After Biden's Historic Grants of Clemency, Calls to Commute Leonard Peltier Reignite

Washington, D.C. — Last week, after President Biden made the historic act of commuting the sentences of 1,499 Americans in a single day, efforts to free Leonard Peltier have reignited. On Thursday, Dec. 12 — the day after Biden announced clemency — dozens of U.S. senators and representatives wrote a letter to the President asking for clemency for Leonard Peltier.

Tribal leaders and organizers have praised the act by federal leaders: “We would like to thank Senator [Brian] Schatz and Representative [Raúl] Grijalva for their solidarity as well as the other senators and congresspeople who signed on to the letter,” said NDN Collective CEO Nick Tilsen to Unicorn Riot. “This is an indicator that momentum continues to grow for clemency for Leonard Peltier.”

The letter to President Biden was signed by all Democrats including seven senators, 26 House members, and a former Democratic senator who served in the Senate with Biden for years, Patrick Leahy of Vermont. “We write to you with renewed urgency regarding the case of Native American rights activist Leonard Peltier,” the letter to President Biden stated. “The power to exercise mercy in this case lies solely within your discretion, and we urge you to grant Mr. Peltier clemency, allowing him to return home and live out his remaining days among his own people.”

The American Indian Movement (AIM) has long led efforts to raise awareness of Peltier’s conviction, and has organized many campaigns that have focused on the federal government’s oppression against the dissenter organization in the 1970s.

Peltier’s conviction stems from a 1975 fatal shootout that took place two years after the 71-day Wounded Knee Occupation, where AIM members occupied the town of Wounded Knee to protest corruption in tribal leadership and to highlight the federal government’s failure to honor treaties. During the time of the fatal shootout, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation had the highest murder rate per capita in the nation. Violence on the reservation was largely fueled by conflict between tribal citizens who supported the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s government and those who did not. In fact, the period leading up to the fatal shooting that left two FBI agents dead is widely known and referred to as “The Reign of Terror.”

In the summer of 1975, AIM members camped out on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to support and protect elders in the community. On June 26, 1975, a shootout broke out between drivers in two unmarked cars and another vehicle driven by someone associated with the AIM encampment. Two FBI agents, Ronald Williams and Jack Coler — drivers of the unmarked cars — were killed.

Despite Peltier’s defense team claiming the evidence against him had been falsified, he was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1977.

“The American Indian Movement is grateful for the many people and organizations who have supported Leonard Peltier over the last decades,” said American Indian Movement’s Grand Governing Council Chair Lisa Bellanger to Unicorn Riot. “The recent letter from federal leaders to Biden is appreciated and it’s time to let our elder return home to his people.”

Efforts to support Leonard Peltier’s release from federal prison have increased in the last couple of years through asking President Biden to grant Peltier a compassionate release due to his deteriorating health and age. The Democratic National Committee’s Resolutions Committee unanimously approved a resolution in 2022 asking President Biden to consider clemency for Leonard Peltier. Later that year, a walk that began in Minneapolis convened for a demonstration and rally at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and included several meetings with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the White House.

Leonard Peltier AIM ‘Walk to Justice’ from MN to D.C. Started With a Dream [AIM Arrives in D.C.] [November 2022]

In Sept. 2023, NDN Collective organized a rally with Amnesty International USA at the White House, and 35 participants in the rally were arrested including former National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) President Fawn Sharp, Dallas Goldtooth, and NDN Collective CEO Nick Tilsen. Each arrest resulted in a $50 citation and no one was taken to jail.

After the White House’s Tribal Nations Summit — an annual meeting with at least one representative of a federally recognized tribe and White House officials — on December 9, Oglala Sioux Tribal (OST) President Frank Star Comes Out coordinated a meeting with the DOJ’s Office of Tribal Justice officials including Oglala Sioux Tribal Member JoAnn Kintz and acting director Daron Carreiro, an enrolled Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma citizen, to show a united front of support and solidarity from Tribal Nations and Tribal organizations in asking for the release of Leonard Peltier. There were at least a dozen Indigenous leaders in the closed meeting.

“The Oglala Sioux Tribe formally requests, on a government-to-government basis, that you grant Mr. Peltier clemency so he can be released from prison on humanitarian grounds,” wrote OST President Star Comes Out in a letter addressed to President Biden on December 3, 2024. “He has served 49 years in prison, is now in poor health, and should be given an opportunity to spend the remainder of his life with his family.”

In his letter to Biden, Star Comes Out mentioned a letter from James H. Reynolds, the appeals prosecutor for South Dakota from 1976-1982 whose office handled the prosecution and appeal of Peltier. In 2021, Reynolds wrote a letter to Biden saying that much of the evidence used to convict Peltier for the crime of first-degree murder would not be accepted in a court today and asked the president to grant Leonard Peltier clemency. Reynolds spoke at the “Walk for Justice” rally in Washington, D.C. in November 2022 and joined leaders in various meetings with the DOJ and Pardon Officials.

Asking for Leonard Peltier’s Clemency, Senators Co-Sign Letter to Pres. Biden [November 2022]

Last month, while aboard Air Force One to the Gila River Indian Community, NCAI President Mark Macarro spoke with President Biden about Leonard Peltier and asked him to consider granting clemency. Biden was traveling to Gila River to officially apologize for the United States’ role in operating federal Indian Boarding Schools. Macarro reportedly told Biden that Peltier was a boarding school survivor and Indian Country has long advocated for his release.

“Our expectation is that the President will make a decision for, or against, clemency before he leaves office,” said Tilsen. “This decision will have a direct relationship to President Biden’s legacy and relationship to Indian people.” However, no indication has come from the White House that the President was considering granting clemency for Leonard Peltier.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland previously voiced her support for the release of Leonard Peltier, but that was when she was a New Mexico congresswoman. Since becoming the Secretary of Interior, Haaland has not issued a statement supporting Leonard Peltier’s release from federal prison. Former President Barack Obama denied Peltier’s application for clemency on his last day in office, on January 18, 2017.

“If we all told the truth about Leonard Peltier, we would have to talk about the 69-100 Oglala traditionals and/or AIM identified people who were murdered under the political cover, legal immunity, funds, arms, equipment and intelligence provided by the corrupt FBI and other agencies. If Biden chooses the same path as every other US President before him then Leonard Peltier’s fate will be decided by President Trump who, like Leonard and AIM, has been politically targeted by the FBI.”
Chase Iron Eyes, Executive Director, Sacred Defense Fund

Biden’s last day in office is January 20, 2025.

The comprehensive list of elected politicians who signed the letter to President Biden included: U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawai’i), Edward Markey (D- Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Peter Welch (D- Vt.), as well as former U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), and U.S. Representatives Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), Jesús García (D-Ill.), Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Daniel Kildee (D-Mich.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Erica Lee Carter (D-Texas), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), James McGovern (D-Mass.), Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.), Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), Janice Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Robert Scott (D-Va.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Jill Tokuda (D-Hawai‘i), and Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.).

Darren is a freelance UR contributor who has covered Indigenous issues including the U.S. Department of Interior’s “Road to Healing” Tour, the criminal case following the toppling of the Columbus statue at the Minnesota State Capitol Grounds, and protests against the use of Native mascotry. He is the Director of Media Relations for the Sacred Defense Fund and can be reached at [email protected]

Cover image via Akičita Šuŋka-Wakaŋ Ska for Unicorn Riot (Minneapolis, MN 2022).