Leonard Peltier, an activist with the American Indian Movement in the 1970s, has been in prison for the past 46 years after he was convicted of killing two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Lakota Sioux reservation in South Dakota in 1975. The incident occurred during a very violent period of conflict between a corrupt tribal chairman and tribal members who wanted to return to a traditional way of life. Peltier, who is today incarcerated at a federal prison in Florida, was diagnosed with COVID-19 in early February.
Peltier’s trial was rife with prosecutorial misconduct, including perjured testimony that resulted in his extradition from Canada, where he had fled, the withholding of exculpatory evidence and more.
Peltier’s new attorney Kevin Sharp, is now asking President Biden for executive clemency. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Sharp, who said he won’t know about Peltier’s health status until his client is released from quarantine. Here, Sharp recounts the worst examples of prosecutorial misconduct, which has kept Peltier in prison for close to five decades.
KEVIN SHARP: The thing that really jumps out at you is withholding the ballistics test that shows it wasn’t Mr. Peltier’s weapon. If that happened today the conviction is set aside. It’s an easy no-brainer question. They get around that by changing their theory. I don’t think the Court of Appeals would let them get away with that again, either. But you put on top of that they threatened and intimidated witnesses; you don’t get an indictment without threatening witnesses, right? The complete perjury that they suborn with Myrtle Poor Bear – you don’t get him out of Canada without that, because there’s no evidence. You put on top of that he had a juror who admitted she was prejudiced against Native Americans, and she stays on the jury. All of those things – any one of them should have set this verdict aside – all of them together just drive me nuts, because it’s one of those “Why are we still talking about this?”
In 1977, when this trial took place, you could get away with that. They now have to admit they don’t know because the ballistics test that showed it wasn’t Leonard came to light. It took years, but it came to light. So now what they say is, But he was there. So he aided and abetted whoever did this. Which is interesting, because his co-defendants were acquitted based on self-defense, which means they shot them, but were not guilty of committing murder because it was self-defense. So then the question becomes, Who did Leonard Peltier aid and abet? Now the assistant district attorney says, I don’t know. This is from an interview with Steve Kroft years ago. Kroft asked him that question and he said, I don’t know; maybe himself. This is ridiculous. We’re down some kind of a rabbit hole. What are you talking about? This is gibberish from Alice in Wonderland. It’s a legal impossibility; it’s a factual impossibility.
MELINDA TUHUS: Kevin Sharp, at this time when the struggles of indigenous people have really come to the fore, and when President Biden has specifically said he wants the federal government to build better relationships with them, what is the problem? Why is Leonard still in prison?
KEVIN SHARP: You know, people call Leonard a political prisoner, and I don’t use that term because it means so different things to so many different people. But I do say he is a prisoner of politics. He’s there because you’ve got a constituency of the president, in this case another agency of the federal government that cannot and will not admit mistakes were made and improper conduct occurred, even though two courts of appeals have said it. They found that they threatened and intimidated witnesses. You know, this was a holdover from the Hoover FBI and this FBI needs to let go of that, so they can break from the Hoover FBI.
MELINDA TUHUS: I know Leonard has exhausted all his legal appeals, so what’s the next step?
KEVIN SHARP: He’s got a couple of options now. The president of the U.S., under his constitutional authority, in Article 1 of the Constitution, has the power at any time to grant clemency, either in the form of a pardon or commuting his sentence. So that’s what we’re asking for.
But there are a couple of avenues that will work, although they don’t set him free. The Bureau of Prisons has the ability to request compassionate release. He fits the criteria for that because of his age and his health. It makes no statement at all about whether anybody committed the crime and what his sentence was. It just says, “Because of these things, we are asking the court – as the Bureau of Prisons – to commute his sentence.”
The other thing they could do is grant to serve his sentence as home confinement as part of the Covid release. So the attorney general sent a message to the Bureau of Prisons that says, “Look, this pandemic is bad. It’s worse inside prisons; the death rate is three times higher for incarcerated individuals who catch Covid.” So the attorney general said, “Go through your population, and for those who are particularly at risk – and for whom it’s safe to do that – let them serve their remaining sentence at home.” So some have been released to home confinement – not many, not nearly enough – but they can do that with Leonard as well. He could go home, wear an ankle bracelet and serve his time at home.
His only real opportunity is for the president to recognize what happened here, to recognize the injustice that took place, put the Constitution of the U.S. ahead of your own political welfare and concern.
For more information on Leonard Peltier’s case, visit freeleonard.org and the International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee at whoisleonardpeltier.info.
Leonard Peltier’s attorney, Kevin Sharp, is asking supporters to contact President Biden by phone or email to press for his release. Call (202) 456-1111 or email: www.whitehouse.gov/contact.
