st. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) – A man convicted of killing two FBI agents has been released from a federal prison in Florida.
Leonard Peltier was convicted in a shootout in 1975 for bookings in North Dakota. Peltier said it was self-defense. His ruling was commuted by former President Joe Biden in January.
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49 years later, people all over the world are protesting against Peltier. Some call him a political prisoner. His lawyer spoke in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.
News Channel 8 on your side asked Peltier’s chief attorney Jennifer Jones what to say to the family of two FBI agents.
“The government would say it was a burden of proof to show it, and they showed Leonard’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt, and according to prosecutor James Reynolds, they didn’t.” Jones said. “But we pray for them the sadness.”
She said decades of advocacy helped bring them to this moment. Jones’ counsel, Attorney Moria Cohen, explained that whenever Peltier went before the US Parole Board they attacked him at 15 years’ delay.
“They did this, and despite the fact that on several occasions, the parole committee members have said that you are someone else and that it’s easy to get you to free. No,” Cohen said. “But we cannot do that because of the nature of the attack.”
During the trail, witnesses were unable to identify Peltier as the shooter. Court documents say the federal government withheld a ballistic report showing that the deadly bullet was not coming from his weapon. The lawyer said the FBI has given up on keeping Peltier in prison.
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“The FBI has very long but inaccurate memories,” Cohen said. “Even now, at this commutive, they are angered and convinced of Leonard’s guilt, despite the fact that evidence of that guilt was mainly manufactured by their agency.”
We asked the former FBI special agent in charge of Gil Torrez about the incident and whether the FBI could be wrong.
“That’s possible and the station has done things wrong in the past,” Trez said. “But all I know was never even approached it. Mr. Peltier was guilty of the murder.”
Your part of news channel 8 told Torres about the evidence introduced in the case. He said he would let the court decide.
“Until the judge drops that tweet and says you’ve been exonerated or no, I think I’ll wait for it to happen. For now, he’s the one convicted of this crime. That was,” Trez said.
Former FBI director Christopher Ray wrote a letter to Biden in January.
Peltier’s lawyers said the exoneration could be sorted out at this point, but for now, Peltier said he is mostly looking forward to getting the medical care he needs.
