LETTERS: PELTIER HAS HAD MUCH SUPPORT FOR CLEMENCY

To the editor:

Your banner headline Dec. 16 carried a subheadline, "President to consider clemency for American Indian who killed two agents." I take exception to this and consider it sensationalism, questionable journalism and just simply sales hype.

Only in the text of the story is it correctly noted that activist Leonard Peltier was convicted of the killings. However 25 years of exhaustive legal challenges, continuous interviews with key people and the release of thousands of government file pages make such a boldfaced statement highly suspect. I know this because I served as Peltier's media coordinator for quite some time.

The article further stated that 8,000 former and current FBI agents signed a petition asking President Clinton to not sign Peltier's clemency. I wonder how many of these individuals have actually studied the Peltier saga? Do they know the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals stated that Peltier's extradition from Canada was "to say the least a clear abuse of the investigative powers by the FBI" and "we find that the prosecution withheld evidence from the defense favorable to Peltier"? Or , "We recognize that there is evidence in this record of improper conduct on the part of several FBI agents"? Or, that the court concluded, "There is a possibility that the jury would have acquitted Leonard Peltier had the records and data improperly withheld from the defense been available to him"?

Such concerns have thrown a heavy blanket of doubt on Peltier's guilt. His story is studied in schools across Europe, Russia and other parts of the world. Influential people have supported Peltier's numerous pleas for a new, fair trial for over 20 years. They include the archbishop of Canterbury, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela of South Africa, members of Congress and the Canadian parliament, Robin Williams, Robert Redford, Willie Nelson and many others. Additionally, Peltier was awarded Spain's International Human Rights Prize in 1986 and has been nominated repeatedly for the Nobel Peace Prize.

JIM BEQUETTE

Cape Girardeau