Leonard Peltier Has COVID; His Lawyer - an Ex-Federal Judge - Calls for Native Leader to Be Freed
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ค. 2024
- Jailed 77-year-old Native American activist Leonard Peltier has tested positive for COVID-19 less than a week after describing his prison conditions as a "torture chamber." Peltier was convicted of aiding and abetting the killing of two FBI agents during a shootout on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975 while a member of the American Indian Movement. He has long maintained his innocence and is considered by Amnesty International as a political prisoner. We speak with his lawyer and former federal judge Kevin Sharp, who says Peltier's case was riddled with misconduct, including witness intimidation and withholding exculpatory evidence. Sharp argues Peltier's health, age and unfair trial make him the perfect candidate for executive clemency. "The legal remedies are no longer available," says Sharp on Peltier's case. "Now it's time for the [Bureau of Prisons] and the president of the United States to fix this and send him home."
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Correct the wrongs. Free Leonard Peltier !!
@33 666A terrorist too scary to exist....ought to be too crazy to persist.
The FBI is doing the same thing today to the j6 prisoners.
@33 666A . Indigenous People were here first. Then the Spanish. Bludgeoned the Indigenous Nation. Then the English came. Bludgeoned the Indigenous Nation again. But we’re back !!!
@@summertime104 And now to Trump, no one is safe as long as this tyranny continues to grow.
Thank you Judge Sharp! Please do not quit until Leonard Peltier is free. It's a crime that he is in prison and no one should let this travesty continue.
Free him. I cannot believe he is still there either.
Leonard Peltier shouldn't even be Federal prison!
Set him free. Allow him to go home.
Free Leonard Peltier ! This man was framed from the get go, even prosecutors did not know what part , if any, Leonard Peltier had in the murders of the F.B.I. agents. If there's no evidence, then set him free. Our justice system could dismiss these charges in a heartbeat, but due to arrogance and pride, they won't. Disgusting that this man sits and suffers in a prison.
L. Nnnnnkiiio
I think one of the prosecutors has already admitted he shouldn'tve been convicted.
Agreed, but I caution against using the term 'murder' in relation to the dead FBI agents. They went in to the reservation intending to do violence, with killing on their mind, and engaged in a shoot-out. Whatever happened is somewhere around self-defense. Also, the agents were specifically looking to grab or kill Leonard Peltier, because he was an AIM activist (remember that 64 had recently been murdered) and from another reservation.
Peltier should never have been convicted. His conviction was perjured, which was publicly known 6 months after the event. His continued incarceration is itself a crime.
It was Mr. X
@@deborahshadbolt9736 yes indeed the prosecutors have written the last three presidents and told them that Leonard should be freed. They admitted there is no evidence against him and he is innocent.
Leonard Peltier is the longest imprisoned political prisoner and the US accuses other countries of human abuses
Absolutely
👋ON POINT👏
Thank You!!!
Some former Black Panthers are still living in exile. They risk a chance of extradition back if they try to travel. The US government went as far as try to prevent 1 of them from traveling to get life saving surgery (W. Bush administration). The original Panthers that escaped Hoover’s FBI are mostly in Cuba with some in Tanzania. They have lived or still living decent lives in their host countries that’s better than staying in the US.
Political prisoner? He's not confined because of his "political" beliefs. He's in prison, serving two consecutive life sentences, for the murder of two FBI agents. He was convicted by a jury of his peers. He's serving sentences just like 150K other convicts in federal prisoners.
@@jonloftness5210 I suggest you “actually” research his case. Instead of spewing ignorant BS
@@jvs333 really? I personally know Leonard. Do you? I had him at Leavenworth for over a decade and was responsible for all the media interviews he did; for all his parole commission hearings; for all his appeals; etc. I know the agents who arrested him and I’ve met the families of the two agents he killed. I had copies of his judgement and commitment orders, his pre sentence investigation report, his marshals custody record, etc. I’m sitting next to Leonard during the show made about this murders that was done by Towers Productions. Tell me about YOUR expertise.
God Bless Leonard Peltier & free him from years of wrongful imprisonment!
This is a sad, sad, story. This man did not get a fair representation.
He should be set free.
The lack of evidence is remarkable
Well the system is from what I've heard draconian and unfair.
This news story reminds me that there is still goodness and courageous people standing for principles. Free this man.
