The president commuted Peltier over the objection of former FBI Director Christopher Wray. In a private letter sent to Biden earlier this month and obtained by The Associated Press, Wray reiterated his position that “Peltier is a remorseless killer,” and urged the president not to act.

The Native American activist says he did not receive a fair trial in the slayings of FBI agents Ronald Williams and Jack Coler at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

President Joe Biden on Monday commuted the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist convicted of killing two FBI agents nearly 50 years ago in South Dakota. Peltier, 80, is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa in North Dakota.

Minutes before leaving office, former President Joe Biden commuted Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa member Leonard Peltier's life sentence.

Ann Alquist speaks with journalist Brian Bull about the significance of President Biden commuting the life sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier.

The last-minute decision allows the 80-year-old Leonard Peltier to serve the remainder of his sentence under home confinement.

The outgoing Biden administration has released Leonard Peltier from prison. Numerous activists and tribal officials have requested the release of Peltier, whom they believe to be innocent of killing two FBI agents in 1975.

Native American activist Leonard Peltier said spending the rest of his life in home confinement after being granted clemency by former President Joe Biden is "as good as freedom," after Biden's own FBI director opposed commutation for a man sentenced to life for the killing of two FBI agents.

President Joe Biden, as one of his last acts on Monday, commuted the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist who was serving life in prison after being convicted of killing two FBI agents 50 years ago on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.