[Pnews] Update & Legal Information for Leonard Peltier

[Prisoner News]

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  Legal Information for Leonard

October 1. 2017
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Dear Friends and Family,

I want to thank you for all the generous donations that have come in for 
Leonard’s legal team, almost 9,500 dollars in the last 2 weeks. It is 
wonderful and shows what we can do to help Leonard’s lawyers to move 
forward. Which means we must continue to raise funds to make this 
happen. I want to share with you part of the strategy the lawyers have 
put together to gain Leonard’s freedom!

 From the desk of the attorney:

“Release

_There are three paths to consider in an effort to obtain Leonard’s 
release. The first is a renewed petition for habeas corpus on the 
grounds that Leonard’s incarceration is unconstitutional. There are many 
obstacles here, both legal and logistical. New grounds (not previously 
raised in any appeal) would have to be discovered to be able to file a 
petition that is meritorious and would be considered by the 8th Circuit 
Court of Appeals. As a practical matter, locating the complete records 
all of previous appeals may be difficult as it appears that over the 
years they have been distributed to different attorneys. It might become 
necessary to obtain them from the court clerks directly but there is no 
guarantee they will be available. _

_ Secondly, after consultation with experts in the area of federal 
parole, it may be possible to renew Leonard’s petition within the next 
two years. This may be the most promising path as it would provide the 
most opportunity to present the factors related to racial 
discrimination, the illegal FBI counter-intelligence operations in the 
1970’s against AIM, the coercive and underhanded tactics of the FBI 
during the investigation leading to Leonard’s arrest and conviction, his 
health issues and the sufficiency of his sentence at this point. _

_ Third, is the possibility of a “compassionate release” based on his 
declining health. This is an administrative issue handled with the 
Bureau of Prisons. Again, I have spoken with experts in the area who 
advise that generally, compassionate releases are intended for prisoners 
with terminal illnesses. I am happy to say that Leonard in my view is 
far from the end of his days, however, he does have significant health 
issues, and that combined with the time he has been incarcerated this 
may be a sufficient basis._

/As I mentioned above, other than general guidelines that apply to all 
inmates there are no definitive regulations regarding the granting of a 
compassionate release from which we can determine that Leonard does, or 
does not, qualify. Each situation is weighed on a case by case basis. 
Leonard’s medical condition does make a release on this basis possible, 
although the hiring of outside medical experts may be necessary as his 
present condition will undoubtedly be open to interpretation for any 
consideration of compassionate release./

/I am including the URL link to an article that will provide additional 
information regarding efforts to pressure the Bureau of Prisons to 
expand its granting of compassionate releases./

http://reason.com/blog/2017/07/28/congress-wants-to-know-why-the-bop-wont

I hope this information will help you see the urgency of our request for 
donations to Leonard’s legal team.

On the medical front, Leonard is recovering slowly from the heart 
surgery as lock downs, visits canceled and the new elder unit has him 
stressed. His grandson Cyrus & his son went to visit Leonard (Thanks to 
the Rosenberg Fund for Children) last weekend. Cyrus checked before he 
left to make sure visiting was on “YES, they said” but when Cyrus got to 
the prison on Saturday morning he was told visit were canceled for the 
day and he should call Saturday night to see if they would be open on 
Sunday. Sunday, it was closed, he called Sunday night for Monday, visits 
were canceled yet again. Both Cyrus, his son and Leonard missed a chance 
to be a family for the weekend. Leonard was very upset as he say’s “time 
is too short for me, and to not see my great grandson is very upsetting.”

Leonard has very few pleasures in life, the most important is his visits 
with family and friends. It is imperative for us to continue to push his 
struggle forward. We need to stay focused and dedicated in order to 
right this grave injustice.

With Respect and Thank you for your support for Leonard's struggle for 
freedom,
Paulette

www.whoisleonardlpeltier.info <http://www.whoisleonardlpeltier.info>

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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