Thank you Democracy Now for shinning a light on this issue 🌺
If you’re shocked by this story, you haven’t been paying attention! This, while it’s despicable behavior on the part of our justice system, is not surprising. FREE LEONARD PELTIER, NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sister Melanie, i stand in agreement : FREE LEONARD PELTIER NOW! I have a longgg memory too, America.🌎
@@mattja52 indeed!!!
Yep, the FBI and other police go after non threatening or weak types, like the J6 grandma who was invited in by the capitol police to a building that had a metal detector door entrance that the capitol police avoided which proves it was a set up by the FBI. And we just saw the same shit in Ottawa where the police arrested the smallest person honking his horn, a frail 80 y/o patriot who fought for his country. These cops, and the FBI hate americans and let illegals through the border to commit crimes against law abiding citizens.
@@tsonofjohnson489 I can’t believe not one of those puppets in the Oval Office had the spine to free him by now!
Best to you, Brother T
All political prisoners & exiled, fugitive political activists from the era of Civil Rights (60’s & 70’s) & Hoover’s FBI should be freed. Free from prisons & free to return home.
This is so unjust. Free Leonard NOW!!!!!
They need to release this man immediately! This is horrible!! They need to compensate him also, not that any amount of money could make up for HIS LIFE!
Exactly
Yes
Good on this judge for defending Mr. Peltier. And thank you Amy for your honest and caring programming. Let this man go!!!
Miyutake oyasin
Prayers for Leonard Peltier and all the First Nations of Turtle Island
✊🐦
If the US Attorneys don't know who killed the agents, then it is sinful + evil for Leonard PELTIER to still be incarcerated. Thank you Amy and DN for featuring this case of racism + torture, now elder abuse and Human Rights Violations. Pray that this attorney gets a fast track thru the courts. Aho! All My Relations 🙏🙏🙏
And you better give him some Millions!
Ahoe all my relations
They know who killed the agents.... They know it wasn't Peltier... Sick government. Protecting their own...
President Biden to pick up that p e n ... We are watching and also this man must receive millions of dollars
@@MrTomjolly?
Thank you, Ms. Amy! So honest & trustworthy, your reporting is so critical to Democracy, Godspeed.
Thank you Judge Sharp
Release Leonard Peltier Today!
shameful tragedy - just shameful - how is it that this man is still imprisoned?
Free Peltier!!!
Release and pardon Leonard Peltier now President Biden.
This is so sad'; the injustice this man and others have suffered Where is the humanity?
Where is the justice? There is no justice for minorities in America. Compare this to Jan. 6th insurrectionists. Police lost their lives, yet punishments are minimal for the perpetrators. Free this man and all prisoners unjustly convicted.
Set him free!!!!!!
Big hugs for brother Leonard. Poor guy I feel so bad for him. I hope he can be free soon. Innocent people should not die in prison. Bless you Kevin Sharp. Thank you for trying, sir. I'm proud of you!
Free Leonard Peltier !
Free that Man
Release him.
40 plus years in prison. Some countries have a maximum of 21 years for anything. he has more then paid even if he is guilty
Here max is 12 amd for first timer max is 6 in jail.
Even if he lives, how does he heal from injustice like that?
Amerikan govt. is all about human rights except in Amerika😞
AIM happened when I was in High school. I've always known how bad our government is thanks to this man & his people.
They always knew Leonard Peltier was innocent, same torture on Julian Assange. Purely insane.
I presume you mean that the US legal system is insane, rather than Leonard Peltier and Julian Assange
@@pashakdescilly7517 Yes. That is what that referred to, the pure insanity of "our" government. It's become clear as day that we have no country.
Reparations!
Too bad he is not Kyle Rittenhouse, america is so disgusting
Unbelievable sad! My goodness release this poor human being, he's sick, and he has no business n prison. The system is so corrupt, how many innocent women, and men are in prison ? Something needs to b done!!! Hi Amy,Juan,and crew. Good job y'all r doin 👏🏽 💞🌹
If you have this evidence, not pointing to him, he should be freed ASAP.
They also have "Ghost Detainees" in maximum prisons, who don't know why they're there or exactly where they're at.
it takes willie nelson's connection to bring this case to his desk....we live in such a f up society.
FREE THIS MAN. A GENUINE freedom fighter!!! A true hero in every sense of the word!!!✊🏽💗
Hoover casts long dark shadow on law and order.
I remember signing petition to free this man almost 20 years ago. It’s past time he is freed and pardoned. I highly recommend everyone read about his case. It is infuriating.
