Abstract
Activism, resisting, and struggling to oppose imposed rules by the American government had been a typical tussle among the American Indians. Therefore, this research paper focuses on the murder case of two Federal Bureau Investigation unit officers, who were said to be murdered by an American Indian movement led by Leonard Peltier. It focuses on what transpired in Oglala in 1975 and how Leonard Peltier became the prime suspect. It analyses trial 1 of Butler and Robideau, which led to the jury finding them not guilty, and trial 2 of Leonard Peltier, who was found guilty. It also focuses on the move to free Leonard Peltier and the responses that led the United States of America president to deny him clemency in 2001. It will analyze the appeals made by Leonard Peltier’s supporters in seeking justice. The research paper challenges assumptions made by past researchers on the matter and provides an understanding of the American Indian Activism movement.
Introduction
Leonard Peltier has been incarcerated since 1977 for the murder of two Federal Bureau Investigation officers in Oglala in 1975. Despite being found guilty by the jury, he has maintained his innocence, and his supporters also assert that Leonard deserves to be released. However, their efforts to attain clemency have been futile, so Leonard wants President Joe Biden to review his murder case and grant him clemency. Therefore, this paper will explore Leonard Peltier’s biography and the political context of the Pine Ridge Reservation at the time of the shooting. This paper will also analyze trial 1 of Butler and Roubideaux and trial 2 of Leonard Peltier. It will also explain Peltier’s bid for Clinton’s pardon in 2000 and offer a conclusion on the case based on the evidence presented.
Leonard Peltier Activism Biography
Leonard Peltier was an American Indian born in 1944 in North Dakota. His interest in becoming a right activist was piqued at a tender age. When Peltier was nine years old, he was taken to an Indian boarding school in North Dakota, and upon graduation, he was sent to Flandreau, an Indian school in South Dakota (Maxey, 2018). However, he did not complete his studies as he dropped out and went to live with his father at the Turtle Mountain Reservation. While living at the Turtle Mountain Reservation, he had a firsthand experience of assimilation policy. This policy included programs aimed at completely divesting the native people of their cultural practices and terminating their relationship with the United States government (Maxey, 2018). He witnessed the government withdrawing its federal aid, including providing relief food to the native Americans living on reservations. This was aimed at assimilating them into the Euro-American Society.
In 1965, Leonard Peltier moved to Seattle to search for employment opportunities. Here, he co-owned an automotive shop where he employed only native Americans, however, only providing cheap repair services to those in need. During this time, Peltier founded a residential treatment center. This community-based facility provided transitioning resources to native Americans returning to society as healthy, productive, and law-abiding citizens after serving their jail terms or being found guilty of some crimes. Leonard Peltier was also involved in issues on claiming lands by the native Americans, counseling alcohol addicts, and preserving the native Americans’ land in Seattle (Maxey, 2018). In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Leonard Peltier joined the American Indian Movement (AIM) and became a member of the Denver chapter. He spent most of his time in the movement’s programs, including executing protests and advocating for the native Americans’ rights actions.
In the mid-1970s, Leonard Peltier and a few other American Indian Movement activists went to live in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Their main aim in migrating to the reservation was to offer help to the Oglala Lakota of the Pine Ridge Reservation in setting up community-based activities, religious ceremonies, autonomous programs, and security. However, it was here and through this that Leonard Peltier became known as an indigenous rights activist in North America as he was convicted of having murdered two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents (Brief, 2018). His convictions were marred with irregularities as his murder trial became known by the public. This resulted in his supporters from the American Indian movement considering his extradition as politicized.
The Political Context at The Pine Ridge Reservation Before the Shooting
This section will explore the political context of the Pine Ridge Reservation before the shootout between the FBI agents and the American Indian Movement members. Wounded Knee near Oglala was the location on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which was the site where conflict was ensured between the American Indian Movement members and the FBI agents. Throughout 1890, the Sioux people at the Oglala, Lakota, observed a cultural ritual that they claimed cleansed them from the wrath of gods due to abandoning their traditional customs (Rennard, 2021). This created tension with the US government, and in late 1890, reservation police killed a Sioux chief, which heightened tensions at the Pine Ridge reservation. Later in the year, the Sioux people of Indian descent were asked to surrender their weapons, and a fight ensued.
