‘Cruel Betrayal’: Law Enforcement Group Slams Biden’s ‘Cowardly’ Last-Minute Commutation For Cop Killer

The FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) released a statement ripping former President Joe Biden for his last-minute move to commute the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a Native American who murdered two FBI agents decades ago.

The FBIAA — which represents more than 14,000 active and former FBI agents — characterized Biden’s decision to allow Peltier to serve out the rest of his sentence in home confinement as a stab in the back to the bureau and its employees. Peltier was convicted in 1977 for the 1975 murders of FBI Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He sought to get out of prison repeatedly before Biden, on the final day of his presidency, commuted his sentence.

“The FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) is outraged by then-President Biden’s decision to commute the sentence of Leonard Peltier, a convicted cop killer responsible for the brutal murders of FBI Special Agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams. This last-second, disgraceful act by then-President Biden, which does not change Peltier’s guilt but does release him from prison, is cowardly and lacks accountability. It is a cruel betrayal to the families and colleagues of these fallen Agents and is a slap in the face of law enforcement,” the FBIAA said in its statement. “Agents Coler and Williams gave their lives in service to this nation, and their families continue to bear the heavy burden of that sacrifice. The loss of these heroes is felt as deeply today within the FBI family as it was in 1975. Leonard Peltier has never expressed remorse for his actions. Special Agents Coler and Williams were stolen from their families, robbed of the chance to share precious time and milestones with their loved ones. Leonard Peltier should not have been granted a mercy he so cruelly denied to the Coler and Williams families.”