OMFG!! Why is Leonard still in prison after it has been proven time and time again that minimum his trial was a sham.
Free Peltier today
Turn leonard lose ! Unbelievable !
Thank you Judge Sharp for working to clean up our judicial system and for representing Leonard. I hope he can breathe free air very very soon.
I am more ashamed of the prison system in this country than anything else. That's where they put you to shut you up. The FBI was filthy in this case, talk about killers. Let him go.
Yes
FREE THIS HERO!!!!!!
This is horrific. Thanks for making us aware of this.
FREE HIM NOW
I have watched this for a long time! It makes me weep, I'm not a Indigenous person, but I'm Human.
So often I have been confused as to why the FBI feels it needs this illegal "win" of locking up Peltier. It is just too bitter, it reminds me of how the Government refused to allow Geronimo's physical remains to be returned to the Tribe in Arizona. When neither Clinton nor Obama failed to release him, I wondered what the Government feared from this man.
how is Peltier still in jail? When is Biden going to act
Thank you judge Sharp. Prayers are with you on your journey.
Our hearts are with you comrade Peltier. You are far, far from alone.
Free Leonard Peltier.
The song "Freedom" by the band Rage Against The Machine is a tribute to Leonard Peltier. Listen to it.
Yes, watch the video too.
Robbie Robertson also wrote a song for Lenard, with Lenard’s voice explaining what happened that day, very touching and I cry every time I hear that song 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
@@skyzonenaudreybanakas5920 yes, called "Sacrifice". It's on youtube.
Zac delaRocha was very vocal in the 1990s about this issue. Just about every concert, he had a Peltier shirt on. I believe that entire first album was dedicated to Peltier. Was one of my top 5 bands in the 1990s, although I never got to see them live.
...also there were alot of good old boy judges and prosecutors who were losing races because of the idea of "Democracy in action". Young prosecutors were upsetting their opponents, the ESTABLISHMENT Prosecutors, based on the number of overturned cases the appellate courts were throwing out. A high-profile case, the need for a conviction? Leonard Peltier didn't stand a chance.
Not to mention the FBI's bullying tactics on Congress, Senate and President Clinton all provable. Leonard's innocence is provable but he has exhausted all appeals, so now he needs clemency.
@@Nativedailynetwork, hopefully now is the time.
A perfect example of our countries stand on freedom and justice. Kneeling on the throat of humanity, demanding we bootstrap up while knowing full well we can't. All the while using our money against us, not for us, while laughing at our struggle
Well said
The US's LONGEST standing political prisoner. He is another reason certain don't want history taught.
Can they at least give him some early treatments? I'm so sick of hearing about these cases. When will there be justice in this country? FREE HIM NOW AND PLEASE TREAT HIM IMMEDIATELY.
At 13:40, Leonard Peltier called for the Black Hills to be returned to his people. As proved in a Supreme Court case, the Black Hills BELONG to the Lakota by Treaty right. That means that the right is equivalent to being part of the US Constitution.
Instead of returning the land to the Lakota, the Supreme Court offered a paltry money compensation. The Lakota are not interested in selling the land, AT ANY PRICE - even if the money offered were equal to or greater than its monetary value. They simply want that land back - and they have proved in the Supreme Court that it is theirs by Treaty right.
So how about this:
1 set Leonard Peltier free, immediately and unconditionally
2 give Peltier monetary compensation for his false imprisonment. A lot of it!
3 return the Black Hills to the Lakota
4 end the illegal mining concessions which rob and pollute the Lakota lands
5 give compensation for the illegal mining and pollution of the lands
Yet not a single high profile twitch streamer or new media personality is talking about this.
Makes me more sick than the disease itself.
"Judge shopping" sounds like RepulsiveCons and their corruptions! Free him now.
Let him go home
How outrageous that the United States can point their finger at Cuba and their political prisoners while Leonard Peltier rots away in prison decade after decade..
I meant; Leonard Peltier shouldn't even be in Federal prison! And the US Constitution that this lawyer is talking about doesn't even apply to Leonard Peltier because he's Native American! The US Constitution from Philly, PA 1789 applies to Peltier because of the treaties that the US government signed with the Sioux Nation in 1851 to 1868. The amended and rewritten US Constitution of 1871 doesn't apply to the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Sioux!
