Official announcements from the White House or Department of Justice

Biden Commutes Sentence of 80-Year-Old Native American Activist Leonard Peltier to Home Confinement

Jan 20, 2025, 04:55 PM

In his final moments as president, Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of Leonard Peltier, an 80-year-old Native American activist convicted in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Peltier, who has been imprisoned for nearly 50 years and suffers from severe health ailments, will transition to home confinement. The decision comes after Peltier was denied parole as recently as July and was not eligible for parole again until 2026. Biden's action was part of a broader set of clemency actions, which also included pardons for several family members, citing concerns over politically motivated attacks.