Biography
Leonard Peltier was an organizer with the American Indian Movement. In the early 1970s he was dispatched along with other AIM activists to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to investigate allegations that a corrupt tribal official had been responsible for the deaths of several dozen political opponents. While on the reservation Peltier was followed by two plain-clothed FBI agents in an unmarked car back to his home. Peltier alleges that after exiting his car to confront the men they open fired on him the moment they saw he was legally armed. Peltier returned fire though none of his shots hit the agents. Two fellow AIM members, upon hearing the gunshots, ran from their home and open fired upon the agents, killing them both. The two activists who had fired the fatal shoots were acquitted on self defense grounds. After the failure to prosecute them the state brought forward a number of witnesses who now say they were coerced into giving false testimony in order to convict Peltier of the agents murder. Peltier was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
The 1992 International Tribunal program also describes an earlier Milwaukee attempted-murder prosecution following his participation in the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties. It reports that he spent five months in jail before making bond and was later acquitted. This was a separate episode from the later Pine Ridge prosecution; its exact admission and release dates are not established here.
The editor’s note reports that disciplinary charges concerning a June 1992 Leavenworth disturbance were dropped and protests blocked an attempted transfer to Marion. The proposed transfer is not recorded as completed movement or an extra criminal conviction. Source: The Militant, May 3, 1993, PDF page 15. https://www.themilitant.com/1993/5717/MIL5717.pdf#page=15
1984 Marion religious-freedom fast
Black Flag No. 114 (1984), physical PDF page 5, reports that Leonard Peltier, Standing Deer (Robert H. Wilson) and Rechaza Lorede Chingatu (Albert Garza) began a hunger fast at noon on April 10, 1984, while confined at Marion federal penitentiary. The report attributes the protest to the prison administration’s refusal to permit their religious practices. It prints individual registers 89637-132 for Peltier, 01499-164 for Standing Deer and 49602-146 for Garza, providing a direct identity bridge rather than a similar-name assumption.
This is contemporary prisoner-support reporting; allegations of forced feeding and beatings are attributed to that report. April 10 is the start of the fast, not original prison admission, sentencing or release. Peltier’s earlier Canadian detention is separate from his U.S. imprisonment. The existing custody cases, periods and later outcomes remain unchanged.
The 1992 International Tribunal program also describes an earlier Milwaukee attempted-murder prosecution following his participation in the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties. It reports that he spent five months in jail before making bond and was later acquitted. This was a separate episode from the later Pine Ridge prosecution; its exact admission and release dates are not established here.
Amnesty International’s 1986 report records the May 1985 denial of Leonard Peltier’s new-trial motion following the October 1984 hearing on withheld FBI ballistics evidence. It describes both the suppressed 1975 teletype concerning a different firing pin and the FBI expert’s explanation that the teletype preceded later casing tests. In October 1985 Amnesty International said suppression might have seriously prejudiced the trial and called for a new trial. Its observer attended the October 15 Eighth Circuit appeal; the decision remained pending at year’s end. These procedural events do not establish an admission or release.
Green Anarchy's Fall/Winter 2001 prisoner update reported that Marilyn Buck, Sundiata Acoli, Leonard Peltier, Philip Berrigan and Carlos Alberto Torres had been moved into isolation units following September 11. This is a contemporary advocacy publication's account of their historical conditions of confinement, not an official determination or a present-day custody report.
Peltier was acquitted in 1978 of attempted-murder charges arising from a November 22, 1972 confrontation with off-duty Milwaukee police officers. At the nine-day trial, witnesses Verla and Loretta Ford described the officers beating and handcuffing him after the restaurant encounter. The acquittal did not free him from the separate federal imprisonment arising from the 1975 Pine Ridge shootings.
The Black Panther, volume XVIII number 5, February 18, 1978, PDF page 9; The Black Panther, volume XVIII number 5, February 18, 1978, PDF page 10; The Militant, February 10, 1978, printedpage 7, PDF page 7.
The 2004 issue reports an April 19 Supreme Court refusal to review Peltier’s parole challenge and Bart Staes’s Nobel nomination.
The update distinguishes the elder unit, which was out of lockdown, from Coleman I as a whole, which remained locked down; legal visits were still being pursued. A release campaign and a freedom ride are support activities, not physical discharge. The FOIA update on page 14 concerns withheld court documents, not a new sentence or admission.
The Dragons Fire, National Jericho Movement Newsletter, vol. 6, July–August 2018, PDF page 36.
The national-office updates describe Coleman I lockdown continuing into October 2019, including the elder unit, limited showers, weak light and difficulty exercising. His Oxford, Wisconsin transfer request was denied; appeals and a future court filing remained pending. PDF 54–55 prints his tribute to Manning and shared prison painting. Forecast lockdown duration is not a new sentence or custody endpoint.
The March–April medical and action updates describe worsening vision and mobility, a doctor’s recommendation for a wheelchair, and confinement at USP Coleman I. A Rochester medical-prison transfer and release were requested, not completed. The newsletter’s predictions about specialist delays and medical risks are attributed supporter reports, not new custody endpoints.
The Dragons Fire, March 15–April 15, 2024, vol. 72, PDF page 12.
