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Leonard Peltier (born September 12 , 1944 ) is a Native American activist who was convicted in 1977 and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for the execution-type murders of two FBI Agents. The issue of his guilt is disputed. EARLY LIFE Peltier was born on the Anishinaabe ( Chippewa ) Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota . He came from a family of 13 brothers and sisters. Peltier became involved in the American Indian Movement (AIM), eventually becoming the only person to serve a lengthy prison term for incidents arising from conflict at the Pine Ridge Reservation in the early 1970s . MURDER CONVICTION Leonard Peltier was convicted and is currently Incarcerated for the murders of FBI Special Agents, Ronald A. Williams , 27, and Jack R. Coler , 28, who died during a 1975 shoot-out on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation . Peltier has been in prison since 1976. Supporters of Peltier believe that he was wrongfully and unlawfully convicted. SHOOTOUT AT JUMPING BULL RANCH Special Agents Williams and Coler were searching for a young Pine Ridge man named Jimmy Eagle, wanted for questioning in connection with the recent assault and robbery of two local ranch hands. Williams and Coler observed and approached a vehicle matching the description of a truck Eagle was said to have been in several days earlier. Unknown to the agents, Peltier and others were in the vehicle. At the time, Peltier was a fugitive, with a warrant issued in Milwaukee charging unlawful flight to avoid prosecution for the attempted murder of an off-duty Milwaukee police officer (of which he was later acquitted). Williams radioed that he and Coler had come under high-powered rifle fire from the occupants of the vehicle and were unable to return fire to any effect with their .38 pistols and shotguns. FBI Special Agent Gary Adams was the first to respond to Williams' call for assistance, and he also came under intense gun fire from Jumping Bull Ranch. The FBI, BIA, and the local police spent much of the afternoon pinned down on Highway 18, waiting for other law enforcement officers to launch a flanking attack. At 2:30 p.m., a BIA rifleman in the flanking group got a bead on one of the shooters, Joe Stuntz Kills Right, and killed him. At 4:30 p.m., authorities recovered the bodies of Williams and Coler at their vehicle, and at 6 p.m., laid down a cloud of tear gas and stormed the Jumping Bull houses, finding Kills Right's corpse clad in Coler's green FBI field jacket. The others, authorities later reported, had slipped away from the compound after Kills Right's death, to cross White Clay Creek and hide in a culvert beneath a dirt road. With police focused on the storming of Jumping Bull, the group made a break for the southern hills. In the coming days, they split into smaller groups and scattered across the country, setting off a nationwide manhunt which lasted eight months. After the firefight, the FBI reported Williams had received a wound from a bullet which passed through his right hand into his head, killing him instantly. Coler, incapacitated from earlier bullet wounds, had been shot twice in the head execution style. In total 125 bullet holes were found in the agent's vehicle, many from a .223 caliber (5.56 mm) rifle. The FBI investigation concluded the agents were killed at close range by the same .223 caliber rifle. Aftermath On September 5 , 1975 , Agent Williams' handgun, and shells from both Agents' handguns, were found in a vehicle near a residence where Darrelle Butler was arrested. On September 10 , 1975 , a station wagon blew up on the Kansas Turnpike near Wichita , and a burned-up AR-15 was recovered, along with Agent Coler's .308 rifle. The car was loaded with weapons and explosives which were apparently accidentally ignited when placed too close to a hole in the exhaust pipe. Present in the car among others were Robert Robideau, Norman Charles, and Michael Anderson, said to be associates of Peltier. On September 9 , 1975 , Peltier purchased a Plymouth station wagon in Denver , Colorado . The FBI sent out descriptions of it and a Recreational Vehicle (RV) that Peltier and associates were believed to be traveling in. An Oregon State Trooper stopped the vehicles based on the descriptions and ordered the driver of the RV to exit, but after a brief exchange of gunfire, he escaped on foot. Authorities later identified the driver as Peltier. Agent Coler's handgun was purportedly found in a bag under the front seat of the RV, where authorities reported also finding Peltier's thumbprint. Peltier then fled to Hinton, Alberta , Canada, where he hid out at a friend's cabin until apprehended by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Peltier was not armed at the time of his arrest. At his trial in US District Court in Fargo, North Dakota , a jury convicted Peltier of the murders of Coler and Williams and the judge sentenced him in April 1977 . Alleged trial irregularities There has been debate over Peltier’s guilt and the fairness of his trial. Several allegations have been made by Peltier’s supporters which they claim point to his innocence, and all of these have been disputed by the FBI:
