Leonard Peltier has been a subject of great controversy for over half his life. After his indictment and conviction in 1977. Today he still sits in prison known all over the world and regarded as a political prisoner and human activist. He has been in jail for almost 40 years and his health is detreating over a crime that most believe he is not guilty of. In 1975 Leonard Peltier, a leader of the American Indian Movement (AIM) at Pine Ridge Reservation. The American Indian Movement was there because more than sixty Indians had been killed, allegedly by a paramilitary group that had connections to the tribal government. Relations between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the AIM where tense. An overwhelming feeling that not enough …show more content…
At 11:50 am they followed the vehicle when fire broke out. A high power rifle was shooting at their vehicles and where out gunned, for they only had .38 revolvers. Not long after their raided in that they had been shot and needed immediate backup or would be killed. At 2:30 pm. Joe Stunz, an American Indian Movement member was shot and killed by a Bureau of Indian Affairs rife man, he was found with one of the agents green field FBI jacket that he took from agents vehicle. The FBI agents had been found dead at the scene with gunshots to the head.
Mr. Peltier who does not denied being at the gunfight denies killing either men fled to Alberta, Canada. According to the FBI, more than forty Native Indians where involved in the fight but only AIM members where brought to trial. The three men that where tried for the death of the men where Bob Robideau, Darrelle “Dino” Butler, and Mr. Peltier. Mr. Robideau and Mr. Butler where tried for the trial and found not guilty on terms of self-defense by a Federal jury in Iowa. They found that the shooting was justified due to the given …show more content…
They have come close but unexpected curve balls are thrown out that make the case be dropped or stopped. Even with all the evidence now known there is nothing known that he actually shot and killed both men. All the people who had once said they saw him shoot the men later came out and admitted they were pressed by the FBI to lie and say they saw him do the crimes. He has tried numerous times to try to be let out and get a rehearing with all the factual evidence. In an interview with a security guard, he says that Peltier has always stayed in good behavior yet he is still put in, “the whole for no real reason” in one instance he was put in and his attorney was not notified for over a week and was in there for a minor cell violation during one of the arias hottest summers. Within the cell tempters can rise over one hundred degrease. Some of the world’s best known human activists and world organizations have said he was had experienced unfair, and cruel and unusual punishment. Today he is still being talked about and in his birthday September 12, 2015 he made a statement on how his spirit has been broken and he finds it had to believe that he lives in, “the land of the free”. He also wrote “…last time I went before the Parole Commission (2009), I was denied because I looked young and healthy... and a reason given for denying me parole was that I might