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PDFObama Commutes Sentences of 46 Federal Prisoners, But What About Leonard Peltier? Indian Country Today
In response to a long list of violations by the United States, in the winter of 1973, AIM took up arms against the U.S. and made their stand at Wounded Knee – the massacre site of more than 300 Lakota – in an act of resistance against political corruption and governmental abuse.
Two years later, a shootout between AIM and the FBI left two agents dead. In 1977, Peltier was found guilty of the deaths and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
Since then, there have been significant developments in his case that suggest that the FBI and the prosecution acted incongruously to assure a conviction. In 1991, for example, the judge who presided over Peltier’s case, Gerald Heaney, wrote a letter to then-Senator Daniel Inouye, Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, stating he had concerns that should “merit consideration in any petition for leniency filed.”
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