WASHINGTON, DC – Joe Biden—hours before Donald Trump became President—commuted the life sentence of Leonard Peltier, a Native American rights activist convicted of killing two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and escaping from federal prison, reported NBC News.
According to an NDN Collective article, Peltier stated, “It’s finally over—I’m going home.” and “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.”
After almost 50 years, 80-year-old Peltier has experienced declining health due to diabetes, hypertension, partial blindness from a stroke, and bouts of Covid, stated NBC News, adding the White House said the commutation will enable Peltier to spend his remaining days in home confinement, “but will not pardon him for his underlying crimes.”
NBC News wrote, “I’m just thankful that he had the balls and the guts to do it,” Peltier’s daughter said of Biden’s decision. The U.S. Parole Commission in July denied Peltier’s latest bid for release, which left his fate in the hands of Biden.
Peltier has maintained his innocence, and his commutation has created fierce opposition from members of law enforcement who contend that “his two consecutive life sentences are just in the fatal shootings of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams in 1975 in South Dakota,” said NBC News.
“President Biden took an enormous step toward healing and reconciliation with the Native American people in this country,” said Peltier’s attorney, Kevin Sharp.
He added, “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,” reported NBC News.
“Let Leonard’s freedom be a reminder that the entire so-called United States is built on the stolen lands of Indigenous people—and that Indigenous people have successfully resisted every attempt to oppress, silence and colonize us,” stated Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective Founder and CEO.
“The commutation granted to Leonard Peltier is a symbol of our collective strength—and our resistance will never stop,” reported NDN Collective.
“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,” wrote NBC News.
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, NBC said..
Tilsen said Peltier’s conviction was “emblematic of the struggle between Native Americans and the federal government, particularly on Indigenous lands,” reported NBC News.
Although no witness could identify Peltier as the shooter, the FBI maintained that his conviction was “rightly and fairly obtained” and “has withstood numerous appeals to multiple courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court,” according to NBC News.
Kathy Peltier said she last saw her father in prison before the start of the Covid pandemic and that the family is now “crying tears of joy” to know that he will return to them and see his dozen great-grandchildren and all the people who supported him for decades.
“It’s a relief,” Kathy Peltier said. “We’ll actually be able to hug him, really hug him, and sit around for hours and not have a time limit and talk. There’s so much he’s missed out on.”
