WASHINGTON – Dozens of US senators and members of Congress wrote “with renewed urgency” to President Joe Biden on Thursday calling for the release of Native American rights activist Leonard Peltier, who has been in prison for nearly 50 years and is in poor health.
“The authority to exercise mercy in this case lies solely within your discretion, and we urge you to grant Mr. Peltier clemency so that he can return home and live out his remaining days among his own people,” it said. in the letter, signed by 34 Democratic lawmakers.
“We commend the steps your administration has taken to right past wrongs in our federal government’s treatment of Native Americans, and the steps you have taken to uphold America’s values of freedom and justice, including of the inequality in our country’s criminal justice system.” they wrote. “In accordance with these principles, we strongly urge you to commute Mr. Peltier’s sentence.”
The letter is signed by seven senators, 26 members of the House of Representatives and, curiously, one former Democratic senator who served with Biden for decades, Patrick Leahy of Vermont.
A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on whether Biden is considering commuting Peltier’s sentence.
Here is a copy of the letter:
Democrats delivered their letter to Biden on the same day he commuted the sentences of 1,500 people released from prison but placed in home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. He also pardoned 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes.
Between that and Biden’s recent pardon for his son Hunter, Democrats are hoping this is a sign that the president will show mercy in Peltier’s case during his final weeks in office.
“President Biden has long recognized that our criminal justice system is not without flaws,” Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), one of the signatories of the letter, told HuffPost in a statement.
“His action to grant clemency to 1,500 Americans – the most ever in a single day – is a promising sign that he is willing to undo the mistakes of the past and give so many the second chance they deserve,” said Grijalva , who has long advocated for Peltier’s freedom. “Sir. Peltier should never have been imprisoned, let alone for nearly half a century, so I hope President Biden will continue to do the right thing and pardon Leonard Peltier now.”
Peltier has been in prison since the U.S. government accused him of killing two FBI agents during a 1975 shooting rampage on a South Dakota reservation. There was never proof that Peltier committed a crime, and the US government never found out who shot those officers, but federal officials needed someone to take the blame, and Peltier was their choice.
His trial was riddled with misconduct: the FBI threatened and coerced witnesses to lie. Federal prosecutors hid evidence that exonerated Peltier. One juror admitted on the second day of the trial that she had done so “prejudice against Indians,” but she was arrested anyway.
That of the US government case fell apart So after these revelations, the company revised its charges against Peltier to aiding and abetting whoever killed the officers — based entirely on the premise that he was one of the dozens of people present when the shooting occurred.
Peltier, now nearly 80, has maintained his innocence, which almost certainly led to his being denied parole. He is mostly blind and uses a walker to get around when he is not confined to the inches of space in his cell. He is facing serious health problems related to an aortic aneurysm and diabetes, which he has been sent to the hospital in July with “open wounds and tissue death on his toes and feet.” That was him readmitted to hospital in October.
Nearly every international human rights leader in modern history, including Pope Francis and Nelson Mandela, has called for Peltier’s release. Remarkably, that includes some of the same people who put Peltier in prison in the first place.
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers are pleading with President Joe Biden to grant clemency to Native American rights activist Leonard Peltier, who has been in prison for nearly 50 years. Associated Press photos
The only reason the Native American rights activist is still in prison is because of the continued resistance to his release by the FBI, even though the arguments against leniency are are full of holes, outdated and remarkably easy to refute.
The bureau also still has not publicly addressed the key context of that 1975 shooting: the FBI itself deliberately stoked tensions around that reservation as part of a covert campaign to suppress the activities of the American Indian Movement (AIM). grassroots movement for indigenous rights. Peltier was an active AIM member and an FBI target.
Biden, who arguably has nothing left to lose at this point, could unilaterally grant Peltier compassionate release. If he wanted to avoid any controversy, he could simply commute Peltier’s sentence rather than grant a pardon. That would just mean his prison sentence is over, rather than suggesting the government admits it did something wrong.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, is one of the signatories of Thursday’s letter. He apart appealed to Biden last week to “show mercy” and commute Peltier’s sentence.
“If ever there was a case that deserved compassionate release, Leonard Peltier’s is it,” Schatz said in a Senate speech. “This is exactly what that awesome presidential power is for: to right a historical injustice — and if not, then simply to show mercy and let an old man die with his family.”
