Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier returns home to North Dakota
After spending nearly 50 years in prison, Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier has returned to North Dakota, where a community event is planned to welcome him home on Wednesday.
Peltier was released from a high-security prison in Florida Tuesday morning and returned by plane after his life sentence for the 1975 killings of two FBI agents was commuted by President Joe Biden in the final hours of his term. He returned home by plane Tuesday The 80-year-old will serve out his sentence in home confinement.
The celebratory welcome will be hosted by NDN Collective and held in Belcourt, North Dakota at the Sky Dancer Event Center. It is scheduled to begin at noon.
"We made a commitment to free Leonard Peltier and bring him back to his homelands – this is us fulfilling that commitment," said Nick Tilsen, Founder and CEO of NDN Collective. "We are welcoming Leonard back home in a beautiful way to thank him for his legacy by feeding the people, thanking everyone who fought for him for years, and honoring those who fought for his freedom but are no longer with us."
Peltier's imprisonment symbolized systemic injustice for Native Americans across the country who believe his innocence.
He was active in the American Indian Movement, which fought for Native American treaty rights and was subject to FBI surveillance and harassment.
Peltier's conviction stemmed from a standoff at the Oglala Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota in which agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams were killed. The agents were there to serve arrest warrants for robbery and assault with a dangerous weapon, the FBI said.
Though Peltier acknowledged being at the scene and firing a gun from a distance, he said he fired in self-defense. A woman who claimed to have seen Peltier shoot the agents later recanted her testimony, saying it had been coerced.
Former FBI Director Christopher Wray called Peltier a "remorseless killer" and called his commutation "an affront to the rule of law" in a letter to Biden.
Activists who have called for Peltier's release for nearly half a century celebrated Tuesday.
"This is a historical day, it really is," said his niece Shannon Cartwright. "Not just for us as a family but the Native people."
Note: The above video first aired on Feb. 18, 2025.
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