The U.S. Parole Board has denied parole to Leonard Peltier, a far-left Native American activist who served decades in prison for the murder of two FBI agents who were executed after a 1975 shootout.
“The brutal murders of Special Agents Jack R. Kohler and Ronald A. Williams are a deep wound for the FBI family, and Pelletier’s lack of remorse only compounds the tragedy,” FBI Agents Association President Natalie Barra told Fox News Digital. “We believe this decision secures justice for our fallen colleagues and their families.”
The FBI and the FBIAA, a professional organization representing 14,000 current and former agents, vehemently opposed Pelletier’s release.
Far-left activist convicted in execution of two FBI agents faces parole hearing with Democratic backing
FBI Special Agents Ronald Williams (left) and Jack Kohler (right) are pictured in their official FBI portraits. Both were executed at close range on June 26, 1975, after being wounded in a shootout. (FBI)
Former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both rejected Peltier’s requests for clemency, but the call for his release has the backing of several prominent Democrats in Congress, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and former Obama Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
Pelletier, 79 and in poor health, is serving two consecutive life sentences for murder plus an additional seven years for attempted armed escape. His supporters fear he will die in prison and are hoping President Biden will release him.
On June 26, 1975, FBI Special Agents Ronald Williams and Jack Kohler were searching for a group of armed robbery suspects on the Oglala Sioux Indian Reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Pelletier was not among them, but he was in a vehicle that attracted the agents’ attention.
American Indian Movement leader Leonard Pelletier is escorted across the exercise yard of the Ocala Correctional Facility to a waiting helicopter. After a lengthy legal battle, Pelletier has received a deportation order from Canada’s Minister of Justice, Ron Basford, and is charged with murdering two FBI agents. (Bettman/Contributor via Getty Images)
Democrats call on President Biden to release Leonard Peltier, the activist who shot and killed two FBI agents
Unbeknownst to them, he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Wisconsin for the attempted murder of an off-duty police officer.
According to court documents, Williams warned Koller over the radio that someone in the vehicle was about to start firing at them.
A shootout ensued, in which both agents were wounded. According to the FBI, both agents were shot in the head at close range with an AR-15. Witnesses said Pelletier was the only person in the shootout with an AR-15.
Circa 1985: Leonard Peltier, an American Indian Movement (AIM) activist convicted in 1976 for the murders of FBI agents Ronald Williams and Jack Kohler. (MPI/Getty Images)
he Escaped to CanadaThere he was captured and extradited to the United States to stand trial.
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Kohler, a native of Bakersfield, California, was a Los Angeles Police Department officer before joining the FBI in 1971. Williams, also a native of Glendale, California, Joined the FBI 1972.
According to the FBI, four men were arrested in the murder, but only Pelletier was convicted. The government dropped charges against James Eagle, a robbery suspect whom Williams and Kohler were searching for when the shootout began. The other two, Robert Robideaux and Darrell Butler, were acquitted at trial in 1976.
Pelletier’s supporters have argued that his original 1977 conviction was based on flawed evidence and “prosecutorial misconduct,” but more than a dozen appeals, including two that reached the Supreme Court, have failed to overturn the conviction.
An FBI mugshot of Leonard Peltier from the 1970s, when he was on the FBI’s “10 Most Wanted” list. (Bettman)
After the deadly Florida shootout 35 years ago, the FBI overhauled its agents’ weapons and body armor.
Prior to the parole board’s decision, FBI Director Christopher Wray had been a vocal opponent of Pelletier’s release.
“The FBI will vigorously oppose Leonard Peltier’s latest parole application,” he told Fox News Digital. “Peltier was convicted of the brutal murders of FBI Special Agents Jack Kohler and Ronald Williams on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1975. It must never be forgotten or ignored that Peltier knowingly and knowingly killed these two young men and has never expressed any remorse for his cold-blooded acts.”
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He added that 22 federal judges reviewed the evidence and heard Pelletier’s legal arguments.
“Peltier’s claims are without merit, and his conviction and sentence must be upheld,” he said. “Furthermore, Peltier’s crimes included escaping from federal custody after his conviction, during which he and an associate opened fire on prison officials.”