So where do native reservations sit in relation to US law? Bearing in mind that FBI agents freely act within reservations
@@pashakdescilly7517 In my understanding, legally, the reservations are basically like their own separate territories with their own tribal governments, within the US.
I'm glad in previous DN vid Smedley Butler included the "right to write", so let's wright the wrongs & write Representatives, cuz how many times, over how many decades do we have to write, "FREE PELTIER" before Peltier is freed?!
Hope justice comes one day for those who have been so badly treated by WAR Criminals, Thieves & Murderers or as also know The U.S Government & there many offices of injustice.
The Skull & Bones need to let Leonard Peltier go because he's sick!
I really appreciate your indepit summary this case
SAGE , Light & L❤️VE
All these years I've been signing petitions to commute his sentence.
We owe LEONARD Pelletier a life time .
Good job, keep the truth alive. Keep doing God's work. 👍 👍
Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs
Progress made so far is
definitely not definitive.
Amy, thank you for trying to help Leonard by sharing his story. And I thank you still for being at and covering Standing Rock. I would love to gift you The Drop Of Water as well. Over 3,500 Water Protectors have been gifted so far!
If Native people were occupying land belonging to the Native people, what business does the federal government have coming in armed and threatening them?
It wasn't just the Federal Government that threatened them, it was also their own people because they wanted money and power (Oglala Sioux Tribal President Dick Wilson). Dick Wilson got in bed with the Federal Government to take down AIM.
The Reservations are held for the respective tribes in trust by the US Federal Government, allowing Federal authorities to move through and act on those reservations. The Reservations have Native Tribal counsels and a police force but are subject to the Federal Authorities, such as the FBI.
The two FBI agents were on the reservation that day investigating the theft of a pair of boots.
Yeah, really........
@@halbarbour7340 I saw the movie “Thunderheart” and though it is a movie, it seemed, to me to be a thinly veiled reference to the actual events @ Pine Ridge and yes there was even a pair of cowboy boots that figured in a scene of a witness or a suspect in a wheel chair.The movie was actually very haunting and had a powerful and profound message, The fbi agents were shown as sinister and ridiculous at the same time except for one, played by Val Kilmer. My husband’s parents took off from WA to visit their old neighbors who had retired to live on the reservation, and didn’t call ahead, just drove in @ sundown to surprise them., they were oblivious to the trouble going on. Their friends were sure surprised, alright, and alarmed and worried that their white friends would be discovered and questioned about what they were doing there, and they insisted they leave at dawn the next day and were warned to just drive and don;t stop for anyone or anything no matter what until they were off the reservation. They drove to a truck stop and parked there for the night and there was a gunfight for some reason and their camper window got hit with a a stray bullet that left a star but didn’t break the glass. I have that camper to this day. We named it Wounded Knee and took it on many camping trips over the years. My husband passed 3 yrs ago and I am too old to go to encampments alone, but it is so special and so full of memories because it was there and heard the drums in the distance that one night. I pray that President Biden will pardon Leonard NOW.🙏🙏🙏🙏🦬🦬🦬🦬☮️
Thank you. Peace be with Leonard and you all.
"The only consistency within the U.S. B. O. P.
is the arbitrary enforcement of their own rules."
P.F. 82'-92' BOP
Federal b o p told me I could not see the parole board when I was supposed to. they were trying to boost the population of a facility so the guards could get more pay. When I finally saw the parole board it was 60 days before my sentence was fulfilled. I told the parole board to go f*** themselves and walked out. They had to throw me out of the prison. They didn't have the pair of work boots they promised. This man has spent too much time at the mercy of the Bureau of Prisons.
I'll gladly allow this man his title and call him judge. He's doing great work, it seems to me
Wonderful that Ms Goodman & democracy now is bringing this to the public's eye again. Not that it will change anything, as it has never done before.
Sharp a man with morals, it seems.
Except he made it sound like it's something unusual what the FBI has done Peltier) natives, except it's the FBI mode of operation, then and still.
CRT IS NECESSARY. History has a creepy way of repeating. History also explains the status quote. Free this man,and replace his sentence with all those who framed him. Everyone from the top down involved in January 6th; are still not only running around admitting insurrection ,they are free planning for another attack .
"One who slights another will in turn be despised." Dharma sutra.
