Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who spent most of his life in prison since his conviction for the 1975 murders of two FBI agents in South Dakota, has a parole hearing Monday at a federal prison in Florida.
At 79, his health is failing, and if this parole request is denied, it could be a decade or more before it is reconsidered, said his attorney Kevin Sharp, a former federal judge. Sharp and other supporters have long argued that Peltier was wrongfully convicted and now say the effort could be his last chance at freedom.
“This entire hearing is a fight for his life,” said Nick Tilsen, president and CEO of the NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led advocacy group. “It’s time for him to come home.”
The FBI and its current and former agents dispute the claims of innocence. Peltier’s Struggle for Freedomembroiled in the indigenous rights movements, remains so robust nearly half a century later that “Free Peltier” T-shirts and caps are still sold online.
“It may seem a bit cult-like to side with him as some kind of hero. But he certainly isn’t; he’s a cold-blooded killer,” Mike Clark, president of the FBI’s Society of Former Special Agents, said in a speech. letter stating that Peltier should remain in prison.
Here are some things you need to know about the case.
Peltier was a member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa tribe and was active in the American Indian Movement, which began in the 1960s as a local organization in Minneapolis that grappled with issues of police brutality and discrimination against Native Americans. It quickly became a national fighting force.
AIM made headlines in 1973 when it took over the village of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation, leading to a 71-day standoff with federal agents. Tensions between AIM and the government remained high for years.
The FBI considered AIM an extremist organization and planted spies and snitches in the group. Sharp blamed the government for creating what he described as a “powder keg” that exploded on June 26, 1975.
That’s the day officers came to Pine Ridge to serve arrest warrants amid ongoing battles over Indigenous treaty rights and self-determination.
After being injured in a shootout, officers Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were shot in the head at close range. Also killed in the gunfight was AIM member Joseph Stuntz. The Justice Department concluded that a law enforcement sniper killed Stuntz.
Two other AIM members, Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, were acquitted of the murders of Coler and Williams.
After fleeing to Canada and extradited to the United States, Peltier was sentenced to life in prison in 1977, despite defense claims that evidence against him had been falsified.
“You have a conviction that is rife with misconduct by the prosecutors, by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, by the FBI that investigated this case and, frankly, by the jury,” Sharp said. “If they try this today, he won’t be convicted.”
FBI Director Chris Wray said in a statement that the agency was firm in its opposition to Peltier’s latest request for parole.
“We must never forget or set aside that Peltier deliberately murdered these two young men and has never expressed remorse for his brutal actions,” he wrote, adding that the case has been repeatedly accepted on appeal.
And the FBI Agents Association, a trade group that represents mostly active-duty agents, sent a letter to the parole board opposing parole. The group said any early release of Peltier would be a “cruel act of treason.”
Tilsen, a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation, credits AIM and others with most of the rights Native Americans have today, including religious freedom, the ability to operate casinos and tribal colleges, and contract with the federal government to to supervise schools and other services.
“Leonard contributed to this, but he has not been available as a beneficiary because he has been incarcerated for almost 50 years,” Tilsen said. “So he didn’t get to enjoy the outcome of those victories and see how they changed and transformed Indian country.”
The hearing is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Monday in a high-security lockup that is part of the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex. The Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that the hearing is not open to the public.
Sharp, Peltier’s attorney, said there will be witnesses for and against the parole at the hearing. Relatives of the two slain FBI agents will be in attendance.
Sharp expects the hearing to last a day. The decision must come within 21 days. If parole is granted, there is a release process that will not take long. If denied, Peltier could explore his options to appeal to a federal district court, Sharp said.
Peltier’s final parole hearing in 2009 was denied parole, and in 2017, then-President Barack Obama denied a pardon request. Another pardon request is pending before President Joe Biden.
