Biden commutes sentence of indigenous activist Leonard Peltier

WASHINGTON — Moments before leaving office, President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, convicted of killing two FBI agents in 1975.

Peltier was denied parole no later than July and was not eligible for parole again until 2026. He was serving a life sentence for the officers’ deaths during a standoff on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He will move to home confinement, Biden said in a statement.

Biden released a record number of individual graces and switching. He announced Friday that he was commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. He also granted a large pardon to his son Hunter, who was prosecuted for gun and tax crimes.

On Monday, Biden also pardoned Gerald Lundergan, a Democratic politician from Kentucky who served in the state’s House of Representatives. He was convicted of illegally contributing to his daughter’s failed U.S. Senate campaign. Ernest William Cromartie, a former Columbia, South Carolina city council member convicted of tax evasion, was also pardoned.

Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Emery Nelson said after Biden’s commutation that Peltier remained incarcerated Monday at USP Coleman, a high-security prison in Florida.

Outgoing Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said she was “beyond words” regarding Peltier’s last-minute commutation.

Haaland, the first Native American member of the cabinet, posted on X that it “signifies a measure of justice that has long eluded so many Native Americans for so many decades.” I am grateful that Leonard can now return home to his family. I applaud President Biden for this action and for his understanding of what this means for Indian Country.

Peltier’s fight for freedom is involved in indigenous rights movements. Nearly half a century later, his name remains a rallying cry.

An enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, North Dakota, Peltier was active in the American Indian Movement, which started in the 1960s as a local Minneapolis organization that fought against issues of police brutality and discrimination against Native Americans. It quickly became a national force.

The movement makes headlines in 1973, when she took over the village of Wounded Knee on Pine Ridge – the Oglala Lakota Nation reservation – leading to a 71-day standoff with federal agents. Tensions between the movement and the government remained high for years.

On June 26, 1975, agents went to Pine Ridge to execute arrest warrants amid battles over treaty rights and native self-determination.

After being injured in a shooting, Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were shot in the head at point-blank range, the FBI said. Joseph Stuntz, a member of the American Indian Movement, was also killed in the shooting.

Two other members of the movement and Peltier’s co-defendants, Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, were acquitted of the murders of Coler and Williams.

After fleeing to Canada and being extradited to the United States, Peltier was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced in 1977 to life in prison, despite defense claims that the evidence against him had been falsified.

Biden’s action Monday follows decades of lobbying and protests in support of Peltier from Native American leaders, human rights activists, liberal lawmakers and celebrities who argue he was convicted wrongly. Amnesty International has long considered Peltier a political prisoner. Advocates for his release include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, civil rights icon Coretta Scott King, actor and director Robert Redford and musicians Pete Seeger, Harry Belafonte and Jackson Browne.

Law enforcement officers, former FBI agents, their families and prosecutors have strongly opposed a pardon or any reduction in Peltier’s sentence for just as long. Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama rejected Peltier’s requests for clemency, and he was denied parole in 1993, 2009 and 2024.

Shortly before Biden commuted Peltier’s sentence, the No Parole Peltier Association led by former FBI agents released a statement celebrating the fact that he had not been pardoned. The group did not respond to a message seeking comment after Peltier’s sentence was commuted.

Peltier’s supporters pushed Biden to act because Peltier is 80 years old and has health problems, including diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems and an aortic aneurysm discovered in 2016, according to his lawyers. His supporters feared he would not have another chance at parole or compassionate release before he died behind bars.

Peltier’s attorney, Kevin Sharp, called Monday “an incredible day.”

Sharp said the commutation means Peltier can return to the Turtle Mountain Band reservation in Chippewa, North Dakota, and that there is no evidence to suggest Peltier was guilty.

“This recognizes the injustice of what happened in Mr. Peltier’s case,” said Sharp, a former federal judge. “And it sends a signal to Native Americans in Indian Territory that their concerns – what happened to them and their treatment – ​​will not be ignored. It is a step towards reconciliation and healing.

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Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas and Karnowski reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press reporter Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa; Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; and Jack Dura of Bismarck, North Dakota, contributed.