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AP has a later update
What to know about Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier’s first hearing in more than a decade
By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and JACK DURA
Updated 4:27 PM EDT, June 10, 2024
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, was up for 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.”
(snip)
When is the hearing?
The hearing was scheduled for Monday at a high-security lockup that is part of the Federal Correctional Complex Coleman. The Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that the hearing is not open to the public. Sharp, Peltier’s attorney, said the hearing will have witnesses for and against parole. Family members of the two FBI agents who were killed will be there. For decades, the agents’ loved ones have opposed clemency for Peltier. In a 2022 letter to Wray, Coler’s son Paul Coler, who was less than 2 years old when his father died, said he was “left to witness the continuous struggle and suffering my Mother had to endure after losing her husband. She was alone, dealing with the biggest tragedy of her life, all while trying to navigate her two young sons through life.”
Sharp expects the hearing to last the day. The decision is required to come within 21 days. If parole is granted, there’s a process for release which shouldn’t take long. If denied, Peltier can look at his options for filing an appeal to a federal district court, Sharp said.
(snip)
https://apnews.com/article/leonard-peltier-what-is-parole-hearing-46091ed791ae39e98c79d4e1c4828bb8
By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and JACK DURA
Updated 4:27 PM EDT, June 10, 2024
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, was up for 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.”
(snip)
When is the hearing?
The hearing was scheduled for Monday at a high-security lockup that is part of the Federal Correctional Complex Coleman. The Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement that the hearing is not open to the public. Sharp, Peltier’s attorney, said the hearing will have witnesses for and against parole. Family members of the two FBI agents who were killed will be there. For decades, the agents’ loved ones have opposed clemency for Peltier. In a 2022 letter to Wray, Coler’s son Paul Coler, who was less than 2 years old when his father died, said he was “left to witness the continuous struggle and suffering my Mother had to endure after losing her husband. She was alone, dealing with the biggest tragedy of her life, all while trying to navigate her two young sons through life.”
Sharp expects the hearing to last the day. The decision is required to come within 21 days. If parole is granted, there’s a process for release which shouldn’t take long. If denied, Peltier can look at his options for filing an appeal to a federal district court, Sharp said.
(snip)
https://apnews.com/article/leonard-peltier-what-is-parole-hearing-46091ed791ae39e98c79d4e1c4828bb8
So based on the highlighted sentence, we might not know a final decision until some time next month.
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