltier, you can visit the International Leonard Peltier Defense Commission website.
