Leonard Peltier Should be Released from Prison Essay -- Argumentative

Leonard Peltier is currently serving time in the Leavenworth federal penitentiary for the shooting deaths of two Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agents. According to FBI documents, at around 11:50 A.M. on June 26th, 1975, agents Jack Color and Ron Williams were supposedly searching for Jimmy Eagle, a thief wanted for stealing a pair of cowboy boots. The agents encroached on the Jumping Bull Compound in Oglala, South Dakota of the Pine Ridge reservation, in two separate vehicles that no one could recognize (Incident). In this area, there were several members of the American Indian Movement (AIM). After the intrusion of the agents, someone-and it is unsure who-fired a shot and a shoot out began. By the end of the shoot out at Pine Ridge, Williams, Color, and one AIM activist, Joe Stuntz Killsright, were dead (Incident). Peltier was one of the AIM members at the Jumping Bull Compound, and ultimately he was charged and convicted on murder charges. There is a great controversy surr ounding the Peltier case. A large contingency of both domestic and international citizens and organizations feel that Peltier has been wrongly convicted, while the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other government authorities here feel as justice was served. Leonard Peltier should be released from prison via Executive Clemency because the evidence that he was convicted under was inconclusive and insufficient to warrant a conviction, the FBI committed many acts of misconduct when pursuing Peltier as fugitive and trying to extradite him from Canada, and his trial was unfair. As an individual committed to social justice, human solidarity, and the liberation of the people, this case is of great interest to me since it is a prime example of the ri... ...ight be lying or covering up something, or even just being far too zealous and unprofessional, is rejected a priori because of the cognitive dissonance it causes in the individual that believes in the FBI. Most people that push for Peltier's guilt simply don't look honestly and objectively (or at least as objectively as possible) at the evidence. Leonard Peltier, currently serving his twenty- fourth year of prison, should be immediately released. As I have shown, there is much reasonable doubt as to whether or not he committed this crime. The hard evidence is minimal to non-existent against him, he was illegally extradited from Canada on perjured affidavits, and his trial was unfair since it was in a hostile setting and the actions of the court seemed biased. While there is no good reason to keep him in prison, there are several good ones for letting him out. Leonard Peltier Should be Released from Prison Essay -- Argumentative Leonard Peltier is currently serving time in the Leavenworth federal penitentiary for the shooting deaths of two Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) agents. According to FBI documents, at around 11:50 A.M. on June 26th, 1975, agents Jack Color and Ron Williams were supposedly searching for Jimmy Eagle, a thief wanted for stealing a pair of cowboy boots. The agents encroached on the Jumping Bull Compound in Oglala, South Dakota of the Pine Ridge reservation, in two separate vehicles that no one could recognize (Incident). In this area, there were several members of the American Indian Movement (AIM). After the intrusion of the agents, someone-and it is unsure who-fired a shot and a shoot out began. By the end of the shoot out at Pine Ridge, Williams, Color, and one AIM activist, Joe Stuntz Killsright, were dead (Incident). Peltier was one of the AIM members at the Jumping Bull Compound, and ultimately he was charged and convicted on murder charges. There is a great controversy surr ounding the Peltier case. A large contingency of both domestic and international citizens and organizations feel that Peltier has been wrongly convicted, while the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other government authorities here feel as justice was served. Leonard Peltier should be released from prison via Executive Clemency because the evidence that he was convicted under was inconclusive and insufficient to warrant a conviction, the FBI committed many acts of misconduct when pursuing Peltier as fugitive and trying to extradite him from Canada, and his trial was unfair. As an individual committed to social justice, human solidarity, and the liberation of the people, this case is of great interest to me since it is a prime example of the ri... ...ight be lying or covering up something, or even just being far too zealous and unprofessional, is rejected a priori because of the cognitive dissonance it causes in the individual that believes in the FBI. Most people that push for Peltier's guilt simply don't look honestly and objectively (or at least as objectively as possible) at the evidence. Leonard Peltier, currently serving his twenty- fourth year of prison, should be immediately released. As I have shown, there is much reasonable doubt as to whether or not he committed this crime. The hard evidence is minimal to non-existent against him, he was illegally extradited from Canada on perjured affidavits, and his trial was unfair since it was in a hostile setting and the actions of the court seemed biased. While there is no good reason to keep him in prison, there are several good ones for letting him out.