Ex-Navajo Leader Fails to Win Pardon

Peter MacDonald, the former Navajo Nation leader imprisoned for instigating a bloody riot to regain power, will not get a pardon from President Clinton, Navajo President Albert Hale said. MacDonald, who served as chairman of the tribe for 14 years during the 1970s and 1980s, was accused of graft in testimony before a Senate hearing and was removed from office by the tribal council. When supporters marched to tribal headquarters in 1989 to reinstate him, a melee broke out and two MacDonald supporters were killed. MacDonald was convicted in 1992 of having instigated the riot and of accepting thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.