On his final day in office, President Joe Biden commuted Leonard Peltier, an 80-year-old Turtle Mountain Chippewa man convicted of killing two FBI agents. Many Indigenous communities around the state and nation are celebrating the decision.
In one of his last acts before leaving office, former President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, convicted in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.
The commutation will allow Peltier, who has long maintained his innocence in the killing of two FBI agents, to spend his remaining days in home confinement.
Sundance: David France and Jesse Short Bull's film tackles the 50-year story of activism surrounding the contentious conviction of the prominent American Indian Movement leader, whose sentence was commuted just one week before the film's premiere.
"I'm gonna be so, so happy," said his sister, Betty Ann Peltier Solano. "It's gonna be one of the happiest days in my life. I'll give him a big hug and a kiss."
President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist convicted of killing two FBI agents nearly 50 years ago in South Dakota. Peltier, 80, is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota.
The president commuted Peltier over the objection of former FBI Director Christopher Wray. In a private letter sent to Biden earlier this month and obtained by The Associated Press, Wray reiterated his position that “Peltier is a remorseless killer,” and urged the president not to act.
President Biden said the decision will allow Peltier, an 80-year-old Native American activist, to fulfill the remainder of his sentence from home.
American Indian activist Leonard Peltier speaks during a 1999 interview at the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kan. President Joe Biden commuted to home confinement Peltier's life sentence after he spent most of his life in prison for the killing of two FBI agents in South Dakota in 1975.
Former President Joe Biden signed a number of pardons and commutations on his way out of the White House as per tradition, according to new information.
WASHINGTON (KFGO)—Former Fargo Mayor Jon Lindgren says he was shocked and amazed that former President Joe Biden commuted Leonard Peltier’s sentence on his last day in office. Peltier was sentenced to life in prison in 1977 for the 1975 killings of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. His trial was held in Fargo.