Biden releases radical left-wing murderer convicted of FBI agents' deaths in final hours of presidency.
FBI Director Christopher Wray deemed Leonard Peltier's clemency "wholly unjustified," despite his impending release from prison and expected placement on house arrest.
On Monday, former President Biden commuted the life sentence of Leonard Peltier, a far-left activist who was convicted in the 1975 murders of two FBI special agents.
In July, Peltier's bid for parole was unsuccessful. Despite former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama denying clemency requests for him, he had supporters among prominent Democrats, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, as well as former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.
The FBI Agents Association was outraged by the move to free the killer, which occurred days after outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray sent a letter to Biden urging him not to do so.
"FBIAA President Natalie Bara expressed outrage over President Biden's decision to commute the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a convicted cop killer responsible for the brutal murders of FBI Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams. She stated that this last-second, disgraceful act by then-President Biden, which does not change Peltier's guilt but does release him from prison, is cowardly and lacks accountability. Bara added that it is a cruel betrayal to the families and colleagues of these fallen Agents and is a slap in the face of law enforcement."
On Jan. 10, Wray implored Biden not to do it.
"Wray wrote, "I hope these letters are unnecessary, and that you are not considering a pardon or commutation. However, on behalf of the FBI family, and out of an abundance of caution, I want to make sure our position is clear: Peltier is a remorseless killer, who brutally murdered two of our own – Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams. Granting Peltier any relief from his conviction or sentence is wholly unjustified and would be an affront to the rule of law.""
Peltier, who is now 80 and in poor health, is currently serving two consecutive life sentences for the murders, along with an additional seven years for an attempted escape with weapons. Despite multiple attempts to appeal his conviction, he was unsuccessful. His supporters were concerned that he would pass away in prison and turned to President Biden for intervention.
"Peltier's claims have been evaluated by 22 federal judges, multiple parole boards, and six presidential administrations for nearly 50 years. Despite this, each of them has concluded that his arguments are meritless and his convictions and sentence must stand."
Biden overruled him.
Biden has granted clemency to 37 out of 40 federal inmates on death row, and his attorney general, Merrick Garland, has abolished the death penalty for a brutal MS-13 leader responsible for seven murders. Two teenage girls were brutally murdered with machetes and baseball bats.
He granted last-minute pardons to his family members and allies, including his siblings, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Mark Milley, and members of the January 6 Committee. He had previously pardoned his son, Hunter.
Read FBI Director Wray's letter to Biden on Leonard Peltier:
Haaland praised Peltier's commutation.
""The commutation of Leonard Peltier signifies a measure of justice that has long evaded so many Native Americans for so many decades," she wrote on X."
On June 26, 1975, Williams and Coler were searching for suspects of armed robbery in the Oglala Sioux Indian Reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Despite not being one of them, Peltier's vehicle drew the attention of the agents.
The agents were unaware that Peltier was also the suspect in an attempted murder case involving an off-duty police officer in Wisconsin.
According to court documents, Williams alerted Coler over the radio that someone in the vehicle was about to begin shooting at them. Suddenly, gunfire erupted, injuring both agents. According to the FBI, both agents were brutally murdered with point-blank gunshots to the head from Peltier's AR-15.
Coler, originally from Bakersfield, California, had been an LAPD officer before joining the FBI in 1971. Williams, also a California native from Glendale, joined the FBI in 1972.
Nicole Parker, a former FBI agent who lost two colleagues to line-of-duty violence, stated that the pardon of Leonard Peltier is not an act of justice but an abandonment of it.
"The loss of my dearest friend and colleague, FBI Special Agent Laura Schwartzenberger, and Special Agent Daniel Alfin, who were murdered while executing a search warrant to stop a child predator, is a crushing heartbreak that cannot be described."
According to the FBI, four men were arrested in connection with their deaths, but only Leonard Peltier was convicted. The government dropped charges against James Eagle, the robbery suspect Williams and Coler were searching for at the start of the shootout. Two other men, Robert Robideau and Darrelle Butler, were acquitted at trial in 1976.
He will be put on house arrest after being released from federal prison.
"The sacrifice of Special Agents Coler and Williams, who gave their lives in service to this nation, continues to be felt deeply by their families today, just as it was in 1975. Leonard Peltier has never shown remorse for his actions, and it is unjust that he was granted a mercy that was denied to the Coler and Williams families. The loss of these heroes has left a lasting impact on the FBI family, and their families continue to bear the heavy burden of their sacrifice."
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