Deploying an AR-15 to gun down two FBI agents, riddling their dead bodies with bullets, and fleeing the scene, would be a clear act of domestic terrorism by today’s standards. A group of congressional Democrats, joined by Rep. Tim Burchett, Tennessee Republican, want clemency for Leonard Peltier, who did all that, and more.
In a letter to Joe Biden, the group claims that there were problems with the trial, and cites the claim of the United NationsWorking Group on Arbitrary Detention that Peltier “continues to be detained because he is Native American.” Here’s how it went down.
In 1975, Leonard Peltier was living on the Pine Ridge reservation and acting as an enforcer for the American Indian Movement (AIM), which in 1973 seized the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, and held it for 71 days. On June 26, 1975, FBI agents Ronald Williams and Jack Coler came to Pine Ridge looking for Jimmy Eagle, wanted on assault charges.
Williams sent a radio report of rifle fire from behind a row of junked cars. The agents were armed only with revolvers and when Coler went to retrieve a rifle from the trunk, nine rounds blasted through the lid severely wounding the agent. Coler crawled into the car, soon riddled with bullets.
Ron Williams was also hit, and raised a hand as he pleaded for his life. The shooter, later identified as Peltier, fired an AR-15 into Williams’ hand then shot him in the head. Peltier also shot Jack Coler in the head, and both men were shot after they were dead. In November, Leonard Peltier, James Eagle, Darrell Dean Butler, and Robert Robideau were indicted on two counts of first-degree murder.
On the run, Peltier shot it out with Oregon policemen who stopped his motor home. Peltier fled to Canada but was extradited, At the 1977 trial in Fargo, North Dakota, a jury took 10 hours to convict Peltier on two counts of murder and sentenced him to two life terms in federal prison. The convicted murderer quickly became a hero to the left, which considered him a political prisoner. He isn’t, and contrary to the UN, he isn’t detained because he is a Native American.
In late 2000, hundreds of FBI agents marched to the White House with banners reading “Never Forget” and a letter opposing clemency. Clinton pardoned Puerto Rican terrorists, but not Leonard Peltier. Presidents Bush and Obama also failed to grant him clemency. The FBI “remains resolute against the commutation of Leonard Peltier’s sentence.”
The convicted murderer’s fans doubtless timed their clemency request for Indigenous People’s Day. At this writing, Biden has taken no action.
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