[Pnews] Leonard Peltier Clemency Denied: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Prisoner News ppnews at freedomarchives.org
Thu Jan 19 13:14:59 EST 2017


https://telegraphmedia.net/leonard-peltier-clemency-denied-5-fast-facts-you-need-to-know/ 



  Leonard Peltier Clemency Denied: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

January 18, 2017

President Barack Obama has denied clemency 
<http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/obama-won-commute-native-american-activist-leonard-peltier-article-1.2949762> 
for Native American activist Leonard Peltier, dashing what may be his 
final hopes to ever see freedom again.

The decision has generated strong reaction on social media among 
supporters of Peltier, who believe the American Indian Movement activist 
was railroaded by the government. Even the Pope had asked 
<http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/obama-won-commute-native-american-activist-leonard-peltier-article-1.2949762>Obama 
for clemency.

Peltier was convicted of murdering two FBI agents during a 1975 shootout 
on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. A Native American 
man was also shot and killed by someone else. The conflict surrounding 
the murders has been showcased in well-known books and movies, and 
Peltier has received advocacy from prominent celebrities and 
humanitarians. The site Democracy Now broke the news 
<https://www.democracynow.org/2017/1/18/breaking_leonard_peltier_denied_clemency_by>that 
Peltier’s clemency was rejected.

Here’s what you need to know:

------------------------------------------------------------------------


    1. Obama Rejected Peltier’s Request for Sentence Commutation

According to Democracy Now 
<http://m.democracynow.org/web_exclusives/3124>, Peltier’s attorney was 
informed that Peltier’s clemency was denied on January 18 in an email 
that read: “The application for commutation of sentence of your client, 
Mr. Leonard Peltier, was carefully considered in this Department and the 
White House, and the decision was reached that favorable action is not 
warranted.”

The email continued, according to Democracy Now: “Your client’s 
application was therefore denied by the President on January 18, 2017… 
Under the Constitution, there is no appeal from this decision.”

Peltier supporters had growing optimism because of Obama’s pardon on 
January 17 of Oscar Lopez Rivera, who was a member of a FALN militant 
group seeking Puerto Rican independence.

------------------------------------------------------------------------


    2. Many Had Signed a Petition Urging Mercy for Peltier & Even the
    Pope Asked Obama to Free Peltier

Peltier has always maintained his innocence. According to the New York 
Daily News 
<http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/obama-won-commute-native-american-activist-leonard-peltier-article-1.2949762>, 
the Pope himself wrote Obama seeking clemency for Peltier.

According to FreeLeonard.org <http://www.freeleonard.org/case/>, “the 
Southern Christian Leadership Conference, National Congress of American 
Indians, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, 
Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Rev. Jesse Jackson, among many others, to be 
a political prisoner who should be immediately released.”

Many had signed petitions online seeking clemency for Peltier. A letter 
from the chairman of the Oglala Sioux tribe

“Mr. Peltier is a 72-year-old Dakota elder, a great great grandfather, 
who has never had the chance to sit and enjoy his children, 
grandchildren, and great great grandchildren as he’s been locked up for 
over 41 years…Let him spend his last years with his family and friends,” 
the letter reads, adding that Peltier suffers from a number of health 
conditions.

------------------------------------------------------------------------


    3. Peltier’s Case Was Showcased in a Robert Redford Documentary

The Robert Redford-produced 1992 documentary Incident at Oglala 
<http://www.freepeltiernow.org/incident.html> showcased the Peltier 
prosecution, and Peter Matthiessen’s acclaimed book, In the Spirit of 
Crazy Horse 
<https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Crazy-Horse-Peter-Matthiessen/dp/0140144560>, 
also chronicled the troubled times and problems with the case.

A website devoted to freeing Peltier says of the documentary, “Indian 
activists ended up in an extended standoff with FBI agents, and the 
result was several deaths, including two federal men whose killing 
(according to many people) was never clearly attributed to a specific 
gunman. Nevertheless, the government laid blame for the tragedy on 
Leonard Peltier. Peltier has spent many years in prison, and Michael 
Apted’s film, which is hardly ambiguous in its commitment toward 
Peltier’s hoped-for freedom, is persuasive in both its detail and its 
case against brutal federal policies toward Indians.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------


    4. Peltier’s Attorney Said the Refusal to Grant Clemency Was Like a
    ‘Sentence of Death’

Peltier’s attorney, Martin Garbus, appeared on Democracy Now and said, 
“I think it’s fair to say that if he doesn’t get commuted by President 
Obama, he’ll die in jail. He’s a very sick man. So, Obama’s not granting 
him clemency is like a sentence of death. Trump ain’t going to do it.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------


    5. Peltier Was Convicted of Murdering Two FBI Agents & Many Native
    Americans Also Died in the Clashes at Pine Ridge

The FBI has a full page devoted to the murders of the agents, writing, 
“On June 26, 1975, FBI Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were 
murdered at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the southwest corner of 
South Dakota.”

The FBI contends, 
<https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/resmurs-case-reservation-murders> 
“Peltier had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, which had been 
issued in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, for Unlawful Flight to 
Avoid Prosecution (UFAP) – Attempted Murder (of an off-duty police 
officer). Peltier and his supporters allege they had traveled to Pine 
Ridge from Farmington, New Mexico with a contingent of American Indian 
Movement (AIM) members.”

They were later found shot to death next to Coler’s vehicle. According 
to the FBI, “The agents’ vehicles alone had 125 bullet holes. This total 
does not take into account those rounds that hit the agents, glass, or 
were not recovered.” A Native American man, Joseph Stuntz, also died in 
the gun battles of that day.

Some, such as the Twitter user above, believe that Peltier is guilty, 
but others maintain the FBI got the wrong man.

FreePeltier.org writes <http://www.freeleonard.org/case/>that “the 
Wounded Knee occupation of 1973 marked the beginning of a three-year 
period of political violence on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The 
tribal chairman hired vigilantes, self titled as ‘GOONS,’ to rid the 
reservation of American Indian Movement (AIM) activity and sentiment. 
More than 60 traditional tribal members and AIM members were murdered 
and scores more were assaulted.”

The site has a detailed accounting of issues in the case.


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