PELTIER: PARDON ATTORNEY LETTER

Dear Supporters:

What follows is a sample letter to the U.S. Department of Justice Pardon Attorney. This is the second step in the process to review Peltier’s recently resubmitted clemency application.[i]

Please feel free to add any additional or personal comments supporting the facts and stating that under President Obama’s plan to grant a number of clemencies, commutations and pardons for long-serving nonviolent drug offenses, that Leonard Peltier, a remorseless double-murderer, is the last person who should be considered.

Factual material is available from the NPPA through a search feature on the bottom of the home page in addition to 156 blogs (posted since 11/29/09) with footnotes and supporting references and documentation.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”

Ed

* * *

Edward Woods

8190 Beechmont Ave. #101

Cincinnati, Ohio 45255-6117                                                                                               

August 10, 2016

Honorable Robert A. Zauzmer

Acting Pardon Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, D.C.  20530 -0001

                                                                        Re: Leonard Peltier – Clemency Petition

Dear Mr. Zauzmer:

This letter expresses my profound opposition to Leonard Peltier’s plea for clemency.

(Please reference my many previous letters to the Pardon Attorney and President Obama dating back to 2009. These letters contained detailed and factual material and references to the actual record of Peltier’s conviction and subsequent appeals. I have received several replies, one from the President and one in particular from former Pardon Attorney Rodgers dated January 13, 2012 where it stated “Your letter will be retained and added to any case file created in the event that Mr. Peltier re-applies for executive clemency in the future.” [Peltier had not reapplied at that time.] These prior communications are crucial to understand the validity of Peltier’s conviction and numerous appeals, that his conviction has been sustained, and that his false alibis and claims of a wrongful conviction are simply without merit.)

I am aware that Leonard Peltier has renewed his application for clemency and that a support group continues to actively encourage his release. I served as a Special Agent with the FBI for thirty years and strongly believe that his petition for Clemency should be denied for many valid reasons.

On June 26, 1975, Peltier was involved in an unprovoked attack on FBI Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams while they were searching for a fugitive on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Both Agents were caught in an open field in a deadly crossfire by members of the American Indian Movement, critically wounded, and then summarily executed at point blank range by Leonard Peltier. Peltier was convicted of their murders receiving consecutive life sentences. During well over a dozen appeals Peltier’s conviction and sentencing has never been altered. Over the years Peltier has made many outrageous and self-incriminating public statements that only serve to reinforce his unrepentant and remorseless guilt, even most recently; “And really, if necessary, I’d do it all over again because it was the right thing to do” (2010), and, “I don’t regret any of this for a minute” (2014).

Peltier has not been a model prisoner. In addition to numerous disciplinary actions, in 1978 he was involved in an armed escape from Lompoc Penitentiary during which shots were fired at prison guards. For this post-conviction criminal act Peltier received an additional seven-year consecutive sentence.

The families, friends and professional associates of Jack and Ron continue to suffer from the loss of two fine young men who were brutally murdered in-the-line-of-duty.

Clemency should be reserved for non-violent offenders who have proven they have been rehabilitated. Peltier has not fulfilled his consecutive life sentences, plus seven years. His crimes were extremely violent and he remains unrepentant and repeatedly boasts about his murderous acts on that horribly infamous day. Leonard Peltier is now seeking consideration and mercy, but he should be shown the same degree of mercy he gave to Jack Coler and Ron Williams, and that would be none.

I respectfully urge you to reject Peltier’s petition and recommend to the President that his application be denied. Thank you for your attention in this very crucial matter.

Sincerely,

Edw. Woods

Edward Woods                                                                                                                                                                                                                

---

[i] NPPA blogs available from the home page www.noparolepeltier.com particularly relevant here to blogs dated, May 17, 21, 25 and June 7, 16, & 26 for reference and how inept Peltier’s attorney’s were to make the clemency petition public.

PELTIER KILLED JOE STUNTZ: 41st Anniversary; Part 2

Dear Supporters:

As a follow-up to a previous blog[i], there are two additional matters of importance relating to the anniversary of the unprovoked attack and brutal murder of FBI Agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams on June 26, 1975 on the Jumping Bull property, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota: The memorial services held in memory of the slain agents and Peltier’s predictably shameless public statement.