The unfair treatment of the native Americans continued at the reservation until the mid-1970s when American Indian Movement members led by Dennis Banks and Leonard Peltier moved to the reservation. The AIM members sought to help make alliances with the traditional reservation’s tribal elders and the US government. The growing popularity and influence of the American Indian Movement threatened the administration of Dick Wilson, the Sioux tribal chairperson of the Pine Ridge reservation (Rennard, 2021). The American Indian Movement’s protests to overthrow Wilson’s administration prompted him to retreat to the tribal headquarters. He received protection from federal agents and the Indian affairs police bureau. The protests resulted in AIM members at Pine Ridge occupying a significant area of the Wounded Knee village in Oglala. With the help of the US federal government, Wilson was able to besiege the Wounded Knee village for 71 days (Maxey, 2018). During this time, the AIM members and the FBI agents exchanged gunfire shootouts almost every night as hundreds of people were arrested and some killed. A settlement consensus was later made as AIM leaders surrendered.
However, the FBI agents were on the lookout after war broke out between the Indians resisting US government assimilation policy at the Pine Ridge reservation. Therefore, this prompted the involvement of federal agents any time a crime ensued at the reservation, and they executed their dealings through a group of goons hired by the tribal chairperson, Dick Wilson. This prompted Leonard Peltier and other American Indian Movements members to set up a camp on a ranch owned by the Jumping Bull family to control the massive killings of Indians (Maxey, 2018). At the murder, Leonard Peltier was a subject of a federal warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution after the attempted murder of an off-duty police officer.
Oglala Murder Incident
On June 25th, 1975, FBI agents Ronald Williams and Jack Coler were at the Pine Ridge reservation to arrest Jimmy Eagle for robbery with violence. After Eagle and his group had robbed and assaulted the person with a deadly weapon at the reservation (Brief, 2018). Attempts to find Jimmy Eagle turned futile after locating him at the Jumping Bull ranch; however, the FBI agents interviewed Norman Charles and two other people in agent Ronald William’s car during the investigations. According to Brief (2018), on June 26th, 1975, at around 11 am on a sunny mid-morning, two FBI agents, Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, followed a pickup truck into the Jumping Bull Ranch Oglala. They entered the ranch in an unmarked vehicle to serve an arrest warrant to a young Indian man, Jimmy Eagle, who had been hinted had left in a pickup truck (Darktrooper1138, 2022). The FBI agents chased a red and white pickup truck believed to be driven by the supposed perpetrator Jimmy Eagle.
The two agents followed in separate vehicles, with agent William’s vehicle following the pickup truck closely as agent Coler followed Williams in an attempt to stop the pickup. According to Dartrooper1138 (2022), a few seconds later, agent Williams had stated through a transmission radio that the suspected vehicle they were pursuing had stopped. The occupants had alighted the car and appeared as if they were preparing to fire at the agents. It was later through testimony that it was brought to light the occupants of the vehicle had been Leonard Peltier, Joe Stuntz, and Norman Charles. A shootout then ensued, and the agents were heard asking for assistance as fast as possible, a failure to which they would all succumb to shots (Darktrooper1138, 2022). Agent Adams, who agent Willims was in contact with, arrived at the crime scene with two bureaus of Indian Affairs police officers; however, they were also attacked as the gunfire ensued. The vehicle tires of agent Adams and the police officers were shot-out, and the car hung up as it tried to maneuver the way to rescue agents Williams and Coler (Darktrooper1138, 2022). The shootout continued all afternoon, and it was not until the afternoon that the crossfire died down, and the bodies of agents Williams and Coler were discovered at around 4:25 pm. Despite about 40 American Indian Movement members participating in the shootout, only Robert Robideau, Darrell Dean Butler, and Leonard Peltier were brought to trial.
Trial I (Butler and Robideau)
Butler and Robideau were arrested first and brought to trial; however, Leonardo Peltier was convinced that he would never receive a fairer trial in the United States federal courts, hence, fled to Canada. The trial of the two commenced on June 7th, 1976, and was presided over by Judge Edward McManus (French, 2019). The defendants, Butler and Robideau, admitted to being present at the shootout and that they had an exchange of gunfire with the FBI agents to defend and protect the nearby women and children. In the quest for the appropriate and most reliable evidence, Judge Edward McManus gives room for a broad range of evidence to be laid out with strict yet vigorous objections from the prosecutors (French, 2019). In doing this, the jury received a detailed explanation of how the shootout transpired and why the native Americans had such a reaction to the incident.
