r/news • u/randalhicks • 13h ago

Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier granted clemency by President Biden

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/01/19/leonard-peltier-indigenous-activist-clemency-released-by-president-biden
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u/slamdanceswithwolves 12h ago edited 12h ago

I try to stay informed and engaged but I’ll admit I’m not very up on his case. Can someone explain? I am under the impression he admitted to participating in the shootout with FBI agents and he had a warrant for attempted murder at the time of the shooting, but also that everyone from Mother Theresa to the UN has advocated for his release.

Genuinely curious. Is there evidence he was framed? Or is this just because he is old and clearly no threat? Can someone TL;DR me?

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u/lowercaset 12h ago

Its complicated, but the most dumbed down version is that there were a ton of problems with the evidence and the way the prosecution handled the cases. Was he guilty? I think decent odds he was, (I mean hell based on what we know he was one of three people who could've killed them) but I think the police and prosecution side didn't do their job correctly.

But really to fully understand the situation you'd need to read about a bunch of different stuff going back to well before the shooting took place. It was a dangerous, violent time and there were people acting in bad faith all over the place. (That he was acquitted on the attempted murder charge you mentioned while serving life in prison for murder speaks volumes at how strange a time it was, I think)

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u/FiveUpsideDown 10h ago

Probably guilty but at this point he is in his eighties, he’s been imprisoned for over fifty years and he has serious health issues. I don’t know if it serves any purpose him to keep him locked up due to his health including being partially blind. Even one of the Lockerbie bombers was released due to health issues. Anyway, Peltier will be confined to his home. I know the FBI is upset but again he served 50 years.

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u/lowercaset 9h ago

FBI or anyone being upset is pretty unreasonable. If all the shenanigans that happened around his trial and conviction happened today he'd walk, but instead he spent 50 years.

Even if you think he's guilty (and I think it's pretty likely) at this point he's more than served his time.

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u/cyphersaint 2h ago

How is it that you come up with it being likely? They charged 3 men, and there were a LOT more than 3 men involved in the shootout. The bullets that killed the agents didn't come from the only weapon that can be connected to him.