Will Biden Give Leonard Peltier Clemency? Indigenous leaders plead: ‘Don’t let him die in prison’

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!democracynow.org, War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

There are only days left in President Biden’s term. He has made history today, and has given thousands of commutes, grace in general, pardons in his last weeks. The question is: Will he pardon Leonard Peltier? Over 120 tribal leaders are calling on Biden to pardon Indigenous leader Leonard Peltier as one of his last acts in office. In a letter to Biden, the tribal leaders write and quote: “Our standing in the world as a champion of freedom, justice and human rights cannot be sustained in a system that allows Leonard Peltier to die in prison.”

Leonard Peltier recently turned 80. He spent most of his life, almost half a century, in prison. For decades, he and his supporters have maintained Peltier’s innocence in the 1975 killing of two. FBI agents in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, saying his conviction was riddled with irregularities and prosecutorial misconduct. The federal government has been repeatedly accused of failing to prove its case against Peltier.

Former U.S. Attorney James Reynolds, who was a federal prosecutor for the District of South Dakota and was involved in Peltier’s prosecution, wrote to Biden in 2021 advocating for Peltier’s release. This is Reynolds reading part of that letter in a recent video produced by Preston Randolph.

JAMES REYNOLDS: President Joe Biden, I am writing today from a position rare for a former prosecutor to ask you to reverse the conviction of a man I helped put behind bars. Leonard Peltier’s conviction and continued incarceration is a testament to a time and a legal system that no longer has a place in our society. We were unable to prove that Mr. Peltier personally committed no offense on the reservation. As a result of Mr. Peltier’s conviction, now under arrest, is that he was guilty of murder simply because he was present on the reservation that day. He has served time for more than 46 years at the hands of minimal evidence, an outcome that I highly doubt would be upheld in any court today. I believe that a grant of executive clemency will serve the best interest of justice and our country.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we head to Rapid City, South Dakota, where we’re joined by Nick Tilsen, founder and managing director of NDN Collective. Tilsen is among the more than 120 tribal leaders who issued a letter to Biden earlier this month as they continue to plead for the freedom of Peltier, who is currently incarcerated in Florida.

Nick Tilsen, we only have a few minutes. Have you met with the Pardon Board?

NICK THEN: We actually met with the pardon attorney, Liz Oyer. We met with the pardon attorney at Justice Department headquarters in December with tribal leaders from around the country and talked specifically about Leonard Peltier and what it would mean for Indian Country. And she was the one who actually drafted the recommendation, because there is a recommendation that goes from the Department of Justice to the president’s desk. And now that recommendation has arrived and is sitting on the president’s desk right now. And he’s going to make a decision in – you know, today or tomorrow, in the coming days, whether he’s going to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier. And we don’t — we don’t know exactly what the recommendation is, but when we left that meeting, we felt all the tribal leaders — we felt that she would bring Leonard Peltier justice, and we felt that it would be a recommendation to his release. And then the decision rests on – the decision rests on the president.

AMY GOODMAN: So what did the pardon attorney tell you?

NICK THEN: The pardon attorney told us that they knew the case inside out, that they — that one of the primary focuses of this particular meeting that we were sitting in is that the part of the recommendation that she wanted to work on was what it would mean. for Indian Country what it would mean for Indian Country if Leonard Peltier was released. And we talked in depth that the President of the United States issued a pardon for the boarding schools and that it just so happened that America’s longest incarcerated indigenous political prisoner in history is actually a boarding school survivor and that we need to see action from the President and that this, too, is a question that will help illuminate many of the other good things the Biden administration has done for the Indian people. And so, they confirmed – she confirmed that indeed there would certainly be a written recommendation and it would certainly go to the President of the United States and he would make a decision before he leaves office.

AMY GOODMAN: How is Leonard Peltier doing in Florida prison?

NICK THEN: Leonard is 80% blind in one eye. He has type 2 diabetes. He is in a walker. He has an aortic aneurysm. His health is deteriorating. And that facility, frankly, doesn’t even have the ability to meet his medical needs. And so it is absolutely a serious situation. And we need to get Leonard out of that prison, home and able to see a doctor almost immediately upon his release.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you tell me if the first ever American cabinet – Native American cabinet member, Deb Haaland, the former congresswoman from New Mexico, has weighed in?

NICK THEN: She has weighed in directly with the president. On Air Force One from Washington, DC, to Arizona, when the announcement was to be made for the apology to the boarding schools, she weighed in. She has been weighed several times. And at this time, the President of the United States needs to listen to this matriarch and needs to listen to Secretary Deb Haaland, and because this is a priority for Indian Country. And this is a perfect opportunity for the President of the United States to listen to the Honorable Minister Haaland. And she has weighed in. She has not weighed in publicly, but she has weighed in directly to the president as Secretary of the Interior.

AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to play a clip from — oh, it was over 10 years ago when I talked to Leonard Peltier in prison at the time. It was President Obama who was in office.

AMY GOODMAN: Leonard, this is Amy Goodman from Democracy Now! i was –

LEONARD PELTIER: Oh, hi, Amy. How are you?

AMY GOODMAN: Hello. I feel good. I was wondering if you have a message for President Obama?

LEONARD PELTIER: I just hope he can, you know, stop the wars going on in this world and stop getting – kill all the people that get killed and, you know, give the Black Hills back to my people, and cut me loose

AMY GOODMAN: It was very interesting, Nick Tilsen, as we break away from that interview—people can hear the entire interview at democracynow.org—that when I asked him to comment, he didn’t comment on his own case first. He talked about stopping the wars. If, in the last 30 seconds we have, you could talk about what it would mean for Native America, for Indian Country, for this country in general, for Leonard Peltier to be granted clemency?

NICK THEN: You know, throughout, the history of the US government’s treatment of Indian people has been unjust. And the reality is how Leonard Peltier was treated in his prosecution and imprisonment is consistent with how this country has treated Indian people. And that’s why we all see a little bit of ourselves in Leonard Peltier, and that’s why we fight so hard for him. So this is about Leonard’s freedom, but it’s about justice for Native Americans everywhere. It is about human rights for people everywhere. This is about paving a path forward that allows us to have justice and begin to heal the relationship between the United States government and Indian people. And so this decision is massive. And I really hope the President of the United States weighs this decision. If he releases Leonard Peltier, he will forever be known as the president who did it. And American –

AMY GOODMAN: Native American activist Nick Tilsen, we’ll leave it there, founder and managing director of NDN Collective. Many thanks. That does it for our show. Democracy Now! produced with Renée Feltz, Anjali Kamat, Mike Burke. I’m Amy Goodman.