Biden commutes life sentence of Leonard Peltier, Native American activist imprisoned for almost 50 years
President Joe Biden, in one of his final acts as president Monday, commuted the life sentence imposed on high-profile federal prisoner and Native American rights activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and escaping from federal prison.
Peltier “is now 80 years old, suffers from severe health ailments, and has spent the majority of his life (nearly half a century) in prison. This commutation will enable Mr. Peltier to spend his remaining days in home confinement but will not pardon him for his underlying crimes,” the White House said in a statement.
Peliter, who has been imprisoned for almost 50 years, has been in declining health in recent years, including diabetes, hypertension, partial blindness from a stroke and bouts of Covid.
The U.S. Parole Commission in July denied Peltier’s latest bid for release, leaving his fate in the hands of Biden. Peltier has long maintained his innocence, and his commutation is set to draw fierce opposition from members of law enforcement who contend his two consecutive life sentences is just in the fatal shootings of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams in 1975.
Biden’s commutation action came just minutes before President-elect Donald Trump was set to take office for his second term. Trump did not act on Peltier’s clemency request during his first term, and other presidents, Democrats and Republicans alike, have also declined to intervene.
In a statement, the attorney who advocated for Peltier’s parole praised the outgoing president.
“President Biden took an enormous step toward healing and reconciliation with the Native American people in this country,” said the attorney, Kevin Sharp. “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.”
Peltier told NBC News in 2022 that he wasn’t interested in a presidential pardon because it would be granted for a crime he insists he is innocent of. Instead, he said, he wants the opportunity to get out of prison and get a new trial.
“I would love to go home,” Peltier said by phone from the Federal Correctional Complex Coleman in Florida. “My family wants to take care of me. My tribe wants to take care of me.”
Over the decades, human rights and faith leaders, including Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama, and Nobel Peace Prize recipients such as Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu have backed Peltier’s release.
