Leonard Peltier Clemency Petition
Case Summary
On January 20, 2025, President Biden granted clemency to Leonard Peltier, commuting the remainder of his sentence to home confinement. Mr. Peltier, a political activist for Indigenous rights, served 49 years in federal prison for the murders of two FBI agents during a 1975 shoot-out at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota—crimes for which he, and the evidence, long pointed to his innocence.
Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight Co-Vice Chairman Kevin Sharp began representing Mr. Peltier in 2019, filing Mr. Peltier’s original clemency petition in December 2019 and two additional petitions in 2021 and 2024. The petitions highlighted serious violations of Mr. Peltier’s constitutional rights during his 1977 trial, including the government’s use of coerced and false affidavits and burying of exculpatory evidence.
Pine Ridge had been the site of ongoing arrests and violence in which American Indian Movement (AIM) members were targeted by federal and local law enforcement. Mr. Peltier was present during the shootout but denied killing the agents. Two of his co-defendants stood trial in 1975 and were found not guilty by reason of self-defense. But at Mr. Peltier’s separate trial in 1977, the FBI suppressed a ballistics report indicating that he could not have fired the gun that killed the agents and fabricated evidence against Mr. Peltier, including by using coercive tactics to pressure a key witness into signing a false affidavit. Equally crucial, the judge ruled that the evidence surrounding the FBI’s “Reign of Terror” on Indigenous people—key evidence for defendants in the prior trials—was too prejudicial for Mr. Peltier to use in his trial. Mr. Peltier was found guilty and sentenced to two life terms.
“Once an innocent man has been wrongfully convicted due to a rigged investigation, it is incredibly difficult to have that conviction thrown out,” Judge Sharp wrote in his 2020 clemency petition for Mr. Peltier. “The courts are set up to protect convictions. Prosecutors do not often admit, ‘We got it wrong,’ and neither do government agents. Unfortunately, even when there is clear evidence of misconduct by government agents, judges have the power to say, ‘but I will let the conviction stand anyway.’ That is what has happened to Mr. Peltier, again and again.”
Even decades after his conviction, Mr. Peltier’s requests for clemency have garnered worldwide support from scores of international leaders, politicians, and celebrities. His supporters include former United States Attorney James Reynolds, whose office handled the prosecution and appeal of Mr. Peltier’s case, who wrote: “With time, and the benefit of hindsight, I have realized that the prosecution and continued incarceration of Mr. Peltier was and is unjust…The final theory on which Mr. Peltier’s conviction now rests is that he was guilty of murder simply because he was present with a weapon at the Reservation that day.”
In the five years he represented Mr. Peltier, Judge Sharp never sought an executive pardon. This was at his client’s request. “A pardon … would mean that there was something to convict him of,” Judge Sharp told Pacifica Radio on the day Mr. Peltier received clemency. “Leonard has always maintained his innocence. And if you look at the record, the record maintains his innocence as well. So there was nothing to pardon him for.”
In his petition for clemency to President Biden, Judge Sharp wrote that “Leonard’s wish is to return to Turtle Mountain, his childhood home, where he can get to know his grandchildren for the first time.” Under the terms of his clemency, Mr. Peltier will get to see his wish come to fruition: He will serve the remainder of his life sentence under home confinement on the Turtle Indian Reservation in North Dakota.
News Coverage
- Former federal judge who once sentenced people to long prison terms now working to free Peltier. Part 3, The South Dakota Standard, January 23, 2025
- Tribal Leaders Advocate for Leonard Peltier, Pacifica Radio, January 20, 2025 (audio)
- Joe Biden Grants Clemency To Leonard Peltier, Huffington Post, January 20, 2025
Attorneys Involved in the Case
Kevin Sharp
Co-Vice Chairman
Leigh Anne St. Charles
Nashville Managing Partner
Michael Lockman
Senior Litigation Counsel
David McNamee
Associate