Leonard Peltier
Leonard Peltier Defense Committee: http://www.leonardpeltier.net/index.htm
Leonard Peltier (born September 12, 1944) is an American activist and member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who was convicted and sentenced in 1977 to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for aiding and abetting the execution style murder of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Peltier's indictment is the subject of the 1992 documentary Incident at Oglala, a film by Robert Redford and Michael Apted.
Peltier's supporters present him as a political prisoner, although his murder conviction has survived appeals in various courts. Amnesty International issued this statement: "Although he has not been adopted as a prisoner of conscience, there is concern about the fairness of the proceedings leading to his conviction and it is believed that political factors may have influenced the way the case was prosecuted."[1] Numerous lawsuits have been filed on his behalf but none has succeeded.
Peltier is currently incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. His projected release date is October 11, 2040.[2]
On July 28, 2009, Peltier was granted a full hearing before the United States Parole Commission. On August 21, 2009, US Attorney Drew Wrigley announced that Peltier’s parole request had been denied. Peltier's next scheduled hearing will be in July 2024.[3]
