September 11, 2024 | 9:51 PM
READING TIME: 4 minutes
There is no shortage of doubts about his case, to the point that the judge who sentenced him wrote to US President Joe Biden asking for his release: Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist sentenced to two life sentences and detained since 1976, turns 80 tomorrow, September 12. Born in 1944 and a member of AIM, the American Indian Movement, Peltier is accused of killing FBI agents Jack Ross Coler and Ronald Arthur Williams, aged 28 and 27, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on June 26, 1975. However, he has always maintained his innocence and there are still several unclear points in the case, from unverified documentary information to unreliable or retracted testimonies. Peltier was on the reservation, along with at least 20 other people, and went on the run: he was arrested in Canada on February 6, 1976 and extradited to the United States where in April 1977 he was sentenced to two life sentences. Leonard Peltier has been serving his life sentence for almost 50 years. The man also attempted to escape from the prison in Lompoc, California: he was captured after 3 days and sentenced to another 7 years in prison.
Over the years, attention on his case has never completely subsided from many quarters: “Leonard Peltier’s story has been dragging on for almost half a century. He has always declared himself not guilty and, over time, more and more evidence of his innocence has emerged,” Riccardo Noury, spokesperson for Amnesty International, told Adnkronos. “All that remains is to resubmit the request for presidential pardon to Joe Biden, with the hope that this story can end well, allowing Leonard to spend his final years with his family. The risk – according to Noury – is that Peltier’s story could end badly, with his death in prison.”
Among those who believe in innocence is James H. Reynolds, a former U.S. attorney who worked on the Peltier case, who sent a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden in 2021, asking for his pardon: “The conviction and continued incarceration of Leonard Peltier is a testament to a time and a system of justice that no longer has a place in our society. I have been fortunate to see this country, and its prevailing attitude toward Native Americans, progress remarkably over the past 46 years. The prosecution and continued incarceration of Mr. Peltier were and are unjust. We have not been able to prove that Mr. Peltier personally committed any crime on the Pine Ridge Reservation.” The appeal concludes with Judge Reynolds’ request that, with Leonard Peltier’s pardon, President Biden “take a step toward healing a wound that I helped create.”
But not everyone is of the same opinion: ‘Leonard Peltier was granted his rights and due process”. This is what the association of former FBI agents underlines to Adnkronos, which takes a position on the case of Native American activist Leonard Peltier, sentenced in 1976 to two life sentences for killing two FBI agents. Mike Clark, director of the Society of Former Agents of the FBI (which brings together over 8,500 former agents) makes public the letter in which opposition was expressed to Peltier’s request for release on probation. The request was rejected by the man, who will turn 80 tomorrow, September 12, at the beginning of last July. ”Peltier – we read in the letter – was legally convicted for the murders of FBI agents Jack Ross Coler (28 years old) and Ronald Arthur Williams (27) by a federal court. The Court sentenced him to two consecutive life sentences. Since then, more than a dozen appeals have been heard. But none have changed the conviction and sentence of Peltier” who, according to Clark’s reconstruction, ”approached the wounded agents and executed them at point-blank range. A shameful act, the premeditated murder of two federal agents, mourned by their families and their colleagues: for them there is no provision for clemency or parole”.
A measure that, continues the letter of the Society of Former Agents of the Fbi, “should be reserved for non-violent offenders who have demonstrated that they have been rehabilitated and have followed the rules of the institutions”. Peltier, on the contrary, “is once again seeking consideration and pity, which he has not shown towards agents Coler and Williams”. For this reason, according to Clark, the 80-year-old “does not deserve any compassion”, also taking into account that, “in the current context of tension against the forces of law and order, conditional release for this cold-blooded murderer will send the wrong message for potential future acts of violence”. (by Lorenzo Capezzuoli Ranchi)
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