FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Lawyers for imprisoned American Indian activist Leonard Peltier say the government did not have the right to try him for crimes that occurred on a South Dakota reservation.
Peltier, 60, is serving life in prison for the killing of two FBI agents during a 1975 standoff on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He was convicted in 1977.
In a motion filed Wednesday in federal court, Peltier’s lawyers claim the sentence is illegal and he should be released from federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan.
“The federal jurisdiction ... under which my client was convicted and sentenced depended on the location of the alleged crime, not against whom the crime was allegedly committed,” attorney Barry Bachrach said in a statement issued after the motion was filed.
Because the crimes were committed on the reservation, the federal court had no jurisdiction, he said.
It is one of several appeals in the 30-year-old case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lynn Crooks said a similar claim was denied by a federal appeals court two years ago.
“This one has a little different twist, but I doubt the analysis is going to be different,” Crooks said Wednesday.
Peltier was convicted of killing Ronald Williams and Jack Coler during a standoff on the reservation. The agents were shot in the head at close range and their bodies were left on a dirt road.
Supporters have said Peltier was treated unfairly because of his political activism.
