Leonard Peltier

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Leonard Peltier (born September 12, 1944) is an American activist and member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who was convicted and sentenced in 1977 to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for the murder of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. There has been debate over Peltier s guilt and the fairness of his trial. Some supporters and organizations consider him to be a political prisoner, although his murder conviction has survived every possible appeal in various courts. Amnesty International has stated that "Although he has not been adopted as a prisoner of conscience, there is concern about the fairness of the proceedings leading to his conviction and it is believed that political factors may have influenced the way the case was prosecuted." Numerous lawsuits have been filed on his behalf but none have succeeded. Peltier is currently incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. His projected release date is October 11, 2040.