Jimmy Carter has joined a group of Navajo leaders in asking for a presidential pardon of former Navajo Nation Chairman Peter MacDonald, who is serving 14 years in federal prison for conspiracy and bribery.
"This act would restore Mr. MacDonald's place of respect in the American Indian community and help heal the wounds caused by his removal," Carter said in a written statement.In April, the Navajo Nation Council pardoned MacDonald from bribery convictions in tribal court. Navajo President Albert Hale twice asked President Clinton to consider pardoning MacDonald, 67, from similar convictions in U.S. District Court. Clinton has not responded.
MacDonald, now in a federal prison in Bradford, Penn., is to be released no earlier than 2005. He is suffering from severe arthritis and last year broke a wrist.
MacDonald was convicted in federal court in 1991 on conspiracy charges related to a 1989 riot in which two of his supporters were killed by tribal police officers. He also was convicted of bribery that year.