#527 The Wrongful Conviction of Leonard Peltier - Part 1

Ben Bowlin, new co-host of Wrongful Conviction and host of the long-standing podcast Stuff the Don’t Want You to Know and Jason Flom from the Wrongful Conviction podcast had the honor of sitting down for many hours to speak with Leonard Peltier about his personal life, the historical context of the resistance movement and events that led to the attack on Jumping Bull Ranch in ‘75, as well as his near 50 year fight for justice that led to his sentence commutation in the final minutes of the Biden Administration. In part one of this three-part series, Leonard discusses his early life and experiences with American injustice before joining the American Indian Movement (AIM). He goes on to explain how the FBI targeted AIM with the same counterintelligence apparatus that was used against Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers. When American businesses were interested in mining uranium in South Dakota, the FBI funded a paramilitary group that sought to neutralize any resistance on the Pine Ridge Reservation. To support the resistance effort, AIM set up camp at Jumping Bull Ranch. Leonard and his co-defendant Dino Butler tell us about their harrowing experience on June 26th, 1975, when tensions broke out into a deadly firefight. The Wrongful Conviction of Leonard Peltier is a production of Lava For Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1. It follows the January 2025 Sundance premiere of the documentary FREE LEONARD PELTIER, a searing investigation of the case from Public Square Films and directors David France and Jesse Short Bull. We have worked hard to ensure that all facts reported in this show are accurate. The views and opinions expressed by the individuals featured in this show are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Lava for Good.

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