Los Angeles, California: On June 24^th a memorial service was held at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Cypress, California for Jack R. Coler, and on June 27^th at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California for Ronald A. Williams honoring their memory and sacrifice in the line of duty. Organized and attended by members of the Society of Former Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation along with the President of the Society and President of the FBI Agents Association, and including current FBI and law enforcement personnel.[ii] This was a fitting tribute to two young, courageous and professional public servants who faced their final assignment and their End of Watch.[iii] 

On June 26^th Peltier, as he does every year, released a public statement on the anniversary of the killing of our Agents. However, this one is different because everything is at stake now, as Peltier acknowledges, “I believe that this President is my last hope for freedom and I will surely die here if I am not released by January 20, 2017.”

(Believe it, Leonard Peltier, this is not your last hope, this is your only hope and face the reality that the Pardon Attorney, Attorney General and President Obama can see through the fog of the myth and folklore. The truth is there and it is not on your side. January 20^th will come and go and your marginal following will disappear like breath on a mirror. You will leave USP Coleman one day. That much is certain.)

At this critical time, most must think Peltier would temper his public statements, but instead he furthers the depth of his lack of remorse and failure to grasp the seriousness of his conviction and life sentences.

Let us closely examine what Peltier wants his followers to believe:

“June 26th marks 41 years since the long summer day when three young men were killed at the home of the Jumping Bull family, near Oglala, during a firefight in which I and dozens of others participated. While I did not shoot (and therefore did not kill) FBI agents Ronald Williams and Jack Coler, I nevertheless have great remorse for the loss of their young lives, the loss of my friend Joe Stuntz, and for the grieving of their loved ones. I would guess that, like me, many of my brothers and sisters who were there that day wish that somehow they could have done something to change what happened and avoid the tragic outcome of the shootout.”

This is where again Peltier gets it pitifully wrong with “a firefight,” “Three young men,” and “avoid the tragic outcome.”

Peltier is incapable of separating the deaths from the reality at Jumping Bull. Incapable of separating fact from fiction.

Firefight: Not a firefight in the least but an unprovoked attack on two federal agents, pinning them down in an open field in a deadly crossfire, taking hundreds of rounds of rifle fire, being critically wounded and then executed, would hardly turn this cowardly assault into a firefight. No, this was a shameless and gutless act by AIM recreants at their cowardly worst, and for that instant, led by the murderous Peltier.

Three young men: Two of the young men Peltier invokes were carrying out their lawful duties attempting to locate a fugitive wanted for several felonies.[iv] Instead, unknown to them at the moment, they followed Peltier, Norman Charles* and Joe Stuntz onto the Jumping Bull farm. We already know that one of those two young men, Ron Williams, was able to tell other Agents within radio contact exactly what was about to happen: That those they followed exited with rifles, and joined by other AIM cowards, placed them under intense fire making this “firefight” an unprovoked attack tantamount to an ambush.

Let’s look at exactly what the—third young man, Joe Stuntz’ part was in this deadly drama.

Peltier’s “great remorse,” places Stuntz in the same category as Agents’ Coler and Williams: Hardly…and not even a close comparison. Stuntz, and all should remember, was intimately involved in the crimes that day.

Following Peltier’s lead, Stuntz fired at the pinned down agents, perhaps one of his own bullets finding its mark.

Following Peltier’s lead, while standing over the mutilated bodies of two young men, Peltier himself tells us what happened next, “I seen Joe when he pulled it out of the trunk and put it on, and he gave me a smile.”[v] Please, picture this horrid scene: Standing beside two murdered and mutilated Agents, their bodies still warm, Stuntz goes about stealing Jack Coler’s FBI raid jacket, punctuating it with a smile at Peltier: Abhorrent behavior to any decent and civilized observer.

Following Peltier’s lead, Stuntz begins to shoot at Agents and police officers responding to the aid of their besieged comrades. Stuntz wasn’t smart enough to understand that when you shoot at police officers there’s a better than even chance they are going to shoot back. Which is exactly what they did, stopping Stuntz dead in his tracks, still wearing Agent Coler’s FBI jacket.

