Leonard Peltier’s story is one that everyone should know, and now they can.
Directed by Jesse Short Bull and David France, Free Leonard Peltier revisits one of the most discredited convictions in America. The documentary captures the fear and apprehension that Peltier and the Pine Ridge reservation felt at the time, as well as the occupations, arrests, demands and stories of Peltier.
In 1977, Peltier was sentenced to two life terms for the murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He was eligible for parole in 1993 and on January 20, 2025, on President Joe Biden’s last day in office, he commuted Peltier’s sentence as indefinite house arrest. A month later, he was released and transferred to the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in North Dakota.
People protesting outside of the White House on January 2025 to release Peltier from prison.Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images
Peltier is an active member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), an Indigenous rights advocacy group that worked to combat racism and police brutality experienced by Native Americans.
The shootout took place on June 26, 1975, at the Pine Ridge Reservation. Two FBI agents, Ronald Arthur Williams and Jack Ross Coler, were on the reservation looking for a man named Jimmy Eagle who was wanted for assault of two local ranch hands and theft of a pair of cowboy boots. That morning, the agents were following a Chevrolet Suburban Carryall into the Jumping Bull Ranch that had Peltier and two others — Norman Charles and John Stuntz — and when they got out of the car, a shooting ensued.
Williams radioed local dispatch that he and Coler were under fire, and eventually announced that they were shot. The two agents died 10 minutes after being shot, due to local dispatch and FBI agents being miles away from the shootout. Williams’ car was driven south into the AIM camp and the three men allegedly took the weapons in the car, and Stuntz was found wearing Coler’s FBI jacket.
“I covered the shootout in Oglala from underneath my truck. I was getting great access to the material, but I wondered if I’d gotten too close,” Kevin McKiernan told the Santa Barbara Independent. He was one of the only reporters in the area during the shootout and serves as one of the documentary’s producers. “Especially when I stayed overnight there and found a bullet hole in my bed frame.”
A sign welcoming visitors to Oglala Lakota NationUCG / Getty Images
Three men were arrested in connection with the shooting — Peltier, Robert Robideau and Darrelle “Dino” Butler — who were all present at Jumping Bull. Stuntz was shot and killed by a BIA agent later that day. In December 1975, Peltier was named as one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List, and two months later, he was arrested in Canada.
Peltier’s trial was held in Fargo, North Dakota, where a jury convicted him of the murders of Coler and Williams. Unlike in the trial for Butler and Robideau, the FBI produced forensic evidence that the two FBI agents were killed by close-range shots to their heads, when they were already defenseless because of previous gunshot wounds. Peltier could not submit a self-defense testimony like the other activists had. In April 1977, Peltier was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.
In his 1999 memoir, Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance, Peltier admitted to participating in the shootout, but did not kill the FBI agents. Since then, human rights activists and organizations have campaigned for his clemency.
David France, Jesse Short Bull, Mato Wayuhi, N. Bird Runningwater, Jodi Archambau, Jhane Myers, Paul McGuire, Amber Morning Star Byars, Holly Macarro, Nick Tilsen and James Costa attend the “Free Leonard Peltier” Premiere during the 2025 Sundance Film Festival at Ray Theatre on January 27, 2025 in Park City, Utah.Maya Dehlin / Getty Images
Free Leonard Peltier premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year. His sentence was commuted by President Biden 14 minutes before he left office. The former president recognized that Peltier’s trial was marred by government misconduct, including false FBI affidavits obtained by coercing and threatening a witness with harm to her children and the withholding of exculpatory evidence.
“It was a real heart thumper up to the last second,” McKiernan said. “His native admirers and friends who had worked to get him out were there at the prison in Florida.”
Despite receiving plea deals, he explained to Democracy Now! that he chose to stay in prison for decades rather than accept those deals that required him to admit to a crime he didn’t commit or even denounce his activism.
“I refuse to bow down to them. I’m gonna die with my beliefs. [Accepting a plea deal] would have been treason against my nation, my people,” he said.
Despite the immense personal cost, Peltier continues to stand firmly behind his actions and legacy.
“I’m going to spend the rest of my life fighting for our people, because we ain’t finished yet,” he told the Associated Press. “We’re still in danger.”
Free Leonard Peltier is out now on Netflix.
Related: Kidnapper Richard Evonitz killed himself in 2002, days after a 15-year-old escaped his apartment and identified him; Investigation Discovery’s documentary on the case arrives Oct. 7
Hence then, the article about leonard peltier was convicted in the 1975 killings of two fbi agents and spent decades in prison a new documentary about his case is out on netflix was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Leonard Peltier was convicted in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents and spent decades in prison; a new documentary about his case is out on Netflix )
Also on site :