Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Close After Funding Cut, in Blow to Local Media

16 hours ago

‘Freedom Week’: California Gun Owners Rush to Buy Ammo After Court Ruling

19 hours ago

Wall Street Selloff Sparked by Trump Tariffs, Amazon Results, Weak Payrolls

19 hours ago

US Construction Spending Extends Decline in June

19 hours ago

Global Shares in Red After US Jobs Data, Trump’s Tariff Salvo

19 hours ago

Construction of $200M Trump Ballroom at the White House to Begin in September

2 days ago

US Senate Committee Backs $1 Billion for Ukraine in Pentagon Spending Bill

2 days ago

Trump Says Mexico Trade Deal Extended for 90 Days

2 days ago

Fresno Unified Trustee Susan Wittrup Responds to $162,000 Payout

2 days ago
Leonard Peltier Released After Biden Commuted Sentence in FBI Agents’ Killings
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 months ago on
February 18, 2025

Supporters Mike McBride, left, Ray St. Clair, center, and Tracker Gina Marie Rangel Quinones stand in front of Federal Correctional Complex, Coleman, while awaiting the release of Leonard Peltier, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025, in Sumterville, Fla. (AP/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

SUMTERVILLE, Fla. — Native American activist Leonard Peltier was released from a Florida prison on Tuesday, weeks after then-President Joe Biden angered law enforcement officials by commuting his life sentence to home confinement in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.

Peltier, 80, left Coleman penitentiary in an SUV, according to a prison official. He didn’t stop to speak with reporters or the roughly two dozen supporters who gathered outside the gates to celebrate his release.

Peltier, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota, was headed back to his reservation, where family and friends will celebrate his release with him on Wednesday and where the tribe arranged a house for him to live in while serving his home confinement.

Peltier Claims He Didn’t Murder FBI Agents

Throughout his nearly half-century in prison, Peltier has maintained that he didn’t murder FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams during a confrontation that day on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Native Americans widely believe he was a political prisoner who was wrongly convicted because he fought for tribal rights as a member of the American Indian Movement.

“He represents every person who’s been roughed up by a cop, profiled, had their children harassed at school,” said Nick Estes, a professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe who advocated for Peltier’s release.

Biden did not pardon Peltier. But his Jan. 20 commutation of Peltier’s sentence to home confinement, noting Peltier had spent most of his life behind bars and was in poor health, prompted criticism from those who believe Peltier is guilty. Among them is former FBI Director Christopher Wray, who called Peltier “a remorseless killer” in a private letter to Biden obtained by The Associated Press.

One of his attorneys, Jenipher Jones, said Peltier was looking forward to going home.

“We’re so excited for this moment,” Jones said before his release. “He is in good spirits. He has the soul of a warrior.”

His supporters outside the prison, including some who waved flags saying “Free Leonard Peltier,” were elated.

“We never thought he would get out,” said Ray St. Clair, a member of the White Earth Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe who traveled to Florida to be there for Peltier’s release. “It shows you should never give up hope. We can take this repairing the damage that was done. This is a start.”

Peltier Fought for Native American Rights

Peltier was active in AIM, which formed in the 1960s and fought for Native American treaty rights and tribal self-determination.

Peltier’s conviction stemmed from a 1975 confrontation on the in Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in which the two FBI agents were killed. According to the FBI, Coler and Williams were there to serve arrest warrants for robbery and assault with a dangerous weapon.

Prosecutors maintained at trial that Peltier shot both agents in the head at point-blank range. Peltier acknowledged being present and firing a gun at a distance, but he said he fired in self-defense and that his shots weren’t the ones that killed the agents. A woman who claimed to have seen Peltier shoot the agents later recanted her testimony, saying it had been coerced.

He was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and given two consecutive life sentences.

Two other AIM members, Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, were acquitted on the grounds of self-defense.

Many of Peltier’s supporters and even some prosecutors have questioned the fairness of his trial and the evidence presented against him. But Michael J. Clark, president of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, pointed out that numerous federal judges have denied Peltier’s appeals.

“We strongly oppose the commutation of his sentence,” Clark said, calling the decision a “poor reflection” on Biden. “This was kind of sprung on everyone at the last minute. Literally in the last minute of his presidency. It’s just tough.”

Peltier was denied parole as recently as July and was not eligible to be considered for it again until 2026.

As a young child, Peltier was taken from his family and sent to a boarding school. Thousands of Indigenous children over decades faced the same fate, and were in many cases subjected to systemic physical, psychological and sexual abuse.

