Biden commutes life sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, 80
Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of the Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, convicted of the 1975 murder of two FBI agents in South Dakota, moments before handing over power to Donald Trump on Monday.
Peltier, who has spent half a century in federal prison, is said to be in poor health and would have not come up for parole until 2026 after being denied release in July last year.
In a White House statement, Biden said he was commuting Peltier’s life sentence so that he can serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement.
“He is now 80 years old, suffers from severe health ailments, and has spent the majority of his life (nearly half a century) in prison. This commutation will enable Mr Peltier to spend his remaining days in home confinement but will not pardon him for his underlying crimes,” the statement read. […]
Peltier was found guilty of the murders and given two consecutive life sentences. One of his current attorneys, Kevin Sharp, told the Guardian recently there has been misconduct in the investigation and misconduct by the prosecution.
Sharp said he has been frustrated with “the system that refuses to acknowledge the government’s role in what happened in June of 1975, refuses to acknowledge the context of what happened, refuses to acknowledge the violation of rights that happened”.
Prior attempts to pardon Peltier had failed, including efforts by the former president Bill Clinton after they were protested by FBI agents. The former FBI agent Coleen Rowley has said that the federal agency has a “vendetta” against Peltier.
In other words, he’s still under arrest and they’re still not pardoning him for the crimes he probably never actually committed, so it’s not exactly the ideal situation for him… still, I suppose home detention still beats jail as far as comfort goes, and it appears he can hardly get about much anyway. And it’s still more than other presidents have been willing or able to do. Suppose it’s not a bad way for Joe to have ended his presidency, even if it could’ ve been better…
