The ailing Native American rights activist has been in prison for nearly 50 years after the U.S. government lied to put him there.
Biden commuted the life sentence of Indigenous activist Peltier, who was convicted in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.
President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist convicted of killing two FBI agents nearly 50 years ago in South Dakota. Peltier, 80, is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota.
President Joe Biden has sparked outrage after commuting the sentence of Leonard Peltier in a last-minute move before leaving office Monday.
American Indian activist Leonard Peltier speaks during a 1999 interview at the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kan. President Joe Biden commuted to home confinement Peltier's life sentence after he spent most of his life in prison for the killing of two FBI agents in South Dakota in 1975.
"I'm gonna be so, so happy," said his sister, Betty Ann Peltier Solano. "It's gonna be one of the happiest days in my life. I'll give him a big hug and a kiss."
In one of his last acts before leaving office, former President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, convicted in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.
Free Leonard Peltier' will debut at Sundance next Monday, and filmmakers David France and Jesse Short Bull are back in the editing room.
The FBI had urged former President Joe Biden not to commute the life sentence of indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who has been in p
President Biden said the decision will allow Peltier, an 80-year-old Native American activist, to fulfill the remainder of his sentence from home.
Native American activist Leonard Peltier said spending the rest of his life in home confinement after being granted clemency by former President Joe Biden is "as good as freedom," after Biden's own FBI director opposed commutation for a man sentenced to life for the killing of two FBI agents.