SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A Lakota activist who was arrested while leading a protest before former president Donald Trump’s visit to Mount Rushmore last year says he has negotiated with prosecutors to drop charges against him.
The charges carried a punishment of nearly 17 years in prison. Nick Tilsen, the president of an Indigenous advocacy organization, tells The Associated Press that he will participate in a prison diversion program in exchange for all but one charge against him being dropped.
He cast the deal as a victory for Indigenous organizers who have been calling for land that once belonged to tribes to be returned to tribal control.
