Convicted murderer Leonard Peltier again denied parole

Friday, August 21, 2009

Leonard Peltier, a Chippewa activist and member of the American Indian Movement who was convicted in 1977 of the murder of two FBI agents, has been denied parole. Peltier is serving two consecutive life sentences in the United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Peltier had been previously denied parole in 1993.

Peltier, along with Robert Robideau and Darelle "Dino" Butler, was charged with the murders of FBI Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams after a shootout during unrest on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Robideau and Butler were acquitted, the jury finding the shootings of Coler and Williams having been in self defense, but Peltier had fled the country and was tried separately on his return and found guilty.

Peltier's attorney, Eric Seitz, stated that the announcement of Peltier's being denied parole was made without the courtesy of informing the defense, and noted that Peltier, currently 64 years of age, is in poor health with numerous complaints. U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley, meanwhile, called Peltier "an unrepentant, cold-blooded murderer who executed FBI special agents" who is "exactly where he belongs — federal prison".

Peltier has consistently denied that he murdered Coler and Williams and maintains that the FBI framed him. Supporters of his release include a wide range of world figures, including Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama and Amnesty International, while not classifying Peltier as a political prisoner, asserts that "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."

A statement from the FBI released after the announcement that Peltier would stay in jail reads, in part, "His callous criminal acts demonstrated a complete disrespect for human life and for the law. His time served in jail for their 1975 murders has not diminished the brutality of his crimes or the pain and sorrow felt by the families of his victims or the FBI family."

Leonard Peltier is next eligible for parole in 2024.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Related news

"AIM activist, Leonard Peltier defender Robert Robideau dies" — Wikinews, February 20, 2009

Sources

Wikipedia

Wikipedia has more about this subject:

Leonard Peltier

Blake Nicholson. "American Indian activist Leonard Peltier, convicted in FBI agent deaths, denied parole" — Los Angeles Times, August 21, 2009
Press Release: "FBI Responds to United States Parole Commission Decision to Deny Parole to Leonard Peltier" — Federal Bureau of Investigation, August 21, 2009
Don Haney. "Parole Denied for Peltier" — KFGO, August 21, 2009
Press Release: "USA: Appeal for the release of Leonard Peltier" — Amnesty International, July 14, 1999

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License