Brian Schatz: “as President Biden considers candidates for clemency in the final weeks of his term, the Native American activist…”

“as President Biden considers candidates for clemency in the final weeks of his term, the Native American activist Leonard Peltier is among those who deserve grace and mercy. Peltier was arrested in 1975 for his alleged involvement in the murder of two FBI agents in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. But the process that led to his conviction had major issues and inaccuracies from the start. For example, one witness whose statements were used at trial said she was told to lie and say that she was in a relationship with Peltier and that she had witnessed him shoot the agents. She later recanted that statement saying: I was forced into this, and I feel very awful. I just wish that Leonard Peltier would get out of prison. In another instance, according to reporting, a juror who, on day two of the trial, professed her prejudice against Native Americans was allowed to remain on the panel. If that wasn't enough, take it from the very U.S. attorney who tried the case. The prosecutor who tried the case, James Reynolds, said Peltier had served his sentence on ``the basis of minimal evidence, a result that I strongly doubt would be upheld in any court today.'' In the same letter, Reynolds urged President Biden to commute Peltier's sentence, writing: I write today from a position rare for a former prosecutor. To beseech you to commute the sentence of a man who I helped put behind bars.…”