Peltier Clemency Request Protested

Marching two by two and wearing blue memorial ribbons, hundreds of FBI agents staged an unprecedented demonstration at the White House on Friday, protesting any presidential clemency for an American Indian activist convicted of killing two FBI men in 1975.

The emotional procession of 500 current and former FBI employees and family members marched around the White House, led by two agents carrying a banner with the red-lettered slogan “Never Forget.” A few agents blinked back tears as they displayed pictures of their slain colleagues, agents Ron Williams and Jack Coler.

The agents hauled a bulky petition for President Clinton signed by 8,000 current and former agents protesting any easing of punishment for Leonard Peltier, 56, who is serving two consecutive life sentences in the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kan.

Secret Service agents refused to take the petition, however, telling their fellow federal officers that White House security forbids acceptance of any documents or packages. The agents planned to mail it.

“There are situations in which mercy is warranted, but clearly what this man has done puts him outside of the reach of any presidential pardon,” said John Sennett, a New York-based agent and president of the FBI Agents Assn., which has about 9,000 active and 1,000 retired members.

The protest supported FBI Director Louis Freeh’s recommendation to Clinton not to give Peltier clemency, saying such an act would “signal disrespect” for law enforcement.

Clinton has said he would review pending requests for executive clemency, including Peltier’s, before he leaves office in January.

“I know it’s very important to a lot of people, maybe on both sides of the issue,” Clinton said regarding the Peltier case in November. “And I think I owe it to them to give it an honest look-see.”

Agents Williams and Coler were killed June 26, 1975, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota as they were searching for robbery suspects, according to FBI officials. Both were shot in the head at point-blank range after they were injured. The bodies were left on a dirt road.

Peltier’s story has become well known on Indian reservations across the country. After fleeing to Canada and being extradited to the United States, he was convicted and sentenced in 1977 for the killings, despite defense claims that evidence against him had been falsified.

Peltier was charged with taking part in the slayings, but whether he fired the fatal shots was never proven.

In El Paso, Texas, another 100 FBI agents protested Peltier’s clemency request Friday, standing behind the city’s top FBI agent, Edmundo Guevara, along a roadside in front of the agency’s local headquarters as he read a statement against Peltier.

Many of the agents demonstrating at the White House said they believe that they are battling a myth that has swollen out of proportion. In prison, Peltier has written two books about the plight of Native Americans on reservations, and his supporters are waging a national campaign for his release.

A handful of Peltier supporters gathered to shout at the orderly line of officers as they passed.

“Peltier is a political prisoner,” said a man who identified himself as P. J. Smith of Washington.

“We are very disappointed with the FBI response,” Jennifer Harbury, an attorney for Peltier, said at a news conference before the march. “. . . We think it’s a sad day for democracy when our armed forces march through the streets to influence a decision for mercy and justice by a civilian president.”

Peltier supporters said the FBI targeted him because of his vocal support of autonomy for reservations. Other groups that have rallied around Peltier say much of the evidence surrounding him was falsified.

Susan Lloyd, an FBI field office spokeswoman who joined the protesters, said the vast majority of those in the demonstration were active agents. All applied for the day off, she said.

At FBI headquarters, spokesman Mike Kortan said: “FBI employees, like other federal workers and citizens, have the right to express their views.”

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House Judiciary Committee: https://www.house.gov/judiciary

Leonard Peltier Defense Committee: https://www.freepeltier.org

No Parole Peltier Assn.: https://www.noparolepeltier.com