NATIONAL NEWS – Leonard Peltier leaves prison after controversal Biden pardon goes through

Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer

 Leonard Peltier was released from federal prison in Florida on Tuesday. His release from prison comes after the historic pardon. Biden pardoned Peltier from his life sentence in person and commuted it to a life sentence of home confinement for the killings of two FBI agents in 1975. Peltier was being held in the Coleman penitentiary. At his release reportedly two dozen supporters gathered outside of the gates to celebrate his release. Peltier was a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota. Here he will be transported to the reservations where his family and friends will celebrate his release. The tribe has reportedly built a house for him to serve his confinement in. 

Peltier has maintained his innocence throughout his sentence; many native Americans believe that Peltier was imprisoned for political reasons and not because there was evidence pointing to his guilt. Peltier has spent nearly 50 years in prison for the murder of FBI agents Jack Coler and Roland Williams during the confrontation that took place at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Nick Estes a professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe said, “He represents every person who’s been roughed up by a cop, profiled, had their children harassed at school.” Estes was a large advocate for Peltier’s release ahead of the pardon.