The FBI railroaded Leonard Peltier--Will Obama pardon him?

When government officials engage in illegal or improper acts that lead to a conviction, that conviction should be reconsidered. In the case of Leonard Peltier the misconduct of the FBI prevented him from getting a fair trial. He has spent many years in jail even though there were serious problem with the case against him. President Obama has the power to let this 72-year-old man spend his last few years with his family.
Leonard Peltier was convicted of killing two FBI agents but after the trial the FBI admitted that the ballistics evidence did not support the conviction. The FBI coerced witnesses and gave false ‘evidence’ to the courts. The serious misconduct throughout the case by the FBI makes all their investigation and testimony questionable.

Leonard Peltier, an Anishinabe-Lakota Native American is serving two consecutive life sentences. When arrested, he was a leading member of the American Indian Movement, an advocacy group and movement concerned with Native American rights. In 1975, during a confrontation involving AIM members, two FBI agents were shot dead. Leonard was convicted of their murders, but has always maintained his innocence. Amnesty International has studied his case extensively over many years and remains seriously concerned about the fairness of proceedings leading to his trial and conviction. Amnesty believes that political factors may have influenced the way in which the case was prosecuted.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/cases/usa-leonard-peltier
A 1973 protest at Wounded Knee, preceded a reign of terror on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. More than 60 residents and AIM members were murdered. The FBI did not make much effort to stop the violence or arrest the murderers. After the murder of the two FBI agents the FBI began their aggressive investigation into the deaths of their agents.

FBI agents from across the country immediately were dispatched to Pine Ridge Reservation, where they launched what amounted to an assault upon the Oglala Lakota Nation. They made warrantless searches of homes, offices and residences, coerced testimony, detained people without cause and even restrained an attorney who attempted to prevent a warrantless search. Requests at the time from US Civil Rights Commission Investigator William Muldrow for independent oversight of the FBI were ignored by federal officials.
The injustices that contributed to Peltier’s conviction are not subject to credible dispute. Federal agents made false statements to the press; submitted false affidavits to courts; coerced alleged witness statements; and deliberately withheld critical ballistics reports in order to gain an unfair advantage at trial.
When the ballistics results were discovered after trial, the government’s attorneys conceded – as they had to – that they had no credible evidence regarding who shot the FBI agents, and did not know whose weapon actually killed the agents.
Peltier’s many requests for a new trial were opposed by the government and denied by the courts. He remains in jail today primarily because of an “accomplice” theory of liability which was included in the written charges but not argued to the jury, that he allegedly assisted someone in an unidentified way.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/04/free-leonard-peltier-oba...

Two other men who were present at the shootout were tried and acquitted. The jury found they had acted in self-defense. Leonard Peltier was tried and convicted of being their accomplice.

William Kuntsler represented Butler and Robideau. Kunstler painted a picture of rising tensions and mutual distrust that characterized relations between AIM and the FBI. Agents were trigger-happy and so were AIM members. The shootings of June 1975 was a tragedy waiting to happen. "The agents are psyched out,...the American Indian Movement is psyched out," Kunstler told jurors. While suggesting that the Indians had a real fear of an all-out attack by the federal government, Kunstler also sought to discredit the key prosecution testimony of Indians who either saw the defendants near the agents' car or claimed to overhear the defendants discussing the slayings. Kunstler suggested that their testimony might have been influenced by promises of the government not to pursue charges against them. The defense attorney argued, "There is virtually no evidence on how these agents died."

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/peltier/peltieraccount.html

The evidence used to show that Peltier as the trigger-man was questionable and the FBI suppressed evidence that might have exonerated him. The only alleged eyewitness recanted her testimony before the trial.

The government's only direct eyewitness testimony came in the form of two affidavits signed by Myrtle Poor Bear. Poor Bear asserted that Peltier and others had not only planned the killings, but carried them out himself--and that she was with Peltier when he did it. "I saw Leonard Peltier shoot the agents," Poor Bear's affidavit stated. Angered at the shooting, Poor Bear (according to her affidavit) screamed at Peltier, hit him, and ran away.

Myrtle Poor Bear was bullied into giving testimony that was used to extradite Peltier from Canada where he had fled to avoid trial.

