Biden Commutes Sentence of Leonard Peltier in Final Hours of His Presidential Term

In one of his final acts earlier this week, former President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of Leonard Peltier, an indigenous activist convicted in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents during a standoff at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

The Associated Press first reported on Monday that Biden commuted Peltier’s sentence, with Peltier set to transition to home confinement for the remainder of his time served. It noted that his commutation was not a pardon for crimes committed.

While Independent Political Report was not aware of any public statement related to Peltier from the White House, the NDN Collective, a pro-indigenous power group that had been directly in touch with Peltier shortly afterward, attributed the president’s decision to “decades of grassroots organizing in Indian Country and the unveiling of increasing amounts of evidence of prosecutorial misconduct and constitutional violations during the prosecution of Peltier’s case.”

Peltier was imprisoned following his role in a 1975 standoff on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The standoff ended with the deaths of FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, as well as one indigenous man. Peltier, a member of the American Indian Movement, was arrested the following year, extradited from Canada, and convicted in 1977 of aiding and abetting the murder of the agents. His conviction, two life sentences, has long been controversial, with critics pointing to alleged prosecutorial misconduct, conflicting evidence, and claims that Peltier was unfairly targeted due to his activism.

While incarcerated, Peltier mounted two political campaigns, running for both president and vice president. In 2004, he was the presidential nominee of the Peace and Freedom Party, running alongside Janice Jordan. The ticket appeared only on the California ballot, where it received 27,389 votes.

In 2020, Peltier was briefly the vice-presidential nominee for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, running with Gloria La Riva. The Peace and Freedom Party also then identified him as their vice-presidential candidate. However, Peltier dropped out of the race before the general election, citing significant health concerns. At the time, the La Riva campaign stated that his health had “seriously deteriorated” and that the maximum-security prison where he was serving his sentence lacked adequate medical facilities.

After his withdrawal, Sunil Freeman replaced Peltier on the ticket, though Peltier’s name remained on the ballots in Minnesota and Illinois. The La Riva-Peltier ticket earned 1,210 votes in Minnesota and 8,046 votes in Illinois.