Some, rightly so, would say that Stuntz got what he deserved. However, we would offer that it was unfortunate Stuntz was not arrested, prosecuted and sent to prison for aiding and abetting in first-degree murder and attempted murder. Then…that stolen FBI jacket would have become an important piece of circumstantial evidence.

Avoid the tragic outcome: A conviction and dozens of appeals have confirmed the government’s position that Peltier, with the infamous Wichita AR-15, brutally murdered both agents making Peltier’s claim of “I did not shoot (and therefore did not kill) FBI agents Ronald Williams and Jack Coler,” an unmitigated absurdity.

None of this would have happened had Peltier not provoked a confrontation. This bears repeating…None of this would have happened had Peltier not provoked a confrontation.

The self-proclaimed brave warrior knew he was a wanted fugitive and mistakenly assumed the agents’ were coming for him.[vi] The shooting was unprovoked and we have Ron Williams’ own words, his final testimony, his dying declaration, establishing that irrefutable fact.

The cowardly Peltier chose instead to start the shooting that placed all the AIM members present at Jumping Bull in jeopardy.

Had the agents approached Peltier (only, and probably wrongfully assuming for the moment he would have properly identified himself), he would have been taken into custody and processed to be returned for the outstanding warrant in Milwaukee. Moreover, of all the ironies, Peltier was acquitted of those charges and would have been a free man in a matter of months instead of committing horrendous murders, becoming a Top-Ten fugitive and spending the rest of his life behind bars. No one knows how different Peltier’s life may have been over these ensuing forty-one years.[vii] Nevertheless, Peltier made his choice that fateful day for himself and the others, most certainly including the third young man, Joe Stuntz.

There was only one person responsible for the carnage that day: Leonard Peltier. He was the only one who could have avoided the tragic outcome.

Certainly, the Stuntz family still carries the burden of their loss but if there is a shred of blame attributed to Joe Stuntz’ death, his family has to point the finger squarely at Leonard Peltier.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”

Ed Woods

*See footnote v.

---

[i] http://wwwnoparolepeltiercom-justice.blogspot.com/2016/06/peltier-dear-president-obama-41st.html

[ii] See NPPA blog dated July 30, 2016 available from the home page www.noparolepeltier.com

[iii] https://www.odmp.org/

[iv] http://www.noparolepeltier.com/faq.html#17 (Jimmy Eagle and the alleged “old cowboy boots” fable.

[v] Peter Matthiessen, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. (Penguin Books, 1992) 552

[vi] It is widely speculated that Peltier chose to begin shooting at the agents because he was a fugitive based on the Milwaukee warrant. However, the facts prove otherwise because Peltier knew that Agents Coler and Williams were searching for Jimmy Eagle as provided by sworn testimony during Peltier’s trial. Why Peltier chose to react the way he did is known only to him. Perhaps he just panicked (as biographer Peter Matthiessen suggested), which is not an uncommon trait of a natural born coward. Perhaps too, in his quivering hysteria he knew that dead men make poor witnesses.

http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#critical

(See testimony of Michael Anderson, summarized here with transcript references.)

             Anderson related that on the evening of June 25th, he, Wish Draper and Norman Charles* went to Oglala to take a shower and while returning along Highway 18 were stopped and questioned by two FBI agents who were trying to determine if one of them was Jimmy Eagle. They provided “Indian” names and were taken by the agents to the Pine Ridge police to have one of the officers confirm that none of them was Jimmy Eagle. Another officer then dropped them off near the Jumping Bull Property {760-769}. (The two FBI agents were Jack Coler and Ron Williams driving late model, unmarked sedans. The same vehicles they drove the next day.)

            When the three returned to the AIM camp Peltier questioned them about what happened and “We just got yelled at” and Peltier said, “We were dumb to get in the car {771-72}.”

            Anderson described the “red and white van” he knew Peltier operated {772}.

*The same Norman Charles who, along with Peltier and Stuntz, initially fired upon Agents’ Coler and Williams.

[vii] Based on Peltier’s behavior and actions (Anna Mae Aquash, etc.) prior to Jumping Bull and his self-serving, narcissistic personality and ingratiating and sycophantic demeanor, odds are he would have wound up pretty much where he is now.