A Native American activist who has been imprisoned since 1977 over the deaths of two FBI agents is fighting to have a new trial and clear his name.
Leonard Peltier, 77, of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota is requesting that President Joe Biden take a look at his case and provide him with clemency, he told NBC News during a phone interview on Wednesday. Peltier, who is being held at the Federal Correctional Complex in Coleman, Florida, claimed critical evidence was left out of his trial.
“I have a last few years, and I got to fight,” Peltier told the outlet during a phone interview.
THE UNPARDONABLE LEONARD PELTIER
Family and advocates have insisted that Peltier be released from prison, citing health issues that include diabetes, partial blindness stemming from a stroke, hypertension, and COVID-19, according to the outlet.
Leaders within the Democratic National Committee’s Native American Caucus asked Biden in a letter on March 17 to provide “clemency and release” to Peltier, according to HuffPost.
“The continued imprisonment of Leonard Peltier, a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, is one of the great miscarriages of justice in modern history,” the leaders wrote.
Peltier and two other men were identified as being suspects in the murder of two FBI officers during a shootout that took place at Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in June 1975, according to Reason. While Peltier fled to Canada, the two men, Robert Robideau and Darelle Butler, were found not guilty after lawyers argued they had acted in self-defense.
Peltier was put on trial in North Dakota once he was returned from Canada, and prosecutors connected a bullet casing found in the trunk of an FBI agent’s vehicle to an AR-15, claiming that Peltier had been the only person at the scene to have one. Peltier was found guilty and sentenced to serve two consecutive life sentences, reports said.
“My lawyer said if I were tried today, they would never get away with it,” Peltier told the outlet. Peltier’s lawyer, Kevin Sharp, said that all opportunities to file an appeal had been exhausted and that federal prosecutors would need to decide to reopen the case in order for a new trial to occur, according to the outlet.
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There is an overall wrongful conviction rate of approximately 6% in a general state prison population, according to a 2018 study by the Innocence Project.
