Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist also a member of the turtle mountain band of Chippewa Indians. He was released from a prison in Florida on February 18,2025. After an unfair trial and imprisonment, Leonard spent nearly 50 years in prison before President Joe Biden commuted his life sentence to home confinement on Biden’s last day in office in January 2025.
Peltier is now 80 years old he was convicted in 1997 for the 1995 killing of two FBI agents, during a shootout on the pine ridge which is a Indian reservation in South Dakota. He was constantly denying a charge trying to prove his innocence. When Leonard was in prison he got attention all over the world with people arguing that he was falsely accused and in an unfair trial. Upon Leonard’s release he went back to the turtle mountain reservation in South Dakota while a warm celebration is there waiting for him.
With Peltier’s release, it has made a significant moment in a long standing effort by many various human right groups also with many public figures standing up for his freedom. Leonard’s wrongful imprisonment its highlighting current discussions about the systemic injustices which faces indigenous communities in the United States
