Native activist Leonard Peltier, who has spent most of his life in prison since being convicted in 1975 of murdering two FBI agents in South Dakota, will not be granted parole.
The U.S. Parole Commission said in a statement Tuesday that he will not be eligible for another parole hearing until June 2026.
His attorney, Kevin Sharp, a former federal judge, argued that Peltier was wrongly convicted and said the 79-year-old’s health was deteriorating. Peltier’s attorney did not immediately respond to a telephone call from The Associated Press seeking comment, but after his client was last denied parole in June, Sharp said he argued the commission was required by law to “look forward,” focusing on issues such as whether he is likely to commit another crime if released.
The FBI and its current and former agents dispute the claims of innocence. The agency did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the decision.
Mike Clark, president of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, who wrote a letter arguing that Peltier should remain in prison, described the decision as “great news.”
“That could have been anyone I worked with for 23 years. That could have been them in that field,” Clark said. “They were down, they were injured, they were helpless and he shot them at point blank range. It’s a heinous crime.”
Peltier was an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa tribe and was active in the American Indian Movement, which began in the 1960s as a local organization in Minneapolis that struggled with issues of police brutality and discrimination against Native Americans. It quickly became a national force.
GOAL made headlines in 1973 when it took over the village of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation, leading to a 71-day standoff with federal agents. Tensions between AIM and the government remained high for years.
On June 26, 1975, agents came to Pine Ridge to execute arrest warrants during the struggle over treaty rights and native self-determination.
After being wounded in a shooting, officers Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were shot in the head at close range, according to a letter from FBI Director Christopher Wray. AIM member Joseph Stuntz was also killed in the shooting. The Justice Department concluded that a police sniper killed Stuntz.
Two other AIM members, Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, were acquitted of the murders of Coler and Williams.
After fleeing to Canada and being extradited to the United States, Peltier was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1977, despite the defense claiming that evidence against him had been falsified.