When Al Gore was running for president, I had opportunity to plead the case with him for freeing the Native American political prisoner Leonard Peltier. As we’ll recall, the Supreme Court decided the winner of that 2000 election was George Bush.

Peltier had been present when, amid tensions of the American Indian Movement, two FBI agents came on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation and were killed. Suspect Peltier escaped to Canada. Two others were tried but found innocent. When Peltier was captured, the U.S. government was determined someone should be punished for the agent deaths. It used false evidence to convict him.

With a commutation that has angered FBI officials, President Joe Biden has ended Peltier’s 47-year federal incarceration.

Carl Doerner

Charlemont