Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier denied parole for 1975 killings of 2 FBI agents

Leonard Peltier, the Indigenous activist convicted of the 1975 murders of two FBI agents, has been denied parole from federal prison, his attorney told CNN on Tuesday.

Peltier, 79, has long maintained his innocence in the shooting deaths of agents Ronald A. Williams and Jack R. Coler.

Peltier’s legal team says they plan to appeal the parole board’s decision.

Coler and Williams were killed in a shootout June 26, 1975, while searching for a robbery suspect on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. In 1977, Peltier was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to two consecutive life terms, though he denied shooting Coler and Williams.