Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier has first parole hearing in a decade

Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who has spent most of his life in prison since his conviction in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents in South Dakota, has a parole hearing Monday at a federal prison in Florida.

At 79, his health is failing, and if this parole request is denied, it might be a decade or more before it is considered again, said his attorney Kevin Sharp, a former federal judge. Sharp and other supporters have long argued that Peltier was wrongly convicted and say now that this effort may be his last chance at freedom.

"This whole entire hearing is a battle for his life," said Nick Tilsen, president and CEO of the NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led advocacy group. "It's time for him to come home."

https://www.npr.org/2024/06/10/nx-s1-4998188/indigenous-activist-leonard-peltier-has-first-parole-hearing-in-a-decade