Leonard Peltier is a 77-year-old Anishinabe-Lakota Native American activist imprisoned for 46 years for a crime he says he did not commit. Amnesty International calls him a political prisoner. Peltier recently contractedĀ COVID-19 inside the Coleman maximum security federal penitentiary in Florida, where prisoners have reportedly been denied vaccine booster shots.
āIn and out of lockdown last year at least meant a shower every third day, a meal beyond a sandwich wet with a little peanut butterābut now with COVID for an excuse, nothing,ā Peltier recently wrote. āNo phone, no window, no fresh airāno humans to gatherāno loved oneās voice. No relief. Left alone and without attention is like a torture chamber for the sick and old.ā
Peltier, a member of the American Indian Movement, was convicted of involvement in the killing of two FBIĀ agents, Jack Coler and Ron Williams, in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota on June 26th, 1975, during a period of intense violence on the reservation. Peltierās arrest and trial were marred by prosecutorial misconduct, withheld evidence, coerced and fabricated eyewitness testimony, and more.
The shootout occurred just three years after the death of J. Edgar Hoover. Under Hoover, theĀ FBIĀ engaged in widespread illegality with itsĀ COINTELPROĀ program, directed against civil rights and antiwar organizations. Groups like the Black Panthers and individuals including Martin Luther King, Jr. were targeted for surveillance, disruption, infiltration, intimidation, and false prosecutions. TheĀ FBIĀ intensively targeted the American Indian Movement, which was active protecting elders on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
Peltierās attorney, Kevin Sharp, learned that Peltier had a negativeĀ COVIDĀ test recently, but not much more: āWhen will boosters be made available? Any changes in prisonĀ COVIDĀ protocols to ensure prisoners are safer? When can I speak to Leonard? ā Sharp wrote in an email to us Wednesday. āI was earlier denied a call with the Assistant Warden trying to get these answers.ā
Sharpās route to Peltierās case was unusual. Nominated to the federal bench by President Obama in 2011, he served as a federal judge in Tennessee for six years, three of them as Chief Judge. In 2017, he resigned, denouncing the mandatory minimum sentences that he was forced to impose. He then worked for the release of Chris Young, who he had mandatorily sentenced to life without parole. TV personality Kim Kardashian got involved, and they won clemency for Young from President Donald Trump. Publicity from that prompted long-time Peltier supporter Connie Nelson, the ex-wife of musician Willie Nelson, to send Sharp information on Peltierās case.
āI sat down to read the stacks, just reams of information on Leonardās case, not really coming at it with any preconceived notionā¦ looking at it from the viewpoint of a federal judge,ā Sharp explained on the Democracy Now! news hour. āWhat I saw was shocking. The constitutional violations just continued to stack up. I was outraged that this man was still in prison.ā
The movement for executive clemency for Peltier peaked in late 2000, as President Bill Clinton was leaving office. Clinton promised to give Peltierās clemency application āa lookseeā on WBAIĀ radio in New York City, when he called us on election day to get out the vote.
Clinton infamously abused the presidential power of clemency, granting pardons to campaign donors and cronies of his half-brother, among others. He denied clemency to Peltier, as did his successors, Presidents George W. Bush, Obama and Trump.
One of the federal prosecutors who put Peltier in prison spoke out, in 2017. āLeonard Peltierās conviction and continued incarceration is a testament to a time and system of justice that no longer has a place in our society,ā retired U.S. Attorney James Reynolds wrote to President Obama. āI have realized that the prosecution and the continued incarceration of Mr. Peltier was and is injust.ā
Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii, who chairs the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, wrote a letter to President Biden on Jan. 28. āI write to urge you to grant a commutation of Leonard Peltierās sentence. Mr. Peltier meets appropriate criteria for commutation: (1) his old age and critical illness, (2) the amount of time he has already served, and (3) the unavailability of other remedies,ā Schatz wrote.
On February 2nd, HuffPost reporter Jennifer Bendery asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki, āDoes the President know who Leonard Peltier is?ā Psaki replied, āIām sure he does, but I have not discussed it with him.ā Bendery also asked Senate Judiciary Committee chair Sen. Patrick Leahy about Peltier. Leahy said he would ask President Biden about Peltier in their upcoming private meetings.
President Biden must take action, granting long overdue clemency to Leonard Peltier after close to half a century in prison for a blatantly political prosecution.
This column originally appeared in Democracy Now!