Biden commutes sentence of Indigenous activist who murdered two FBI agents: Cruel betrayal to the families
One of Joe Biden’s final acts as president Monday was to grant clemency to an Indigenous activist convicted of fatally shooting two FBI agents execution-style in the head in 1975.Leonard Peltier, 80, had been serving two life sentences behind bars but will now carry out the remainder of his time at home instead.He had been part of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.“It’s finally over – I’m going home,” Peltier said after being granted clemency, according to a statement shared by NDN Collective, an Indigenous activist group.
“I want to show the world I’m a good person with a good heart.I want to help the people, just like my grandmother taught me,” he said.Peltier’s commutation was part of a wave of clemency Biden granted on his way out of the White House.
The outgoing president also issued pre-emptive pardons to his brother James and other relatives, members of the since-defunct House select Jan.6 Committee, Dr.
Anthony Fauci and more.The move involving Peltier left law enforcement reeling.“The FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) is outraged by then-President Biden’s decision to commute the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a convicted cop killer responsible for the brutal murders of FBI Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams,” said the FBI Agents Association, a group that advocates on behalf of the bureau, in a statement.“This last-second, disgraceful act by then-President Biden, which does not change Peltier’s guilt but does release him from prison, is cowardly and lacks accountability.It is a cruel betrayal to the families and colleagues of these fallen Agents and is a slap in the face of law enforcement.”Peltier killed FBI Agents Coler, a 28-year-old married dad of two boys, and Williams, 27, on June 26, 1975, as the two feds were hunting for a man named Jimmy Eagle in a case related to an attack on a local ranch.
The pair of agents were there to serve arrest warrants.The agents stumbled upon an American Indian Moveme...