A prayer for Leonard Peltier is sung to the sound of drums outside the federal courthouse in Fargo, North Dakota, on June 20, 2024. Protesters called for the release of Peltier, who was convicted in a Fargo trial of killing FBI agents in South Dakota in 1975. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)

A Native American man convicted of killing two FBI agents in South Dakota 49 years ago has lost what may have been his last chance at parole, despite widespread protests in support of his release.

Leonard Peltier, 79, is serving two consecutive life sentences and is reportedly in poor health. His final parole hearing was last month and he will not be eligible for parole again until June 2026.

Peltier is a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. When the shootings took place in 1975, he was active in the Indian movement.

According to the FBI, agents Ron Williams and Jack Coler were attempting to arrest a man on the Pine Ridge Reservation who was wanted for robbery. They pursued a vehicle with several occupants, including Peltier, into an area of ​​the reservation where the fatal shooting occurred.

AIM member Joseph Stuntz also died – according to federal authorities, shot by a police sniper. The failure to investigate Stuntz's death is one of many criticisms leveled at the government's handling of the incident, the trial and Peltier's conviction.

Peltier maintains his innocence and numerous people and organizations support his request for parole. Paul O'Brien, executive director of Amnesty International USA, said in a statement on Tuesday: “Continuing to keep Leonard Peltier behind bars is a mockery of human rights.”

“Not only are there lingering, unresolved doubts about the fairness of his trial, he has also spent nearly 50 years in prison, is nearly 80 years old and suffers from multiple chronic health problems,” O'Brien said.

NDN Collective, an indigenous rights organization in Rapid City, released a statement from President and CEO Nick Tilsen.

“Today is a sad day for Indigenous peoples and for justice everywhere,” Tilsen said. “The denial of parole to Leonard Peltier, the longest-serving Indigenous political prisoner in the Americas, by the U.S. Parole Board is a travesty.”

The FBI denied Peltier's parole request. Director Christopher Wray wrote to the parole board: “Peltier is an unrepentant killer who brutally murdered two of us before becoming a fugitive from justice.”

“Over the years, Peltier has never accepted responsibility or shown remorse,” Wray wrote. “He is completely unfit for parole.”

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