[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 28919]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



        PRESIDENT SHOULD NOT GRANT CLEMENCY FOR LEONARD PELTIER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Oxley) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. OXLEY. Mr. Speaker, the month of November has been designated 
Native American Heritage Month, a time in which to honor the positive 
contributions of our Nation's earlier inhabitants. I was disturbed to 
learn then that November has already been designated Leonard Peltier 
Freedom Month by a group pressing for his release from Leavenworth 
Federal Penitentiary.
  Because of the publicity surrounding this case, we should all be 
familiar with its details: Leonard Peltier is serving two consecutive 
life sentences for the cold-blooded murder of two FBI agents on South 
Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1975. But it is important 
that we review the facts of the case separating them from the myths 
that have arisen over the years, especially as Peltier's supporters are 
petitioning the White House for clemency for this convicted killer.
  On June 26, 1975, FBI Special Agents Ronald A. Williams and Jack R. 
Coler entered the Jumping Bull Compound of the Pine Ridge Reservation 
pursuing a man in connection with an assault on two young ranchers in 
nearby Manderson, South Dakota.
  One of the three people in the vehicle the agents were pursuing was 
Leonard Peltier, a fugitive from justice wanted for the attempted 
murder of a police officer in Milwaukee. Peltier and his associates 
stopped their vehicle abruptly and opened fire on the two agents. 
Surprised, outmanned, and outgunned, Agents Williams and Coler were 
severely wounded in this barrage of gunfire. Agent Coler was hit in the 
right arm, the force of the bullet nearly tearing it off. He fell 
unconscious within moments. Agent Williams, although hit in the left 
shoulder and right foot, tore off his own shirt in the midst of this 
chaos and fashioned a tourniquet around his partner's arm.
  Ambushed, the two agents lay helpless, completely at the mercy of 
their assailants. Peltier and the other two gunmen, though, would not 
be showing any mercy to these law enforcement officers that day. They 
walked down to where the two agents lay dying after this horrendous 
assault. Agent Williams, kneeling on the ground with his hand out as if 
to surrender was shot directly in the face. He died instantly. 
Peltier's group turned on the still unconscious Agent Coler. They shot 
them twice in the head with a shotgun at close range and both men died 
instantly.
  An examination of the crime scene revealed that Agents Williams and 
Coler were only able to fire five shots in defense. Peltier and his men 
by contrast left more than 125 bullet holes in the agent's vehicles.
  After these vicious murders, Peltier fled the reservation and was put 
on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. Five months later, he was spotted 
hiding in an RV by a state trooper in Oregon. Peltier fired at the 
officer and fled once again. Investigators found Peltier's fingerprints 
on a bag underneath the RV's front seat. Inside the bag was Agent 
Coler's revolver, stolen from him in the bloodbath 5 months earlier.
  Peltier escaped into Canada, where he was ultimately arrested by the 
Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Confirming beyond a doubt his cold-
blooded mentality, he said that if he had known that the officers were 
about to arrest him, he would have ``blown them out of their shoes.''
  Mr. Speaker, those are not the words of a candidate for clemency. 
Leonard Peltier's heinous crimes are not the actions of a candidate for 
clemency. Yet Peltier's supporters are confident that the President 
will pardon this murderer, pointing to his pardon of the FALN 
terrorists earlier this year.
  These supporters would have us believe that Peltier is being held 
unjustly, that he was framed because he is Native American. They have 
politicized the case, bringing in liberal Hollywood actors who glorify 
Peltier and refer to the slain agents, Williams and Coler, as 
``faceless soldiers'' sent by the government. They have elevated this 
thug, calling him a leader of his people, further dishonoring the law 
enforcement officers he killed and dishonoring Native American heritage 
as well.
  Our legal system has ruled again and again that Leonard Peltier is a 
killer. The Supreme Court refused to review his case, and a parole 
board ruled in 1993 that Peltier be denied parole for the next 15 
years. FBI Director Louis Freeh is on record saying that ``[t]here 
should be no commutation of his two life terms in prison.''
  In a recent letter to his supporters, Peltier makes reference to the 
``many years'' of his life that have been ``stolen.'' To this day, he 
remains oblivious to the fact that he stole many years of life from the 
two agents he killed. Jack Coler was 28, Ron Williams was 27 and a 
father of a 4-year-old son. They were at the beginning of what promised 
to be long and successful careers in law enforcement. They were cut 
down at the prime of their lives by a coward who has shown no remorse.
  Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues know, I was also a FBI special agent 
and I am appalled that Leonard Peltier has chosen to exploit Native 
Americans for his own selfish purposes. This is not about ethnicity, it 
is about murder. It is about respect for the law and law enforcement 
officers.
  I call on the President to see through the myth that has built up 
around Leonard Peltier and recognize that Peltier is trying to 
manipulate emotions and use political issues to gain an undeserved 
release. The President owes at least that much to the families of these 
slaughtered heroes.

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