A Native American activist convicted of killing two FBI agents in 1975 walked free from a Florida prison after nearly half a century behind bars.
According to Daily Mail, Leonard Peltier, an 80-year-old member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, left Coleman penitentiary on Tuesday after President Joe Biden commuted his sentence to home confinement.
The elderly prisoner, who requires a walker due to poor health, departed the facility in an SUV without addressing the group of about two dozen supporters gathered outside with flags and banners celebrating his release. He then boarded a plane at Leesburg Airport to return to his reservation in North Dakota, where family and friends planned to hold a celebration Wednesday.
Throughout his 49 years of incarceration, Peltier has consistently maintained his innocence in the deaths of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams during a 1975 confrontation at South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Native American communities have long viewed him as a political prisoner who was wrongfully convicted because of his activism with the American Indian Movement fighting for tribal rights.
The prosecution argued at trial that Peltier shot both agents at point-blank range in the head. While Peltier acknowledged being present and firing a gun in self-defense, he denied that his shots killed the agents. A key witness who initially claimed to have seen Peltier shoot the agents later recanted her testimony, saying it was coerced.
Two other American Indian Movement members, Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, were acquitted of the murders on grounds of self-defense. Peltier was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and received consecutive life sentences.
Former FBI Director Christopher Wray expressed strong opposition to Biden's clemency decision in a private letter obtained by The Associated Press, referring to Peltier as quoted: "He represents every person who's been roughed up by a cop, profiled, had their children harassed at school."
Conservative radio host Mark Levin harshly criticized Biden on social media, arguing that the media would be more outraged if Peltier were associated with right-wing groups rather than Native American activism. Other law enforcement officials and commentators have also condemned the commutation, describing Peltier as a "cop killer."
Professor Nick Estes of the University of Minnesota, a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe who advocated for Peltier's release, pushed back against these characterizations. He argued that racial profiling played a significant role in the case and conviction.
As a young child, Peltier experienced the trauma of being forcibly removed from his family and sent to a boarding school, part of a broader historical pattern where thousands of Indigenous children faced systemic abuse in such institutions over many decades.
His attorney, Jenipher Jones, expressed optimism about his return home, noting that Peltier maintained strong spirits throughout his ordeal. Ray St. Clair, a member of the White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe who traveled to Florida for the release, described the moment as a sign of hope and an opportunity to begin healing historical wounds.
The case garnered support from prominent global figures including the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Pope Francis, who advocated for Peltier's release over the years.
Leonard Peltier, an 80-year-old Native American activist convicted in the 1975 deaths of two FBI agents, has been released from Coleman Penitentiary in Florida after President Biden commuted his sentence. After maintaining his innocence through nearly five decades of imprisonment, Peltier will now live under home confinement on his reservation in North Dakota, where his return has been celebrated by supporters who view his case as emblematic of historical injustices against Indigenous peoples while being condemned by law enforcement officials who maintain his guilt.