Man,my heart ❤ goes out to Leonard Peltier......!!!....Heart wrenching story....May The Most High Yah God Of Israel 🇮🇱 allow him freedom vibrate health,and compensation reparations for all the wrong,for all the hell that the Govt put this man and his family 👪,and his people through
This is the first I've heard that Obama refused to pardon him or commute his sentence. It has totally changed how I felt about Obama. Leonard should have been out of prison decades ago. I can't believe with all the evidence that's proved his innocence and the railroading it took to put him there, that he's still in prison. This man needs to be released NOW.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I am supporting clemency for Leonard Peltier.
Great show. Would be good to add captions for recording of peltier on the phone
The same power vacuum from J Edgar Hoover that took down Nixon, took down Peltier. Hoover started Co-Intel Pro by 1956.
TY for featuring this story! Let's Pray Leonard Peltier will be freed! Pray that Biden will do the right thing concerning Leonard Peltier! Pray, pray. pray!!
I was a correctional officer USP 1 Coleman. Leonard Pelletier was one of my inmates. I got to know him over the years and found him to be good, kind human being. I believe that he was not given a fair trial, and was railroaded by the Justice Department and the FBI. Leonard should to be released to the public immediately got a great amount of respect for this Judge. In my opinion he should be the standard for all judges state and federal. Free Leonard Pelletier.
I know first hand how terrible it is to be a victim of Subornation of Perjury and the horror of watching as the Travesty of Justice resulting slowly unfolds.
But my own experience was not so grave as my own freedom was not at stake, only the intellectual freedom of my son, who I love.
Such an injustice to basically take away someone's life without even a fair trial!!!!
Also refer to the interview by Chris Hedges of Kevin Sharp at this time. More travesties of justice in this one case than a reasonable person could condone.
Has this man not been punished enough for God's sake?
Democracy now- an invaluable service to America and the world.
Please! Let me believe my country has done 1 thing right today! FREE LEONARD PELTIER NOW!
So, he is detained in his own land by EU occupier!
A 1992 documentary narrated by Robert Redford called Incident at Oglala is a MUST SEE, as it reinforces everything you're seen in this report. Many people and human rights organizations have fought to free Leonard, and pushback from US 'justice' systems and law enforcement is sickening. They lost one of their 'own' and someone has to pay- regardless if he is guilty or innocent. My heart cries for Mr. Peltier and his family and the American Indian community that were trying to end the terror condoned by the US government against the traditionalists in their tribe. It is way past time that this injustice be remediated. Thank you DEMOCRACY NOW for shining a light on this tragedy.
Thanks Amy...I think you are probably the only media willing to cover this. That alone says a lot.
Many languish in prisons far too often for petty or illegitimate reasons, due to _unnecessarily long sentences._ This affects no other sections of society more than the underserved communities "of color".
Leonard Peltier is a clear example of this, thrown into the slammer for a lifetime for illegitimate reasons, as means to censor those whose dissents are too close for comfort. The same was visited upon Mumia Jamal, and is possibly now playing out for Julian Assange. Only recently, a truck driver of Cuban descent in Colorado caused quite a stir across the country, when he was sentenced to a lifetime in prison for a horribly tragic accident, which he attributed to brake failure. Even the judge in that case reportedly felt that the sentencing protocol caused an impractically excessive prison time.
These are just the famous examples. Many more faceless people, with no microphone, waste away in prisons, while a few lucky ones only exit the punitive system via _chance exonerations_ on the heels of exculpatory evidence, and often _without any compensation._ On the latter, Kevin Strickland's case comes to mind, who came out without any compensation, after having been locked up for _43 years_ for something he did not do.
It was an insane 270 year prison sentence that was initially imposed on that young truck driver.
@@greeneyedlady5580
Indeed.
I’m Chippewa/Sioux too!!
🦅AIM 🦅
What business did the FBI branch of the La Cosa Nuastra have in another sovereign nation attacking there people in the first place.
It's Very Difficult for Indigenous people to get a fair trial in the first place, because of cultural differences!
The European descendants believe that if you don't look them in the eye when talking
you must be lying!
The Turtle Island Indigenous believe if you look someone in the eye your being disrespectful.
So to a European jury a Indigenous person is always going to look like he is lying even though he is telling the truth.
(THIS MATTERS!)
SINCE REPORTING OF THIS STORY; HAS THERE BEEN FURTHER NEWS OF BROTHER PELTIER'S HEALTH?
HE IS 77 YEARS OLD; HIS HEALTH IS CRITICALLY AT RISK.
HE NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN PRISON.
HIS CONTIUNED DETAINMENT IS UNCONSCIONABLE.