Suvechha Sarkar
Leonard Peltier is a Native American activist and an active member of the American Indian Movement (AIM). He became a central figure in an investigation in June 1975 when two FBI special agents, 27-year-old Ronald Arthur Williams and 28-year-old Jack Ross Coler, were shot dead during a confrontation on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. It unfolded amid the longstanding tensions between Indigenous activists and federal authorities, which come into focus on Netflix’s ‘Free Leonard Peltier,’ a documentary that also features multiple interviews with AIM members and in-depth interviews with Leonard himself.
Leonard Peltier Became an AIM Member Amid Tensions at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
Leonard Peltier was born on September 12, 1944, at the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation, North Dakota. He has always been proud of his Dakota, Lakota, and Anishinaabe descent and was one of 13 children, including Betty Ann. Sadly, his parents were unable to work out their marriage, leading to their divorce. Leonard and Betty eventually moved in with their grandparents, Alex and Mary Dubois-Peltier. He then enrolled at the Wahpeton Indian School in September 1953 before graduating in May 1957. Leonard attended the Flandreau Indian School before leaving after passing ninth grade. Reports indicate that he later took the General Educational Development (GED) Test and passed.
Leonard moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1965 and joined the workforce as a construction worker and welder. Additionally, he became a co-owner of an automobile shop, where he received contracts to service police cars. Unfortunately, due to financial constraints, the shop had to close. In the meantime, Leonard gradually began speaking up for Native American civil rights. In 1972, Leonard officially joined the American Indian Movement (AIM). Around the same time, tensions between the then-elected tribal chairman and the traditionalists of the Lakota tribe began to grow. It took place in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, which also drew FBI agents to handle the situation.
Leonard was out on bail on an unrelated attempted murder charge while he was present at the location to help with the situation. By 1975, he also faced the charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution for the attempted murder of an off-duty police officer. It is essential to note that he was later acquitted of the charges related to the attempted murder in February 1978. Tensions escalated on June 26, 1975, when two FBI special agents, Jack Ross Coler and Ronald Arthur Williams, visited the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in search of a person they wanted to question. According to official records and court testimony, a firefight broke out between federal agents and individuals at the compound, including Leonard, Robert “Bob” Robideau, and Darrelle/Darrell “Dino” Butler. The confrontation resulted in the deaths of agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, as well as AIM member Joseph Stuntz.
Leonard Peltier Was Extradited to South Dakota Several Months After the Arrest
According to FBI records, Leonard allegedly took Jack’s handgun while Dino took Ronald’s. The reports further alleged that Robert had taken a .308-caliber gun, which belonged to Jack. As the investigation progressed, officials began tracking Leonard, Robert, and Dino and subsequently discovered a damaged AR-15 in a car that Robert and some other AIM members had been present in. Reports state that the ammunition in that car had accidentally exploded. An FBI ballistics analyst linked a shell casing recovered from one of the agents’ vehicles to that damaged AR-15 rifle.
Dino was arrested on September 5, 1975, while Robert was taken into custody just a few days later. In November 1975, Dino, Robert, and Leonard were indicted on two counts of first-degree murder. Shortly after, Leonard was declared a fugitive by the FBI. After a few months of searching, Leonard was finally arrested on February 6, 1976, in Hinton, Alberta. During his extradition hearing in Canada, the FBI submitted affidavits from a purported witness, Myrtle Poor Bear, who claimed to be Leonard’s girlfriend at the time and alleged she saw him shoot Jack and Ronald. However, she later recanted her statements and stated she wasn’t present, alleging she had been coerced into signing the affidavits during an interview. Eventually, the judge excluded her testimony at trial, and Leonard was extradited to his country in December 1976.
Leonard Peltier is Serving His Sentence in Home Confinement in North Dakota
The jury trial of Robert and Dino commenced on June 7, 1976, for the deaths of Ronald and Jake. During the trial, the defense emphasized that they acted in self-defense. On July 16, 1976, Robert and Dino were acquitted and walked away as free men. The jury trial of Leonard began on March 4, 1977, during which they introduced testimony from an FBI ballistics expert and several witnesses, who placed Peltier in the area with an AR-15 rifle; however, no eyewitness testified to seeing him fire the fatal shots. On the other hand, the defense alleged that the prosecution’s evidence was manipulated, and the FBI used improper pressure to obtain evidence against Leonard. They also raised questions about the limits on evidence presented to the jury.
On April 18, 1977, Leonard was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder, including aiding and abetting liability. He was ultimately sentenced to two consecutive life terms in federal prison on June 1, 1977. On July 20, 1979, Leonard was serving his sentence at the Lompoc Federal Prison in Lompoc, California, when he escaped from custody. He was later recaptured in July 1979 and faced charges of escape from federal custody and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. In January 1980, he was found guilty of those charges and sentenced to an additional 7-year prison term. Leonard later appealed his murder convictions, including a motion for a retrial, but they were either denied or dismissed.
In June 2024, Leonard was denied parole after a hearing, with the next hearing scheduled for June 2039. Things changed on January 20, 2025, when President Joe Biden commuted his life sentence to home confinement. The following month, Leonard was released from federal prison in Coleman, Florida. As of this writing, he is serving the remainder of his life sentence in home confinement at his residence on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota. In September 2026, he attended a screening of ‘Free Leonard Peltier.’ By October, he further shared about his life as an activist. Leonard currently authorizes an interim board, the Leonard Peltier Official Support Committee, to represent his interests and help him raise funds for a civil defense team.
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