WASHINGTON ― With actually minutes left in his presidency, Joe Biden on Monday granted clemency to Leonard Peltier, the ailing Native American rights activist whom the U.S. authorities put in jail practically 50 years in the past after a trial riddled with misconduct and lies.
In an announcement as President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration was underway, Biden introduced he’s “commuting the life sentence imposed on Leonard Peltier so that he serves the remainder of his sentence in home confinement.”
Shortly afterward, Peltier stated he’s able to get again to his household.
“It’s finally over – I’m going home.” he stated in an announcement. “I want to show the world I’m a good person with a good heart. I want to help the people, just like my grandmother taught me.”
Peltier has been in jail ever for the reason that federal authorities accused him of murdering two FBI brokers in a 1975 shoot-out on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
There was by no means proof that Peltier dedicated against the law, and the U.S. authorities by no means did determine who shot these brokers. However federal officers wanted somebody to take the autumn. The FBI had simply misplaced two brokers, and Peltier’s co-defendants had been all acquitted based mostly on self-defense. So, Peltier grew to become their man.
His trial was rife with misconduct. The FBI threatened and coerced witnesses into mendacity. Federal prosecutors hid proof that exonerated Peltier. A juror acknowledged on the second day of the trial that she had “prejudice against Indians,” however she was stored on anyway.
The federal government’s case fell aside after these revelations, so it merely revised its fees towards Peltier to “aiding and abetting” whoever did kill the brokers ― based mostly completely on the truth that he was one in all dozens of individuals current when the shoot-out passed off. Peltier was convicted and sentenced to 2 consecutive life phrases.
Peltier, now 80, has maintained his innocence your entire time he’s been in jail, which has virtually actually led to him being denied parole. He’s largely blind and makes use of a walker to get round. Attributable to frequent lockdowns at his most safety jail in Florida, he’s spent most of his later years confined to inches of house in a cell. His critical well being issues embody diabetes, which despatched him to the hospital in July with “open wounds and tissue death on his toes and feet,” per the Lakota Occasions. He was hospitalized once more in October.
Kevin Sharp, who served as Peltier’s legal professional for 5 years and who filed Peltier’s authentic clemency petition in 2019 and once more in 2021, hailed Biden’s closing act.
“President Biden took an enormous step toward healing and reconciliation with the Native American people in this country,” Sharp stated in an announcement. “It took nearly 50 years to acknowledge the injustice of Leonard Peltier’s conviction and continued incarceration, but with the President’s act of mercy Leonard can finally return to his reservation and live out his remaining days.”
Biden had been beneath growing strain from tribal leaders, U.S. senators, members of Congress and others inside his personal celebration to launch Peltier.
“The power to exercise mercy in this case lies solely within your discretion, and we urge you to grant Mr. Peltier clemency, allowing him to return home and live out his remaining days among his own people,” dozens of Democratic lawmakers wrote to the president in December.
Nearly each worldwide human rights chief in fashionable historical past, together with Pope Francis and Nelson Mandela, has referred to as for Peltier’s launch through the years ― as have a number of the identical individuals who put Peltier in jail within the first place. Former U.S. Lawyer James Reynolds, who prosecuted Peltier a long time in the past, has since stated it was a mistake, that there was by no means proof to convict Peltier and has been personally urging Biden to grant him clemency.
“I write today from a position rare for a former prosecutor: to beseech you to commute the sentence of a man who I helped put behind bars,” Reynolds wrote to Biden in 2021.
“With time, and the benefit of hindsight, I have realized that the prosecution and continued incarceration of Mr. Peltier was and is unjust,” he stated. “We were not able to prove that Mr. Peltier personally committed any offense on the Pine Ridge Reservation.”
The million-dollar query has at all times been: Why is Peltier nonetheless in jail?
The reply is due to unwavering resistance from the FBI, which determined a long time in the past that it might oppose Peltier ever being launched.
As Sharp put it in 2021, it boils right down to “politics.”
“In order to get clemency, you have to get the FBI on board. They have an inherent conflict. You have to get the U.S. Attorney’s Office on board. They lied to get him in prison. They have an inherent conflict,” Sharp instructed HuffPost on the time. “They’re not going to say, ‘Oops, sorry.’”
“It’s this holdover with the FBI,” he added.
Look no additional than the bureau’s arguments towards Peltier’s launch, which are outdated, filled with holes and remarkably simple to disprove.
The FBI nonetheless hasn’t publicly addressed the broader context of that 1975 shoot-out, both. The bureau itself was deliberately fueling tensions on that reservation as a part of a covert marketing campaign to suppress the actions of the American Indian Motion, a grassroots motion for Indigenous rights. Peltier was an lively AIM member and an FBI goal.
The FBI didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Biden granting clemency to Peltier.
“We were not able to prove that Mr. Peltier personally committed any offense on the Pine Ridge Reservation.”
– Former U.S. Lawyer James Reynolds
In its Monday assertion, the White Home gave a number of the reason why Biden determined to grant clemency to Peltier. Notably, it specifies the president didn’t pardon Peltier, which suggests forgiveness for against the law, however as a substitute commuted his sentence, which carries no forgiveness. It additionally references Peltier’s “underlying crimes,” which had been by no means confirmed. This will actually be learn because the White Home throwing a bone to the FBI.
“He is now 80 years old, suffers from severe health ailments, and has spent the majority of his life (nearly half a century) in prison,” reads the assertion. “This commutation will enable Mr. Peltier to spend his remaining days in home confinement but will not pardon him for his underlying crimes.”
Biden has taken important actions to strengthen Native American communities and tribes throughout his presidency. His resolution to launch Peltier ― which distinguished Indigenous rights teams and other people, together with Biden’s personal inside secretary, Deb Haaland, have strongly advocated for ― caps off a legacy he’s fairly happy with associated to righting previous wrongs towards Native Individuals.
Inside Secretary Deb Haaland, a longtime supporter of clemency for Peltier, stated she is “beyond words” on the information of Peltier lastly going house.
“His release from prison signifies a measure of justice that has long evaded so many Native Americans for so many decades,” Haaland stated in an announcement. “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.”
In a uncommon interview with HuffPost in 2022, Peltier stated he knew what he would say to Biden if he had a couple of minutes alone with him.
“I’m not guilty of this shooting. I’m not guilty,” Peltier stated he’d inform the president. “I would like to go home to spend what years I have left with my great-grandkids and my people.”
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The Native American elder is prone to return house to South Dakota, the place his supporters on Pine Ridge Reservation have bought and ready a home for him to maneuver into within the occasion of his launch from jail.
“Leonard Peltier’s liberation is our liberation,” stated Nick Tilsen, founder and CEO of NDN Collective, an Indigenous rights group. “We will honor him by bringing him back to his homelands to live out the rest of his days surrounded by loved ones, healing, and reconnecting with his land and culture.”