The government withheld from Peltier's defense team the fact that Poor Bear had in fact signed three--not just two--affidavits, and that in the earliest of the three affidavits (the one not disclosed), Poor Bear had denied being present on the Reservation when the two agents were killed. Poor Bear, it is safe to say, was simply not a credible witness--and the government should have recognized her mental instability and not used the affidavits. (In 2003, The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, while rejecting an appeal of Peltier, made its disgust with government's handling of the case plain: "Much of the government's behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation and its prosecution of Mr. Peltier is to be condemned. The government withheld evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not disputed.")

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/peltier/peltieraccount.html

Apparently Myrtle Poor Bear was not Mr. Peltier’s girlfriend and later said that they had never even met each other. She was not the only witness the FBI had bullied, and during the trial she was not allowed to testify about FBI tactics used against potential witnesses.

Although not called as a prosecution witness at trial, the trial judge refused to allow Leonard Peltier’s attorneys to call Myrtle Poor Bear as a defense witness on the grounds that her testimony “could be highly prejudicial to the government.” In 2000, Myrtle Poor Bear issued a public statement to say that her original testimony was a result of months of threats and harassment from FBI agents.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/pdfs/Issue%20Brief_Leonard%20Peltier_Mar2016.pdf.

During the trial it became apparent that key witnesses had been intimidated by the authorities.

Some of the most damning prosecution testimony came from Michael Anderson, a young AIM member who witnessed key events surrounding the shooting. . . . . On cross, Anderson testified that he had been threatened in his cell by Agent Gary Adams and admitted that subsequent to his agreeing to testify for the government, charges against him relating to the exploding car in Kansas had been dropped.

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/peltier/peltieraccount.html

The prosecutor, Lynn Crooks, admitted during his summation that Anderson should have been on trial along with Peltier and that the reason he was not on trial was that “we need witnesses.”
Another witness against Peltier was Wish Draper. Draper decided to cooperate after he spent several hours of questioning while tied to a chair with being allowed to have an attorney.
A letter that Amnesty International sent to President Obama in 2015 noted the intimidation of witnesses by the FBI along with other problems with Peltier’s trial. There was a 1975 FBI telex that showed that the rifle the prosecution said was Peltier’s actually had a “different firing pin” from the one used to kill the FBI agents. The information that the firing pin did not match was withheld by the prosecution. After the trial the FBI admitted that they do not know who killed the two agents.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/pdfs/Amnesty_International_letter_in_support_o...

The immediate successor to the prosecutor in the initial Peltier trial has asked President Obama to give Leonard Peltier clemency. James Reynolds was active in the case during the appeals process.

James Reynolds, who supervised a key part of the case against Peltier, who claims he was wrongfully convicted of the 1975 murders of two FBI agents, wrote to the president that clemency for the 72-year-old would be “in the best interest of justice in considering the totality of all matters involved”.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/21/leonard-peltier-cl...

In fact, James Reynolds does not know whether or not Peltier was the one who murdered FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams.

“I don’t know. Who knows?” Reynolds said, when asked if the wrong man might have gone to prison.
“The hardest thing is to try and go back and reconstruct history. He may not have (done the crime),” Reynolds said, adding that Peltier “would not be the first” to suffer a wrongful conviction.
. . . .
“When you stand at the bottom and you look at the naked underbelly of our system, it has got flaws. It’s still the best one we’ve got, but at certain points there has to be a call for clemency and that’s where we are,” the former U.S. attorney said.
. . . .
As for the famously controversial trial for the June 1975 shootings and subsequent appeal from Peltier — which was rejected — Reynolds admitted that “we might have shaved a few corner here and there.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ex-u-s-attorney-backs-leonard-p...

Since the government shaved a few corners here and there in the prosecution of Leonard Peltier, they should shave a few years off his sentence. President Obama could give him clemency and allow him to spend his last few years with his family.
On December 19, 2016, the Whitehouse website said:

Our nation faces a cycle of poverty, criminality, and incarceration that traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities. Since taking office, President Obama has fought for a smarter and more equitable criminal justice system. He has been committed to using all the tools at his disposal to remedy the unfairness at the heart of the system—including the presidential power to grant clemency.
The President has now commuted the sentences of 1,176 men and women incarcerated under outdated and unduly harsh sentencing laws, including 395 individuals who were serving life sentences. The majority were offenders sentenced for nonviolent drug crimes. To date, the President has granted commutations to more prisoners than the past 11 presidents combined. He has also now granted 148 pardons and is committed to continuing to exercise the clemency power with additional grants of commutations and pardons throughout the remainder of his presidency.
At the same time, President Obama knows that clemency alone cannot fix decades of overly punitive sentencing policies, or make our criminal justice system more fair and more just on the whole. That's why his Administration has worked to enhance fairness and efficiency at all phases of the criminal justice system.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/clemency

We should applaud President Obama for his interest in using the power of Presidential pardon to make our country more just and encourage him to commute Leonard Peltier’s sentence before January 20.

