Who is Leonard Peltier?
Leonard Peltier is a native American activist who was convicted of two murders in 1977. He was sentenced to two consecutive sentences for killing two FBI agents. He was also a member of the American Indian Movement. The conflict with the FBI agents took place two years before, in 1975, at a place called Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
The conflict came about when two FBI agents followed a red truck belonging to Jimmy Eagle who was wanted for petty crimes – fighting with a friend and stealing a pair of cowboy boots. The two FBI agents came under attack from a rifle and shots were being fired at them. They radioed for help but were eventually killed by gun shot wounds. In retaliation police shot dead Joe Stuntz who was also an AIM member.
Peltier claimed to have many alibis for that morning and said that it was impossible for him to have murdered the police officers. A woman claiming to have been his girlfriend testified that she had seen him commit both murders and it later transpired that Peltier did not even know this woman.
What is Pine Ridge Reservation?
Pine Ridge Reservation is the site of many conflicts between the Sioux Indians living in that area and the United States of America. The Americans tried to repress the Indians and there was a massacre there in 1890. Since then, this reservation has always been considered to be a sore thumb between the nations. In 1973 there was a standoff lasting 71 days where the Americans tried to suppress the Indians. Therefore since the area had the reputation of non-conformation, the US police were on the lookout for any excuse to arrest and detain the Indians.
Trial 1 (Butler and Robideau) AIM members who were present at the time of the shootings, were found not guilty claiming it was a case of self-defense. Because Peltier was extradicted, he arrived after Butler and Robideau’s trials were over and had to be tried on his own.
Trial II (Peltier) Peltier’s trial was very different from the preceeding one of Butler and Robideau because the jury were informed beforehand that the police officers were shot at close range when they had no means of defense. There were also shown crime scenes of the deceased police officers and also autopsies. This had not been done in Peltier’s trial. Peltier was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
President Clinton refused to pardon Peltier and clemency was denied although the evidence produced in the hearing was ‘coerced and false testimony from witnesses threatened by the FBI’ (World Socialist Web Site). Clinton was urged to grant clemency by many humanitarian organisations and human rights groups but he still held firm.
The publisher of News from Indian Country, Paul deMain issued the following statement in 2004: ‘ I do not believe that Leonard Peltier received a fair trial in connection with the murders of which he was convicted. Certainly he is entitled to one’.
This intrinsically means that Pelletier is innocent but political pressure seems to be directed towards his remaining in prison for some reason. His case is just but the interests of national security seem to veer in opposite directions.
Bibliography
Churchill, Ward and Jim Vander Wall: Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement. South End Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1988, 2002. ISBN 0-89608-293-8.
Matthiessen, Peter (1983). In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-014456-0.
Trimbach, Joseph H. and John M. Trimbach (2008). American Indian Mafia: An FBI Agent's True Story about Wounded Knee, Leonard Peltier, and the American Indian Movement (AIM). Outskirts Press, Inc. ISBN 978-0-9795855-0-0.
