Parole denied for Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who has spent most of his life in prison

Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who has spent most of his life in jail since his conviction within the 1975 killings of two FBI brokers in South Dakota, has been denied parole.

The U.S. Parole Fee mentioned in a press release Tuesday asserting the choice that he received’t be eligible for one more parole listening to till June 2026.

His lawyer, Kevin Sharp, a former federal choose, argued that Peltier was wrongly convicted and mentioned that the well being of the 79-year-old was failing. Peltier’s lawyer didn’t instantly return a telephone message from The Related Press in search of remark, however after his consumer was final denied parole, in June, Sharp, mentioned that he argued that the fee was obligated legally to “look ahead,” specializing in points equivalent to whether or not he’s prone to commit one other crime if he’s launch.

The FBI and its present and former brokers dispute the claims of innocence. The company didn’t instantly reply to an electronic mail in search of remark concerning the resolution.

Mike Clark, president of the Society of Former Particular Brokers of the FBI, which wrote a letter arguing that Peltier ought to stay incarcerated, described the choice as “nice information.”

“That would have been any person who I’ve labored with for 23 years. That may very well be them out in that area,” Clark mentioned. “They have been down, they have been wounded, they have been helpless and he shot them level clean. It’s a heinous crime.”

An enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa tribe, Peltier was lively within the American Indian Motion, which started within the Nineteen Sixties as an area group in Minneapolis that grappled with problems with police brutality and discrimination in opposition to Native Individuals. It shortly grew to become a nationwide power.

AIM grabbed headlines in 1973 when it took over the village of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation, resulting in a 71-day standoff with federal brokers. Tensions between AIM and the federal government remained excessive for years.

On June 26, 1975, brokers got here to Pine Ridge to serve arrest warrants amid battles over Native treaty rights and self-determination.

After being injured in a shootout, brokers Jack Coler and Ronald Williams have been shot within the head at shut vary, in accordance with a letter from FBI Director Christopher Wray. Additionally killed within the shootout was AIM member Joseph Stuntz. The Justice Division concluded {that a} legislation enforcement sniper killed Stuntz.

Two different AIM members, Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, have been acquitted of killing Coler and Williams.

After fleeing to Canada and being extradited to america, Peltier was convicted of two counts of first-degree homicide and sentenced in 1977 to life in jail, regardless of protection claims that proof in opposition to him had been falsified.