“He hasn’t really had a home since he was taken away to boarding school,” said Nick Tilsen, who advocated for Peltier’s release for years and is CEO of NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led advocacy group based in South Dakota. “So he is excited to be at home and paint and have grandkids running around.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

US Judges Speak Out About Death Threats, ‘Swattings,’ and ‘Pizza Doxings’

DON'T MISS

It’s Raining Cash for Some 2026 Fresno City Council Hopefuls

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Finds E. Coli at Avocado Lake. Don’t Swim There

DON'T MISS

Trump Fires US Labor Department’s Statistical Leader After Weaker Than Expected Jobs Report

DON'T MISS

Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Close After Funding Cut, in Blow to Local Media

DON'T MISS

Trump Eyes Bringing Azerbaijan, Central Asian Nations Into Abraham Accords, Sources Say

DON'T MISS

Farmers in West Fresno County to Consider 200% Groundwater Pumping Fee Hike

DON'T MISS

Trump Orders Nuclear Submarines Moved Near Russia

DON'T MISS

Fresno Councilmember Vang Accused of Conflict of Interest in Budget Vote

DON'T MISS

Ghislaine Maxwell Moved From Florida Prison to Lower-Security Facility

UP NEXT

It’s Raining Cash for Some 2026 Fresno City Council Hopefuls

UP NEXT

Fresno County Finds E. Coli at Avocado Lake. Don’t Swim There

UP NEXT

Trump Fires US Labor Department’s Statistical Leader After Weaker Than Expected Jobs Report

UP NEXT

Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Close After Funding Cut, in Blow to Local Media

UP NEXT

Trump Eyes Bringing Azerbaijan, Central Asian Nations Into Abraham Accords, Sources Say

UP NEXT

Farmers in West Fresno County to Consider 200% Groundwater Pumping Fee Hike

UP NEXT

Trump Orders Nuclear Submarines Moved Near Russia

UP NEXT

Fresno Councilmember Vang Accused of Conflict of Interest in Budget Vote

UP NEXT

Ghislaine Maxwell Moved From Florida Prison to Lower-Security Facility

UP NEXT

Trump Escalates Trade War With Canada Following Palestine Stance

Trump Fires US Labor Department’s Statistical Leader After Weaker Than Expected Jobs Report

15 hours ago

Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Close After Funding Cut, in Blow to Local Media

16 hours ago

Trump Eyes Bringing Azerbaijan, Central Asian Nations Into Abraham Accords, Sources Say

16 hours ago

Farmers in West Fresno County to Consider 200% Groundwater Pumping Fee Hike

17 hours ago

Trump Orders Nuclear Submarines Moved Near Russia

17 hours ago

Fresno Councilmember Vang Accused of Conflict of Interest in Budget Vote

17 hours ago

Ghislaine Maxwell Moved From Florida Prison to Lower-Security Facility

17 hours ago

Trump Escalates Trade War With Canada Following Palestine Stance

18 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Scott Oscar Whitehead

19 hours ago

‘Freedom Week’: California Gun Owners Rush to Buy Ammo After Court Ruling

19 hours ago

US Judges Speak Out About Death Threats, ‘Swattings,’ and ‘Pizza Doxings’

United States judges spoke out against the unprecedented surge in violence and disturbing threats made against members of the judicial branc...

13 hours ago

United States judges speaking about receiving violent threats over rulings
13 hours ago

US Judges Speak Out About Death Threats, ‘Swattings,’ and ‘Pizza Doxings’

Fresno city hall with council campaign finance money
14 hours ago

It’s Raining Cash for Some 2026 Fresno City Council Hopefuls

E. coli identified at avocado lake
15 hours ago

Fresno County Finds E. Coli at Avocado Lake. Don’t Swim There

President Donald Trump speaks at a dinner with Republican Senators, in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 18, 2025. (Reuters File)
15 hours ago

Trump Fires US Labor Department’s Statistical Leader After Weaker Than Expected Jobs Report

Breaking News from Reuters
16 hours ago

Corporation for Public Broadcasting to Close After Funding Cut, in Blow to Local Media

President Donald Trump delivers remarks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 31, 2025. (Reuters File)
16 hours ago

Trump Eyes Bringing Azerbaijan, Central Asian Nations Into Abraham Accords, Sources Say

17 hours ago

Farmers in West Fresno County to Consider 200% Groundwater Pumping Fee Hike

President Donald Trump speaks after disembarking Marine One, as he departs for Scotland, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., July 25, 2025. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)
17 hours ago

Trump Orders Nuclear Submarines Moved Near Russia

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend