Editing Leonard Peltier (section)

== Other concerns and incidents ==

=== 2002 editorial about deaths of agents and Anna Mae Aquash ===
In January 2002 in the ''[[News from Indian Country]]'', publisher Paul DeMain wrote an editorial that an "unnamed delegation" told him that Peltier had murdered the FBI agents.<ref name="Demain2">[http://www.indiancountrynews.info/anniededication2.cfm.htm Paul DeMain, "Leonard Peltier. Now what do we do?"] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080603030949/http://www.indiancountrynews.info/anniededication2.cfm.htm|date=June 3, 2008}}, ''News From Indian Country'', 2002.</ref> DeMain described the delegation as "grandfathers and grandmothers, AIM activists, pipe carriers and others who have carried a heavy unhealthy burden within them that has taken its toll."<ref name="Demain2" /> DeMain said he was also told that the motive for the execution-style murder of high-ranking AIM activist [[Anna Mae Aquash]] in December 1975 at Pine Ridge "allegedly was her knowledge that Leonard Peltier had shot the two agents, as he was convicted."<ref name="Demain2" />

DeMain did not accuse Peltier of participation in the Aquash murder.<ref name="Demain2" /> In 2003 two Native American men were indicted and later convicted of the murder.<ref name="Demain2" />

On May 1, 2003, Peltier sued DeMain for [[libel]] for similar statements about the case published on March 10, 2003, in ''News from Indian Country''. On May 25, 2004, Peltier withdrew the suit after he and DeMain settled the case. DeMain issued a statement saying he did not think Peltier was given a fair trial for the two murder convictions, nor did he think Peltier was connected to Aquash's death.<ref name=":82">{{cite web |title=Press Release May 28, 2004 |url=http://jfamr.org/allow.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513114456/http://jfamr.org/allow.html |archive-date=May 13, 2008 |access-date=November 27, 2016 |publisher=Jfamr.org}}</ref> DeMain stated he did not retract his allegations that Peltier was guilty of the murders of the FBI agents and that the motive for Aquash's murder was the fear that she might inform on the activist.<ref name=":82" />

===Indictments and trials for the murder of Aquash===
In 2003, there were federal grand jury hearings on charges against [[Arlo Looking Cloud]] and [[John Graham (Canadian activist)|John Graham]] for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Anna Mae Aquash. Bruce Ellison, Leonard Peltier's lawyer since the 1970s, was subpoenaed and invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, refusing to testify. He also refused to testify, on the same grounds, at Looking Cloud's trial in 2004. During the trial, the federal prosecutor named Ellison as a co-conspirator in the Aquash case.<ref name="timeline">[http://jfamr.org/conspire.html Paul DeMain, "Aquash Murder Case Timeline"] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080705201708/http://jfamr.org/conspire.html |date=July 5, 2008 }}, ''News from Indian Country'', posted on Justice for Anna Mae and Ray Website</ref> Witnesses said that Ellison participated in interrogating Aquash about being an FBI informant on December 11, 1975, shortly before her murder.<ref name="timeline" />

Leonard Peltier is quoted in We, The People as saying, "I think it was around that December when I heard that Anna Mae was dead. I was in that jail over there in Canada right around whenever they exposed who she really was and what she died from, but I believe I didn't hear about it until December." Peltier had knowledge of Anna Mae Aquash's death in December, months before her body was found and her family was notified of her death.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=November 24, 2004 |title=Denise Pictou-Maloney sets record straight |url=https://www.jfamr.org/denise_interview.html |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash and Ray Robinson Jr. Justice Fund}}</ref> 

In February 2004, [[Arlo Looking Cloud|Fritz Arlo Looking Cloud]], an Oglala Sioux, was tried and convicted of the murder of Aquash. In Looking Cloud's trial, the prosecution argued that AIM's suspicion of Aquash stemmed from her having heard Peltier admit to the murders of the FBI agents. [[Darlene Ka-Mook Nichols|Darlene "Kamook" Nichols]], former wife of the AIM leader Dennis Banks, testified that in late 1975, Peltier told of shooting the FBI agents. He was talking to a small group of AIM activists who were fugitives from law enforcement. They included Nichols, her sister Bernie Nichols (later Lafferty), Nichols' husband Dennis Banks, and Aquash, among several others. Nichols testified that Peltier said, "The motherfucker was begging for his life, but I shot him anyway."<ref name="Ka-Mook Testifies">{{cite web |url=http://www.jfamr.org/doc/kmtest1.html |title=Ka-Mook Testifies |publisher=jfamr.org |access-date=September 24, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518032313/http://www.jfamr.org/doc/kmtest1.html |archive-date=May 18, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Bernie Nichols-Lafferty gave the same account of Peltier's statement.<ref>{{cite web |last=(withheld) |date=February 19, 2005 |title=Bernie Lafferty Speaks Regarding Leonard Peltier |url=http://jfamr.org/didit.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716114753/http://jfamr.org/didit.html |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |access-date=September 24, 2009 |website=Justice for Anna Mae and Ray |publisher=jfamr.org}}</ref> At the time, all were fleeing law enforcement after the Pine Ridge shootout.<ref name="Ka-Mook Testifies" /><ref name="laffertyjfamr">{{cite web |year=2002 |title=But will anyone believe him? Robert Robideau confesses to shooting agents |url=http://www.indiancountrynews.com/fullstory.cfm?ID=188 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20060311222926/http://www.indiancountrynews.com/fullstory.cfm?ID=188 |archive-date=March 11, 2006 |publisher=News from Indian Country}}</ref>

Earlier in 1975, AIM member Douglass Durham had been revealed to be an undercover FBI agent and dismissed from the organization. AIM leaders were fearful of infiltration. Other witnesses have testified that, when Aquash was suspected of being an informant, Peltier interrogated her while holding a gun to her head.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jfamr.org/doc/troytest.html |title=Troy Lynn Yellow Wood Testifies |publisher=Jfamr.org |date=February 2004 |access-date=November 12, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dickshovel.com/annatp4.html |title=News from Indian Country Taped Interviews |publisher=Dickshovel.com |access-date=November 12, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.coloradoaim.org/history/1994RobideauslettertoPaulDemain.htm |title=Open Letter to Paul DeMain |publisher=Coloradoaim.org |date=April 8, 1994 |access-date=November 12, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121125084425/http://www.coloradoaim.org/history/1994RobideauslettertoPaulDemain.htm |archive-date=November 25, 2012}}</ref><ref>Steve Hendricks, ''The Unquiet Grave: The FBI and the Struggle for the Soul of Indian Country'', Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006, p. 202</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dickshovel.com/time.html |title=Aquash Time Line |publisher=Dickshovel.com |access-date=November 12, 2012}}</ref><ref name="jfamr.org">{{cite web |url=http://www.jfamr.org/doc/appeal_rspns.pdf |title=Corel Office Document |website=Jfamr.org |access-date=November 27, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327074803/http://www.jfamr.org/doc/appeal_rspns.pdf |archive-date=March 27, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Peltier and David Hill were said to have Aquash participate in bomb-making so that her fingerprints would be on the bombs. Prosecutors alleged in court documents that the trio planted these bombs at two power plants on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on [[Columbus Day]] 1975.<ref name="jfamr.org" />

During the trial, Nichols acknowledged receiving $42,000 from the FBI in connection with her cooperation on the case.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/rad-green/2005-January/017015.html |title=[R-G] LPDC Alerts: Begin the New year with Leonard Peltier in mind and action |website=Lists.ecom.utah.edu |access-date=November 27, 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711170700/http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/rad-green/2005-January/017015.html |archive-date=July 11, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> She said it was compensation for travel expenses to collect evidence and moving expenses to be farther from her ex-husband Dennis Banks, whom she feared because she had implicated him as a witness.<ref name="Ka-Mook Testifies" /> Peltier has claimed that Kamook Nichols committed perjury with her testimony.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aimovement.org/peltier/index.html |title=AIM – American Indian Movement Store |website=Aimovement.org |access-date=November 27, 2016}}</ref>

No investigation has been opened into the allegedly perjured testimony of Kamook Nichols, now married to a former FBI Chief Agent and living under the name Darlene Ecoffey. During the Looking Cloud trial, the Honorable Lawrence L. Piersol admitted the testimony with the following statement: "The requested testimony is hearsay, but I am going to admit it for a limited purpose only. This is a limiting instruction. It isn't admitted nor received for the truth of the matter stated. In other words, whether the rumor is true or not. It is simply received as to what the rumor was. So it is limited to what the rumor was, it is not admitted for the truth of the statement as to whether the rumor was true or not."

On June 26, 2007, the Supreme Court of [[British Columbia]] ordered the extradition of John Graham to the United States to stand trial for his alleged role in the murder of Aquash.<ref>[http://indiancountrynews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=693&Itemid=1 "Former FBI agent says: Anna Mae Awaits Justice"], ''News From Indian Country''</ref> He was eventually tried by the state of South Dakota in 2010. During Graham's trial, Darlene "Kamook" Ecoffey said Peltier told both her and Aquash that he had killed the FBI agents in 1975. Ecoffey testified under oath, "He (Peltier) held his hand like this", she said, pointing her index finger like a gun, "and he said 'that (expletive) was begging for his life but I shot him anyway.'"<ref>[http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_55f2a368-01b9-11e0-a499-001cc4c03286.html "Marshall takes witness stand in Graham murder trial"], ''Rapid City Journal''</ref> Graham was convicted of murdering Aquash and sentenced to life in prison.

=== Media interviews  ===
In the documentary film ''Incident at Oglala'' (1992), AIM activist Robert Robideau said that the FBI agents had been shot by a 'Mr X'. When Peltier was interviewed about 'Mr X', he said he knew who the man was. Dino Butler, in a 1995 interview with E.K. Caldwell of ''[[News From Indian Country]]'', contended that 'Mr X' was a creation of Peltier's supporters and had been named as the murderer in an attempt to gain Peltier's release from prison.<ref>{{cite web |year=1995 |title=Dino's Interview |url=http://www.dickshovel.com/dino.html |access-date=November 27, 2016 |website=Dickshovel.com}}</ref> In a 2001 interview with ''News From Indian Country'', Bernie Lafferty said that she had witnessed Peltier's referring to his murder of one of the agents.<ref name="laffertyjfamr" /><ref name="Anderson 1995">{{Cite magazine |last=Anderson |first=Scott |author-link=Scott Anderson (novelist) |date=July 2, 1995 |title=The Martyrdom of Leonard Peltier |url=https://www.outsideonline.com/culture/books-media/martyrdom-leonard-peltier/ |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916150700/https://www.outsideonline.com/culture/books-media/martyrdom-leonard-peltier/ |archive-date=16 September 2021 |magazine=[[Outside (magazine)|Outside]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

===Presidential politics===
Peltier was the candidate for the [[Peace and Freedom Party (United States)|Peace and Freedom Party]] in the [[U.S. presidential election, 2004|2004 election]] for [[President of the United States]]. While numerous states have laws that prohibit prison inmates convicted of felonies from voting (Maine and Vermont are exceptions),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mainetoday.com/elections/2004/news/041010_041009inmatevote.shtml |title=Inmates in Maine, Vermont are allowed to vote |first=Glenn |last=Adams |agency=Associated Press |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041224061553/http://www.mainetoday.com/elections/2004/news/041010_041009inmatevote.shtml |website=Mainetoday.com |date=October 9, 2004 |publisher=Maine Today Media, Inc. |archive-date=December 24, 2004 |access-date=October 31, 2017}}</ref> the [[United States Constitution]] has no prohibition against felons being elected to federal offices, including President. The Peace and Freedom Party secured ballot status for Peltier only in California. His presidential candidacy received 27,607 votes,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2004_general/formatted_pres_detail.pdf |title=Results, by district, of Presidential vote in California, 2004 |website=SOS.ca.gov |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724043003/http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2004_general/formatted_pres_detail.pdf |publisher=Secretary of State, California |archive-date=July 24, 2008 |access-date=October 31, 2017}}</ref> approximately 0.2% of the vote in that state.

In 2020, he ran as the vice-presidential running mate of [[Gloria La Riva]] on the ticket of the [[Party for Socialism and Liberation]] in the [[2020 United States presidential election|presidential campaign]]. He was forced to resign from the ticket for health reasons in early August 2020, and was replaced with Sunil Freeman.<ref name="LaRiva">{{Cite web |title=La Riva / Peltier Presidential Campaign Announcement |url=https://www.larivapeltier2020.org/campaign_announcement |access-date=July 2, 2020 |website=La Riva Peltier 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lariva2020.org/statement_on_leonards_withdrawal |title=Leonard Peltier regretfully withdraws as vice-presidential candidate |website=Party for Socialism and Liberation |date=August 2020 |access-date=August 3, 2020}}</ref><ref name="BAN">{{cite web |url=http://ballot-access.org/2020/08/02/party-for-socialism-liberation-alters-its-vice-presidential-nominee/ |title=Party for Socialism & Liberation Alters its Vice-Presidential Nominee |website=Ballot Access News |last1=Winger |first1=Richard |date=August 2, 2020 |access-date=August 3, 2020}}</ref>

===Ruling on FBI documents===
In a February 27, 2006, decision, U.S. District Judge [[William M. Skretny|William Skretny]] ruled that the FBI did not have to release five of 812 documents relating to Peltier and held at their Buffalo field office. He ruled that the particular documents were exempted on the grounds of "national security and FBI agent/informant protection". In his opinion, Judge Skretny wrote, "Plaintiff has not established the existence of bad faith or provided any evidence contradicting (the FBI's) claim that the release of these documents would endanger national security or would impair this country's relationship with a foreign government." In response, Michael Kuzma, a member of Peltier's defense team, said, "We're appealing. It's incredible that it took him 254 days to render a decision." Kuzma added, "The pages we were most intrigued about revolved around a teletype from Buffalo ... a three-page document that seems to indicate that a confidential source was being advised by the FBI not to engage in conduct that would compromise attorney-client privilege." Several of Peltier's supporters have taken legal action in an attempt to obtain more than 100,000 pages of documents from FBI field offices, claiming that the files should have been turned over at the time of his trial or following a [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]] (FOIA) request filed soon after.<ref>[http://www.prisonactivist.org/pipermail/prisonact-list/2006-February/010574.html "LDPC email"] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070926232932/http://www.prisonactivist.org/pipermail/prisonact-list/2006-February/010574.html |date=September 26, 2007 }}, Prison Activist.org</ref><ref>[http://lpdctexas.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_lpdctexas_archive.html Carolyn Thompson, "Judge Allows FBI to Withhold Some Peltier Documents"], AP, LPDC Texas Blog</ref>

===Victim of prison violence===
On January 13, 2009, Peltier was beaten by inmates at the [[United States Penitentiary, Canaan]], where he had been transferred from [[Federal Correctional Institution, Lewisburg|USP Lewisburg]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Caleb T. Maupin |date=2009-01-29 |title=Leonard Peltier attacked in prison |url=https://www.workers.org/2009/us/leonard_peltier_0205/ |access-date=2024-06-11 |website=[[Workers World (newspaper)|Workers World]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2009-01-21 |title=Relatives Say Peltier Beaten Following Prison Transfer |url=https://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/21/headlines/relatives_say_peltier_beaten_following_prison_transfer |access-date=2024-06-11 |website=[[Democracy Now!]] |language=en}}</ref> He was sent back to Lewisburg, where he remained until the fall of 2011, when he was transferred to a federal penitentiary in Florida. According to ''[[High Country News]]'' in 2016: "Everywhere he's been, inmates have jumped and beaten him, likely with the collusion of guards."<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Baughman |first=Mike |date=2016-07-20 |title=How Leonard Peltier has unjustly spent forty years in prison — and why it's time to change that |url=http://www.hcn.org/issues/48-12/how-leonard-peltier-has-unjustly-spent-forty-years-in-prison-and-why-its-time-to-change-that/ |access-date=2024-06-11 |website=High Country News |language=en-US |quote=Everywhere he’s been, inmates have jumped and beaten him, likely with the collusion of guards. Now he is going blind from diabetes, suffers from kidney failure and is susceptible to strokes. |ref=July 2016 HCN}}</ref>

=== Health issues ===
Over the years in prison, Peltier's health has declined and suffers from various ailments; by 2016 his diabetes had led to impaired vision [and] kidney issues.<ref name=":6" /> In April 2024, the [[International Indian Treaty Council|International Indian Treaty Council (IITC)]] joined other groups appealing for his parole, citing his declining health: "Mr. Peltier is almost 80 years old and has several compounding health conditions, including kidney disease, diabetes, near-total blindness, and an untreated aortic aneurysm. He requires a wheelchair."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-26 |title=IITC requests favorable consideration of parole for Leonard Peltier |url=https://www.iitc.org/iitc-requests-favorable-consideration-of-parole-for-leonard-peltier/ |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=International Indian Treaty Council |language=en-US}}</ref> [[COVID-19]] further weakened Peltier, according to his clemency lawyer.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-02-10 |title=Former federal judge who once sentenced people to long prison terms now working to free Peltier. Part 3 |url=https://www.sdstandardnow.com/home/former-federal-judge-who-once-sentenced-people-to-long-prison-terms-now-working-to-free-peltier |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=The South Dakota Standard |language=en-US}}</ref> Still in prison six months later, and after a recent hospitalization, allies renewed the call for his release, or at least a transfer to a Minnesota prison, where he could be closer to family and friends. They accused the Bureau of Prisons of medical neglect, even "cruel and unusual punishment”, violating the [[Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Eighth Amendment]]. They said Peltier is not getting a healthy diet or insulin treatment for his diabetes and is unable to use his [[CPAP machine]] for [[sleep apnea]] treatment due to lack of an electrical outlet in his cell.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Muhammad |first=William P. |date=2024-11-11 |title=Leonard Peltier still suffering medical neglect in prison |url=https://new.finalcall.com/2024/11/11/leonard-peltier-still-suffering-medical-neglect-in-prison/ |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=Final Call News |language=en-US |quote=Over the years, his health has steadily declined. Mr. Peltier was recently hospitalized again briefly in late October. This has renewed calls for his release for proper medical care… 'A medical transfer to FMC Rochester not only ensures adequate medical care, but proximity to Leonard's homelands and family… 'If he does not get that medical care, we’re going to lose him,' she said. 'They gave him a CPAP machine, but there's no outlets to plug it into, that's their version of healthcare.'… CPAP machines are prescribed to treat sleep apnea and other serious health risks associated with the condition… 'The water is bad, it has waterborne pathogens, Leonard's diabetes is out of control because not only does he not get the diet he needs to control it, but he doesn't even get the insulin he needs…}}</ref> At the time his sentence was commuted in January 2025, Peltier's sister Betty Ann informed the ''[[Minnesota Reformer]]'' that Peltier now also uses a walker.<ref name="sisterspeaks">{{Cite news |last=Beach |first=Jeff |date=2025-01-21 |title=Native activist Leonard Peltier to serve remainder of sentence at home after Biden order |url=https://minnesotareformer.com/2025/01/20/native-activist-leonard-peltier-to-serve-remainder-of-sentence-at-home-after-biden-order/ |access-date=2025-01-21 |work=Minnesota Reformer |language=en-US |quote=Peltier’s sister, Betty Ann Peltier… said her brother is suffering from the effects of diabetes, has heart trouble and uses a walker… a home waiting for him on the Turtle Mountain Reservation but that she hopes he will stay with her}}</ref>