At Long Last

 Much of what happened Monday wasn't a surprise: The Celtics mauled a depleted Warriors, the NFL team known as Ohio State overwhelmed Notre Dame, and Chaos unleashed chaos upon the world, or at least tried to, including freeing from jail convicted violent seditionists.  

Before that, outgoing President Biden did something no President should have to do: he preemptively pardoned people he was justifiably afraid Chaos would go after, including members of the January 6 Committee who investigated Chaos and found him guilty of--what else--leading the seditious attempt to overthrow the US government by force and violence. These were people--mostly current and former Members of Congress-- who were never accused of crimes but threatened by the incoming administration with prosecution anyway.  As awful as anything else Monday, but not altogether surprising.

No--the surprise was Leonard Peltier.  After nearly 50 years in prison for murders of two FBI agents he all but certainly did not commit, Biden finally commuted the double lifetime sentence of this 1970s Native American activist. Ever since the evidence presented against him fell apart in a trial that was fatally flawed in the first place, many prominent people--including Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama, as well as several European parliaments and Amnesty International -- have advocated for his clemency.

The 60s and 70s were a violent time on Pine Ridge Reservation and other reservations, and the FBI was implicated in supporting and fomenting violence against Black and American Indian activists.  Peltier had engaged in gun violence, so he was a credible scapegoat.  But this murder case against him quickly fell apart.

 As far back as the final days of the Clinton administration, I performed my one and only act of lobbying, by contacting a college friend who happened to be the outgoing White House Chief of Staff to urge a pardon for Peltier.  But it proved too politically difficult--basically because the people he was convicted of killing were FBI agents, and the FBI was not interested in hearing anything about recanted testimony, bad evidence and a tainted trial.  They publicly pressured Clinton not to do it.

By then, the esteemed writer Peter Matthiessen had written a long book that went into great detail concerning the injustices of his trial and conviction.  After Clinton left office without pardoning him, a Native American activist told me he expected Peltier would die in prison. He was often attacked by other inmates, and had a variety of health problems.

But Peltier managed to stay alive, and since then every President has denied his petition, including President Obama, even after a senior US Attorney who prosecuted the case against Peltier wrote a letter advocating for clemency due to weaknesses in the trial evidence. 

 Since Peltier is now 80 years old, President Biden was likely his last hope.  Thirty-three members of the US Senate and House petitioned for his release.  The FBI once again vociferously opposed it--even though officials have stated that the government doesn't really know who shot the FBI agents, but they know it wasn't Peltier.

 In the hours before he left office, President Biden commuted Peltier's sentence to indefinite house arrest. After nearly 50 years in prison, Peltier may get to die in his own bed.