The testimonies were presented about the Pine Ridge Reservation’s terror reign and were ascertained by the counter-intelligence activities and tactics of the FBI director. These testimonies brought to light the FBI’s misconduct patterns in the prosecution of American Indian Movement members, especially the prosecutions that occurred after the Wounded Knee 2 phase (French, 2019). During the trial, Mr. Draper, a key witness, said that he had received threats from the FBI and had thereby changed his testimony to favor the agent’s side.
After all, evidence was presented and sufficient enough to have convinced the jury of the claims presented by the defendants, and a verdict was issued. The jury had found that there was not enough evidence to link the fatal shots with Butler and Robideau and that the exchange from a distance by the two defendants was an act was self-defense (Brief, 2018). This was due to the heightened fear instilled at the Pine Ridge Reservation; therefore, they could not be held accountable for the close-range shooting of the two FBI agents.
Trial 2 (Leonard Peltier)
After examining the two agents’ bullet wounds, it was concluded that they had been killed at a close range by a.223 type bullet from an AR-15 rifle that belonged to Leonard Peltier. A positive match of the.223 shell casing found in Agent Coler’s trunk and bullet wound and Peltier’s weapon was evidence that would use in convicting him (Brief, 2018). On September 10th, 1975, a car exploded near Wichita, Kansas and the weapons that had been recovered were Peltier’s AR-15 weapon and agent Coler’s.308 rifle. On February 6th, 1976, Leonard Peltier was arrested in Canada. The federal government issued the Canadian court with affidavits signed by the girlfriend that she had seen Peltier shoot the FBI agent (Maxey, 2018). However, it was later realized that the witness had fabricated the story.
Leonard Peltier was extradited and tried in 1977 by the United States, and the trial was held in North Dakota and presided over by Judge Paul Benson. Evidence regarding the shootout was severally restricted as some key witnesses were not allowed to testify. However, the US attorney claimed that the government had been provided with all FBI documents to be used in the case while withholding more than 11,000 pages (Brief, 2018). The jury, unaware, found Leonard Peltier guilty and sentenced him to two consecutive life terms.
The Bid for Clinton’s Clemency in 2000
Nonetheless, Leonard Peltier sought a new trial after new evidence was discovered through the freedom of information lawsuit act. Despite the new evidence, Peltier was denied a new trial and maintained that he was guilty, whether he was the one who shot the agents at a close range or participated in the crossfire (Maxey, 2018). Mr. Peltier has since been serving over a quarter decade in prison and is suffering from a heart condition, high blood pressure, and diabetes (Maxey, 2018). His supporters have held that his persecution was unfair and his trial marred with flaws. Therefore, by the end of US Bill Clinton’s official presidential actions, the supporters of Peltier had expectations of receiving amnesty; however, they were denied.
Conclusion
Leonard Peltier was convicted in 1977 on account of the murder of two FBI agents, William and Coler, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The verdict issued by the jury was serving two life sentences in federal prison. The fact that the United States government issued fabricated affidavits to the Canadian authorities should not have been ignored by the jury. Similarly, anyone would own Peltier’s weapon. Therefore, it was not right to hold him accountable for a murder weapon anyone would have. His persecution and conviction seem to be solely driven by his participation as an American Indian Movement activist. The pickup truck chased by the two FBI agents was Peltier’s truck. Hence, the FBI agents rightly knew it was not Jimmy Eagle in the car when they chased it down. Therefore, Leonard Peltier is an activist, fighter, a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, and a presidential candidate for the peace and freedom party in 2004.
References
Brief, A. S. (2018). In The Supreme Court State Of South Dakota. Darktrooper1138. (2022). Incident At Oglala [Video]
French, L. A. (Ed.). (2019). Routledge Handbook on Native American Justice Issues. Routledge.
Maxey, M. (2018). Culture and life: Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier. Guardian (Sydney), (1809), 10.
Rennard, K. (2021). Becoming Indigenous: The Transnational Networks of the American Indian Movement, Irish Republicans, and Welsh Nationalists. Native American and Indigenous Studies, 8(2), 92-124.