President Biden Commutes Leonard Peltier’s Sentence; Will Serve Remainder on Home Confinement

GRIN Staff

Gila River Indian News

In one of his last official acts in office, President Joe Biden commuted the sentence of Leonard Peltier, the 79-year-old Anishinaabe activist who has been incarcerated for nearly five decades. Peltier, a former member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), will serve the remainder of his sentence on home confinement, beginning Feb. 18.

Peltier was convicted in 1977 for his role in the 1975 shooting deaths of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The case has long drawn international criticism from Indigenous rights groups and human rights advocates who cite inconsistencies in evidence and alleged prosecutorial misconduct. Peltier’s supporters have argued for decades that his imprisonment was politically motivated.

“It’s finally over – I’m going home,” Peltier said in a statement released by the NDN Collective, an Indigenous rights organization based in South Dakota. “I want to show the world I’m a good person with a good heart. I want to help the people, just like my grandmother taught me.”

Advocates for Peltier’s release, including tribal leaders and members of Congress, have pushed for clemency, citing his age, declining health, and the injustices of his trial. His transition to home confinement marks the first time in nearly 50 years that Peltier will be outside a prison cell.