Parole or no parole?
Parole or no parole?
By: Native Sun News Today Staff
Leonard Peltier ( courtesy photo)
RAPID CITY – Protests in Rapid City and in other parts of the country are calling for a parole for Leonard Peltier. He was sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for aiding and abetting resulting in the death of two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents in a June 26, 1975 shooting on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
Ronald A. Williams
Jack R. Coler
The FBI reported that on June 26, 1975, Special Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation searching for a young man named Jimmy Eagle, who was wanted for questioning in connection with the recent assault and robbery of two local ranch hands. Eagle had been involved in a physical altercation with a friend, during which he had stolen a pair of leather cowboy boots. At approximately 11:50 a.m., Williams and Coler, driving two separate unmarked cars, spotted, reported, and followed a red pick-up truck that matched the description of Eagle’s.
Soon after his initial report, Williams radioed to a local dispatch that he and Coler had come under fire from the occupants of the vehicle.[26] Williams radioed that they would be killed if reinforcements did not arrive. He next radioed that they both had been shot.[26] FBI Special Agent Gary Adams was the first to respond to Williams’ call for assistance, and he also came under gunfire; Adams was unable to reach Coler and Williams in time, and both agents died within the first ten minutes of gunfire. At about 4:25 p.m., authorities recovered the bodies of Williams and Coler from their vehicles.
The FBI reported that Williams had received a defensive wound to his right hand (as he attempted to shield his face) from a bullet that passed through his hand into his head, killing him instantly. Williams received two gunshot injuries, to his body and foot, prior to the contact shot that killed him. Coler, incapacitated from earlier bullet wounds, had been shot twice in the head. In total, 125 bullet holes were found in the agents’ vehicles, many from a .223 Remington rifle. The shooters took apart Williams’s car and stole four guns belonging to the agents.
Peltier is incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary, Coleman in Florida. Peltier became eligible for parole in 1993. On January 18, 2017, it was announced that President Barack Obama denied Peltier’s application for clemency. Prior to that Peltier’s applications for clemency were turned down by President Bush and Clinton.
There have been previous cases where prisoners convicted of murder were paroled after serving 30 years or more. Peltier has now been imprisoned for 46 years. There are many, including the staff and management of this newspaper that would like to see Peltier freed after 46 years, but his applications for parole have been denied by the last three U. S. President’s because the FBI hold a very powerful position in Washington, D. C. and the previous presidential administrations did not want to go against the officers of the FBI.
The ball is now in the court of the Biden Administration.
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February 17, 2022