Today, Leonard is 71 years old. He suffers from diabetes, and was recently diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Amnesty understands that he is not eligible for consideration for parole again until 2024. Given that all available legal remedies have been exhausted and that that Leonard Peltier has now spent over 40 years in prison and is in poor health, Amnesty believes that the US authorities should order Leonard Peltier’s release from prison on humanitarian grounds and in the interests of justice.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/cases/usa-leonard-peltier

Leonard Peltier has now spent many years behind bars. This 72-year-old man is not a threat to society. President Obama should let him go home.

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of their investigation but neither saw fit to order a new trial or to free Peltier.

I hope Obama does the right thing and frees Peltier; it would be a rare positive action to take.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

Deja's picture

And s/he witheld evidence. Go figure.

That special place in hell might need an add-on or 10 extra rooms, lest it get too crowded!

Include in it, the two judges who admit that the crooked FBI acted like their crooked selves, but denied appeal, and the judge who said this as an excuse for disallowing Poor Bear to be used as a defense witness:

"could be highly prejudicial to the government.”

WTF? What exactly is a defense team supposed to do when "the government" is the f*cking one bringing the charges? Unf*ckingbelievable!

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Leonard Peltier a political prisoner. 0bama needs to free him.

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"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

Deja's picture

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asterisk's picture

I was careful about my sources for this essay because there are a lot of emotional websites and organizations trying to free Mr. Peltier. I really do not know if he is entirely innocent of the murders and of any other crimes. Between the FBI, the prosecutors and the judges there is no way to know what really happened. Given the appalling misconduct by the government, Leonard Peltier deserves to be assumed innocent.

Mr. Peltier should have been given a new trial many years ago. Our judicial system is seriously broken. Whatever the facts of the case it is obvious that the FBI wanted to make an example of someone from AIM and they targeted Leonard Peltier as their scapegoat. He has been in prison for more than 40 years and I strongly agree that it is time to let this 72-year-old man go home.

The larger issue is that this is not a unique case. In this country we take it for granted that 'justice' is for those who have not offended the government--IF they are wealthy enough to have good lawyers. Improving our laws will not fix our broken society as long as those laws are not enforced fairly.

More attention need to be given to electing ethical prosecutors. In places where judges are elected it would be worthwhile to make a serious effort to elect honest, progressive judges. There also is a need for better mechanisms to remove judges and prosecutors who are incompetent or unethical.

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Deja's picture

I couldn't vote for her, but sure would have. The old DA actually had a rape victim locked up to ensure her testimony! This after the woman had a meltdown. She was kept in general population, and assaulted by a guard.

Here's to hoping Kim Ogg is a shining example of needed change throughout the country. (She's not a fan of crooked cops, small use marijuana incarceration, or holding people in jail because they can't make bail.)

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asterisk's picture

We need to elect as many DAs like Kim Ogg as we possibly can. If she can follow through with this she will be my hero.
A lot of the anger in this country is because the wrong people keep getting put in jail.
Wall Street gets million-dollar bonuses; poor kids get 20 to Life.
Sometimes I get discouraged and then I hear something like this.

Thanks for posting this!

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Deja's picture

Here's Kim draining the swamp in her progressive way Smile :

Gotta scroll past the annoyingly placed Top Headlines poop placed wayyy too high in the article.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/prosecutor-who-handled-jailed-rape-vic...

The types of people who would jail a rape victim in order to further use her/him, would be the exact type of people to contact other case victims, and lie about their cases' future prosecution:

https://www.google.com/amp/www.khou.com/amp/news/local/da-elect-ogg-alle...

The above link has Rusty Hardin claiming the allegations are bull. Couldn't copy the Chronicle link - is that a new thing?

I don't know, but I'm looking forward to a new face. I am also pretty sure the police union will give her hell, and she will give them a run for all the money they spent to defeat her!

