A homecoming celebration nearly 50 years in the making will take place Tuesday when Leonard Peltier returns to the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in north-central North Dakota, welcomed by hundreds of supporters and relatives.
‘It’s a historical day’: Leonard Peltier coming home Tuesday after nearly 50 years in prison
The 80-year-old was released from prison Tuesday morning and will reunite with family in North Dakota.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 18, 2025 at 2:00PM
“Feb. 18 is a historical day,” sister Sheila Peltier said. “That’s the day he walks out of that penitentiary. That’s very exciting for everybody, people all over the world. It’s a historical day now.”
Leonard Peltier’s 2,000-mile journey home to Belcourt, N.D., began after he was released from the federal prison complex in Coleman, Fla., northwest of Orlando early Tuesday morning.
He’s expected to arrive in Belcourt in time for dinner with his family.
“Leonard’s step outside the prison walls today marks a step toward his long-overdue freedom and a step toward reconciliation with Native Americans,” said Kevin Sharp, one of Peltier’s attorneys.
A community celebration will take place Wednesday afternoon at the Sky Dancer Casino & Resort in Belcourt.
Peltier’s life sentence was commuted by Joe Biden in one of his last official acts as president, allowing the American Indian Movement member to serve the rest of his sentence on home confinement.
FBI officials have long opposed his release.
Peltier was convicted of aiding and abetting the murders of two FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
But his conviction has been questioned and called into doubt over the years. Two Native Americans arrested in connection with the murders were acquitted. Peltier argued the government lied and suppressed evidence during his 1977 federal trial in Fargo.
The AR-15 rifle recovered from a car carrying Peltier and several American Indian Movement members had a different firing pin than the rifle used to kill agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams. They were shot while driving separate vehicles pursuing a robbery suspect, then shot again at close range.
Pine Ridge at the time was a site of intense conflict. Two years earlier the American Indian Movement occupied the reservation village of Wounded Knee over Indian rights, leading to a historic, 71-day standoff with federal agents.
An all-white jury found Peltier guilty, and he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms.
Sharp, a former chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, said in a statement that “Unquestionably, the death of two FBI agents and a young Native American was a tragedy, only further compounded by the nearly 50 years of wrongful incarceration for Leonard Peltier. Misconduct by the government in the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Peltier has been a stain on our system of justice.”
The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 1986 that evidence favorable to Peltier that was withheld by the prosecution likely wouldn’t have changed the verdict.
That same year, the Human Rights Commission of Spain awarded him the International Human Rights Prize “because he was defending the historical and cultural rights of his people against the genocide of his race.”
It was his first of many international honors, including seven Nobel Peace Prize nominations.
Paul O’Brien, executive director with Amnesty International USA, said in a statement that while they welcome Peltier’s release, “he should not be restricted to home confinement.”
“Leonard Peltier’s release is the right thing to do given the serious and ongoing human rights concerns about the fairness of his trial, his nearly 50 years behind bars, his health and his age,” O’Brien said.
Peltier has maintained his innocence while in prison, during which he was repeatedly denied parole.
Last summer, Peltier’s most recent request for parole was also denied. Then-FBI Director Christopher Wray submitted a statement urging the commission to reject Peltier’s parole, noting he “has never expressed remorse for his ruthless actions.”
His next opportunity for parole would have been June 2039.
At one point, Peltier sought asylum in the Soviet Union.
“You’ve got to remember, over in Siberia a lot of the people are related to the Indian people over here. And the cold wouldn’t bother me; I’m from North Dakota,” Peltier told the Star Tribune in 1988. “I really don’t want to leave my country. … I just don’t want to stay in prison.”
Peltier described the feeling of “false imprisonment” to that of being forced into a boarding school as a child.
“I have been a warrior since age nine,” he penned in 2018.
Peltier’s son Chauncey Peltier said he voted for Donald Trump in 2016, and the family was hopeful that Trump in his first presidential term would grant clemency.
“I prayed every day that he’d get out,” Chauncey said. “I never thought Joe Biden would release him. Four presidents denied him.”
Biden signed the commutation in the last hours of his presidency despite vehement opposition from the FBI.
Chauncey Peltier was 10 years old when his father was sent to prison. He’s now 59 and living in Oregon. After Belcourt quiets down from the historic homecoming, he said he plans to visit his father in mid-March.
“He hopes there’s thousands of people going into Belcourt when he goes there, welcoming him home,” Chauncey said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
The driver slowed down and then took off, according to a witness.
