Biden Commutes Sentence of Leonard Peltier
Peltier was denied parole in July and wasn’t eligible for parole until 2026
Just moments before the end of his presidency, President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents. Peltier was denied parole as recently as July and wasn’t eligible for parole again until 2026. He was serving life in prison for the killings during a standoff on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He will transition to home confinement, Biden said in a statement.
Peltier’s tribe, the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, has a home ready for him on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota, his son Chauncey said. “It means my dad finally gets to go home,” Peltier said. “One of the biggest rights violation cases in history and one of the longest-held political prisoners in the United States. And he gets to go home finally. Man, I can’t explain how I feel.”
Outgoing Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American Cabinet member, posted on X that the commutation ″signifies a measure of justice that has long evaded so many Native Americans for so many decades. I am grateful that Leonard can now go home to his family. I applaud President Biden for this action and understanding what this means to Indian Country.”
Peltier was active in the American Indian Movement, which has grappled with police brutality and discrimination against Native Americans since the 1960s. In 1973, AIM took over the village of Wounded Knee on Pine Ridge — the Oglala Lakota Nation’s reservation — leading to a 71-day standoff with federal agents. In June 1975, FBI agents went to Pine Ridge to serve arrest warrants amid battles over Native treaty rights and self-determination. After being injured in a shootout, agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were shot and killed, along with AIM member Joseph Stuntz.
Two other movement members and Peltier’s co-defendants, Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, were acquitted in the killings of Coler and Williams.
Biden’s action Monday follows decades of lobbying and protests by Native American leaders and others who maintain Peltier was wrongfully convicted. Amnesty International has long considered him a political prisoner. Advocates for his release have included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, civil rights icon Coretta Scott King, actor and director Robert Redford, and musicians Pete Seeger, Harry Belafonte and Jackson Browne.
Peltier’s attorney, Kevin Sharp, celebrated Peltier’s commutation and insisted there was never any evidence that proved Peltier was guilty.
“It recognizes the injustice of what happened in Mr. Peltier’s case,” Sharp, a former federal judge, said. “And it sends a signal to Native Americans in Indian country that their concerns -- what has happened to them and their treatment -- isn’t going to be ignored. It’s a step toward reconciliation and healing.”