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asterisk's picture

There is so much injustice in this country, especially in our judicial /prison system. Asking for Leonard Peltier's freedom is not just for him, but is an effort to help all those who are wrongly imprisoned.

blazinAZ has a recent essay about this with a link to a petition:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Peltier_Clemency2008

If that doesn't work, or even if it does, you could also call the White House comment line 202-456-1111 or write to Obama.
http://caucus99percent.com/content/we-must-free-peltier-us-political-pri...

40 years in prison without a fair trial need to end. I really do hope he gets to go home.

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Alligator Ed's picture

You've got to be kidding. First of all he is no help unless some rich bastard needs it. Secondly, I don't think they deliver mail on the golf course.

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Deja's picture

The man is ill and in prison after being railroaded by the FBI and prosecution. He's run out of appeals. The only thing that stands between a death in prison, or death as a free man, is the POS in chief.

So, yes, we need to ask that POS to help a man who deserved a fair trial, but didn't get one to help him. Hell, even the appellet (SP?) judges screwed him. His only hope is Obama. (You're a wordmaster; maybe you could appeal to Obama using his own campaign word of "Hope".)

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Alligator Ed's picture

I have already signed an online petition, for what it's worth. But you know my feelings about Obama--he is a POS.

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asterisk's picture

They are reputed to all be non-violent, first-time offenders with exemplary prison records. This is advertised as a release of people who are still in prison due to unfair minimum sentencing guidelines, especially those that targeted minorities for offenses involving crack cocaine. Their names and offenses are available online. Some appear to have committed white collar crimes that were not drug related. After Jan 20 it will be interesting to see if any of these people are wealthy white-collar criminals like Marc Rich.

If a large number of prisoners need to be released to camouflage the release of any Marc Rich-types, Peltier would be an excellent candidate for commutation. Peltier is 72, in poor health and has a family that wants him to come home.

It is also worthwhile to point out the misconduct of the FBI during the investigation and trial. Contrary to very recent opinion in some quarters, the FBI sometimes tells lies and we should not believe everything they say. It would be worthwhile to try to help as many victims of FBI lies as possible.

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tapu dali's picture

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There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.

Deja's picture

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tapu dali's picture

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There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.

asterisk's picture

I fear your "No" is likely to be correct. We can but ask.
I really do hope I am wrong and it is worth a try.

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asterisk's picture

I politely declined to sign a petition to Bill Clinton asking for clemency for Peltier then. The people passing around the petition said that Peltier was guilty but the murders were somehow OK because Peltier is Native American and the victims were FBI agents. The two murder victims were in their late 20s with their lives ahead of them. I did not and do not condone their murders.

My mind has been changed by the summary of the trial on a university website that was not especially sympathetic to Peltier, and by the other facts I found. The trial was not even close to being fair. One pro-Peltier site said one of the two men who were acquitted in the earlier trial has since confessed; I did not find a good second source for that.

Another trial is not practical considering Peltier's health. He probably is not the one who actually murdered the FBI agents, but he was involved in the earlier shootout. 40 years in prison is enough in light of the unethical actions of the FBI and prosecutors.

I want to live in a country where law enforcement agencies and the courts obey the law. I would like to see Peltier given clemency out of respect for the importance of fair trials.

I can understand different viewpoints and would be interested in hearing yours.

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Probably Leonard Peltier was framed, for sure he is a political prisoner, that's my view. Thanks.
When I was a little Marin rat (Miwok territory) I wanted to run away and join AIM occupation of Alcatraz. Now I live half a klik from the Russian River - Putin! It is Pomo territory, I know where I live, and who was here before me and my ancestors. Russians! Hah no kidding.

Arlo Guthrie: The Pause of Mr Claus

You must think Santa Clause weird
He has long hair and a beard
Giving his presents for free
Why do police guys mess with peace guys?

Let's get Santa Clause 'cause;
Santa Clause has a red suit
He's a communist
And a beard, and long hair
Must be a pacifist
What's in the pipe that he's smoking?

Mister Clause sneaks in your home at night.
He must be a dope fiend, to put you up tight
Why do police guys beat on peace guys?

Edit: fixed typo in Subject, left the rest Wink

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Obama would be afraid to do so. It would affect his "contributions" to build his LIEbury.

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Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.