Native American activist finally released from prison, North Dakota community welcomes him back

UPDATED: Feb 19, 2025 13:12 IST

Supporters of Native American activist Leonard Peltier plan to welcome him back to his North Dakota community on Wednesday, a day after his release from a Florida prison where he had been serving a life sentence in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.

Peltier, 80, is expected to join family and supporters at an events center in Belcourt, a small town just south of the Canadian border on the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians’ reservation.

“We’re so excited for this moment,” Jenipher Jones, one of Peltier’s attorneys said soon before his release. “He is in good spirits. He has the soul of a warrior.”

Then-President Joe Biden commuted Peltier’s life sentence to home confinement, leading to his release Tuesday from the Coleman penitentiary. Peltier was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and given two consecutive life sentences stemming from a 1975 confrontation on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were killed, and while Peltier acknowledged firing shots during the confrontation, he denied being the person whose shots killed the men. Native Americans widely believe he was a political prisoner who was wrongly convicted because he fought for tribal rights as a member of the American Indian Movement.

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Some in law enforcement have argued for years against freeing Peltier. As Biden considered his options as his term ended, former FBI Director Christopher Wray sent the president a letter in which he called Peltier “a remorseless killer” who should remain in prison.

In a statement about the commutation, Biden said numerous individuals and groups supported releasing Peltier due to the time he spent in prison, his age and his leadership role among Native Americans.