Dear Supporters:
There are at least twelve compelling reasons why Leonard Peltier would be the last person the
President should consider for commutation of his sentence:
Officer Collin
Rose, November 23, 2016, Detroit, Michigan
Detective Benjamin
Marconi, November 20, 2016, San Antonio, Texas
U.S. Marshal
Patrick Carothers, November 18, 2016, Ludowici, Georgia
Deputy Dennis
Wallace, November 13, 2016, Modesto, California
Officer Scott
Bashioum, November 10, 2016, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania
Deputy Daryl
Smallwood, November 8, 2016, Byron, Georgia [i]
Officer Darrin
Reed, November 8, 2016, Show Low, Arizona
Officer Cody
Brotherson, November 6, 2016, West Valley, Utah [ii]
Sergeant Patrick
Sondron, November 6, 2016, Byron, Georgia
Sergeant Paul
Tuozzolo, November 4, 2016, Bronx, New York [iii]
Sergeant Anthony
Beminio, November 2, 2016, Des Moines, Iowa
Officer Justin
Martin, November 2, 2016, Des Moines, Iowa
This was just November, and the month’s not over yet.
These officers died in the line of duty as a result of
adversarial gunfire. Several though, weren’t just killed, but like Jack Coler
and Ron Williams at the hand of Leonard Peltier, were brutally assassinated.
Our thoughts and prayers are with these brave men, their families,
friends and fellow officers as they reached their End of Watch.[iv]
Planned for December 4th – 10th in
Washington, D.C., a number of mindless Peltier sycophants will gather in ragtag
groups to march and demonstrate; chanting, beating drums and carrying signs
calling for Peltier’s freedom.
Contrast this, and other Peltier demonstrations, with
December 15, 2000 when hundreds of professionally attired FBI Agents and fellow
law enforcement gathered at the Law Enforcement Memorial on that crisp, clear morning.
Beginning with a prayer for the fallen, we made our way in a dignified
procession to the White House.[v] There were
no chants or outbursts and the long line was preceded by a single white banner
proclaiming their respect for the sacrifice in the line of duty and large photographs
of Special Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams.
Agents wouldn’t conduct a counter-demonstration to
Peltierites in D.C., but if they did we could suggest several appropriate signs
to display in front of the White House and for the media:
“Mr. X was a Lie”
(Peltier’s only alibi)
“Politicians are sleazebags”
(Leonard Peltier, March 2000)
“It was the right thing to do”
(Leonard Peltier, February 2010)
“I’d do it all over again”
(Leonard Peltier, February 2010)
“I don’t regret any of this for a minute”
(Leonard Peltier, August 2014)
“The direct and circumstantial evidence of Peltier’s
guilt is STRONG”
(8th Circuit Court of Appeals)
There could be others as well if Peltier detractors chose
to get in the gutter with the Peltierites. But these would be redundant and
only reinforce that Peltier remains a remorseless, cold-blooded murderer who
has perpetuated years of lies and fabrications amounting to nothing more than myth
and folklore. Those falsehoods collapse under their own weight with even the
slightest scrutiny.[vi] Peltier has
diminished an otherwise proud native heritage and within mainstream Native
America will be relegated to a pitiable footnote, and for those unwilling or
unable to see the truth, little more than a garage sale T-shirt.
“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods
[i] Deputy
Smallwood died two days after he and Sergeant Sondron were shot.
[ii] Vehicular
homicide: Officer Brotherson was deliberately run down by a fleeing felon.
[iii] NYPD,
Sergeant Tuozzolo’s mass was held in a church I attended in the town where I
grew up.
[v] The
president of the FBI Agents Association (a non-governmental fraternal
organization) was allowed into the White House where he delivered thousands of
petitions asking the President not to commute Peltier’s consecutive life sentences
and the additional seven consecutive years for his armed escape from Lompoc
Penitentiary.
