On June 26, 1975, FBI Special Agents Ronald Williams and Jack Coler began to follow a car on the Pine Ridge Reservation that they believed carried a passenger who was wanted for armed robbery.
What happened next is a matter of dispute. One of the agents called for help, saying he was under fire from three separate locations. When other law enforcement arrived, both agents were dead.
The car contained four Native American activists: Darrelle Butler, Robert Robideau, Leonard Peltier, and Jimmy Eagle. It was Peltier's car that the agents were following. Peltier was wanted on a warrant in Wisconsin for the attempted murder of a police officer.
Law enforcement flooded the reservation as other officers came under fire. It seems probable that Williams and Coler were ambushed by radical Native American activists, one of whom was Leonard Peltier. Both agents were wounded. Then according to the FBI, both agents were executed with point-blank gunshots to the head from Peltier's AR-15.
There were other factors involved. There was a tribal conflict that Peltier and the other suspects say made them afraid of the occupants in the unmarked FBI cars. They claim they opened fire in "self-defense."
While the other occupants were found not guilty or had their charges dropped, Leonard Peltier was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.
Peltier became an international cause célèbre as Amnesty International took up his case. Leftists around the world, including popes and every Communist leader since Peltier's conviction, have used the legend (not the facts) of Leonard Peltier's case to spin a yarn about his "oppression."
Meanwhile, the agents' families suffer.
Joe Biden gave in to pressure from radical left activists and commuted Leonard Peltier's sentence, ordering him confined to his home. He is reportedly in poor health.
Outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray vehemently argued against the commutation. In a letter to Biden, Wray wrote that it "would be shattering to the victims' loved ones and undermine the principles of justice and accountability that our government should represent."
It's a blatantly political commutation designed to bolster his legacy with the radical left. There certainly isn't any rational reason for it.
"For nearly 50 years, no fewer than 22 federal judges, multiple parole boards, and six presidential administrations have evaluated the evidence and considered Peltier’s arguments," Wray wrote. "Each has reached the same conclusion: Peltier’s claims are meritless and his convictions and sentence must stand."
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The FBI Agents Association was incensed.
“The FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) is outraged by then-President Biden’s decision to commute the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a convicted cop killer responsible for the brutal murders of FBI Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams," the group said in a statement.
"This last-second, disgraceful act by then-President Biden, which does not change Peltier’s guilt but does release him from prison, is cowardly and lacks accountability. It is a cruel betrayal to the families and colleagues of these fallen Agents and is a slap in the face of law enforcement."
Yes, that just about covers it.
Biden is said to have destroyed his legacy in the post-election period. Whether he had much of a legacy to "destroy" is debatable. What he has indeed revealed is the very small-minded, very petty spirit that animates Joe Biden's actions.
He was a tiny man in an office far too large for his abilities.
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