POST-TRIAL DEBATE AND DEVELOPMENTS Peltier is considered a Political Prisoner by some of his supporters and has received support from many individuals and groups, including Nelson Mandela , Rigoberta Menchu , Amnesty International , the U.N. High Commissioner On Human Rights , Tenzin Gyatso (the 14th Dalai Lama ), the European Parliament , the Kennedy Memorial Center For Human Rights , and the Rev. Jesse Jackson , as well as Vivienne Westwood . Ms. Westwood has campaigned greatly for his release - including an essay on the subject published on her website, a 'Leonard Peltier is Innocent' badge sold in her shops and a petition for his release signed by many A-List celebrities and political figures. The case for a Peltier pardon has been two-fold. One argument asserts his innocence, and that he variously had no knowledge of the murders (as he told CNN in 1999 ), that he has knowledge implicating others which he will never reveal, or (as told in Peter Matthiessen 's ''In the Spirit of Crazy Horse'') that he approached and searched the agents but did not execute them. Another argument holds that the killings (no matter who committed them) occurred during a war-like atmosphere on the reservation in which FBI agents were terrorizing residents in the wake of the Pine Ridge standoff in 1972. Near the end of President Bill Clinton 's presidency in 2000 , rumors began circulating that he was considering granting Peltier clemency. This led to a campaign against the possibility, culminating in a protest outside the White House by about five hundred FBI agents and their families, and a letter opposing clemency from then FBI director Louis Freeh . Clinton did not grant Peltier clemency; some speculate this was at least partially due to the pressure from these protests. In 2002 , Peltier filed a civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court For The District Of Columbia against the FBI, Louis Freeh, and a long list of FBI agents who had participated in the campaign against his clemency petition, alleging that they "engaged in a systematic and officially sanctioned campaign of misinformation and disinformation." On March 22 , 2004 , the suit was dismissed. {Link without Title} No consensus has ever been reached regarding the events on Pine Ridge in 1975, even in and among Native-American communities. News From Indian Country publisher Paul Demain wrote in 2003 that an "unnamed delegation" with knowledge of the incident told him, "Peltier was responsible for the close range execution of the agents..." {Link without Title} DeMain described the delegation as "grandfathers and grandmothers, AIM activists, Pipe Carriers and others who have carried a heavy unhealthy burden within them that has taken its toll." DeMain also stated that a cover-up of Peltier's role in the agents' deaths led to the execution of AIM activist Anna Mae Pictou Aquash , for whose murder two other AIM members were indicted in 2002. Peltier launched a libel lawsuit against DeMain in 2003. Peltier withdrew the suit after he and DeMain reached a settlement, which involved DeMain writing a statement that he did not think that Peltier himself had shot Aquash. On 27th February 2006 U.S. District Judge William Skretny ruled that the FBI did not have to hand over some documents relating to Peltier, ruling that those particular documents were exempted on grounds of national security and FBI agent/informant protection. Peltiers supporters have been campaigning for the release of more than 100,000 pages of FBI documents across the United States. {Link without Title} Leonard Peltier is waiting for a decision on his 13th February 2006 appeal over his rejected 2005 Motion To Correct An Illegal Sentence . PELTIER FOR PRESIDENT Peltier was the candidate for the has no prohibition against felons being elected to Federal offices including President .) The Peace and Freedom Party secured ballot status for Peltier only in California , where his presidential candidacy received 27,607 votes {Link without Title} , approximately 0.2% of the vote in that state and approximately 0.02% of the nationwide vote.
IN CULTURE At Rage Against The Machine shows, before the band would play the song 'Freedom', their singer would repeat "Its been 20 years, theres no proof and he's still in jail!". Toad The Wet Sprocket 's song "Crazy Life," released on their final studio album "Coil," protests Peltier's imprisonment: "Anyway now, it don't seem right / He's in there and you're on the outside / What have you done with Peltier / Who did you think you’d taken away?" Defunct Philly rap trio The Goats make several mentions of Leonard Peltier on their politically charged 1992 album 'Tricks Of The Shade' , which include a skit establishing Leonard Peltier as a featured freak in Uncle Scam's Federally Funded Freak Show. Note these lyrics from 'Do the Digs Dug': "Leonard Peltier Leonard Peltier Who da hell is that, why the f@ should ya care? In jail, in jail, in jail like a dealer F@ George Bush says my T-Shirt squeeler Please oh please set Leonard P. free Cause ya wiped out his race like an ant colony." EXTERNAL LINKS
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