Leonard Peltier, an Indigenous activist and American Indian Movement leader, walked free after 49 years in prison when President Joe Biden commuted his life sentence on 20 January 2025, just 14 minutes before leaving office.
Peltier was convicted of killing two FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. He has consistently denied the charges. His trial was widely viewed as corrupt, and he became regarded by many as the longest-serving political prisoner in the United States.
Activists, lawyers and filmmakers gathered outside the Florida prison where Peltier was held when the commutation was announced. Directors David France and Jesse Short Bull had been making a documentary about his decades-long fight for justice. The pair were at the prison that morning, though France recalled feeling "a sinking feeling that it wasn't going to happen" before the announcement came through.
The documentary, which premiered at the Sundance film festival a week after his release, exposes what the filmmakers describe as a corrupt system that enabled Peltier's imprisonment. The film is now available on Netflix.
Peltier's release came after years of sustained pressure to free him. He plans to return to the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa reservation in North Dakota.