Post by blackcrowheart on Jul 3, 2008 12:50:39 GMT -5
Two Makah Indians get jail time for illegal hunt
Jun, 30, 2008
Two Makah Indians get jail time for illegal hunt
TACOMA, Wash. -- Five Makah Indian whalers who killed a gray whale in an
illegal hunt last September were sentenced Monday in federal court. The
sentences include jail time for two men considered the leaders of the
group.
Wayne Johnson received five months in jail, and Andy Noel was sentenced
to three months in jail. Both men also will be supervised for a year
after their release, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
The other three men - Frankie Gonzales, Theron Parker and William Secor
- received two years of probation and between 100 and 150 hours of
community service.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kelley Arnold determined that Johnson and Noel led
the effort. Both men received longer sentences than the 60 days
prosecutors had recommended.
The Makah, who have been whalers for centuries, have sought to resume
their hunts as part of their cultural heritage. Tribal members legally
killed a whale in 1999. But since then their treaty rights to hunt
whales have been tangled in the courts.
Arnold said the illegal hunt had hurt the tribe's efforts to obtain a
legal hunting permit and pointed at Johnson in particular.
"I don't believe there is one ounce of remorse on Mr. Johnson's part and
I believe he will do this again unless deterred by this court," Arnold
said Monday.
As part of the sentencing, Arnold also said all five men have lost their
privilege to hunt whales during their supervision period, even if the
tribe obtains a federal permit for a legal whale hunt.
Lawyer Jack Fiander, representing Noel, said, "It's not clear that the
court can restrain them" from hunting because it's an issue of a federal
treaty.
The sentence "was harsher than expected," he added.
In another development, The Peninsula Daily News of Port Angeles has
reported that a court document filed prior to sentencing by Parker
alleges that at least some Makah tribal leaders had knowledge of the
hunt before it happened.
At Monday's sentencing, Arnold indicated he did not believe the five
undertook the hunt with the implied permission of tribal council
members.
"I don't believe it, and if they did it's no excuse," he said.
The five men harpooned the whale four times and shot it at least 16
times last Sept. 8. The animal died nine hours after the attack.
The men did not have a federal permit to kill the whale, which
eventually sank and was not harvested. After the hunt, the Makah Tribal
Council called it "a blatant violation of our law."
The killing was a public relations disaster for the tribe, which had
been working with federal authorities to obtain a permit for a legal
hunt, and Makah officials rushed to Washington, D.C., shortly after the
hunt to assure the government they did not approve.
In one of five statements filed with the court in support of Parker's
bid for a more lenient sentence, a witness said then-Tribal Chairman Ben
Johnson Jr. told council members, "I think it's time to go fishing."
"He was referring to getting a whale," wrote Luke Warkishtum of Port
Angeles, who said he heard the comment almost two months before the
hunt. "The whole tribal council nodded in agreement."
Another witness, Paul Parker of Neah Bay, was quoted in the court
document as writing about what he said was an exchange between Theron
Parker and Ben Johnson: "Theron asked Chairman Johnson, 'What if I went
out and got a whale?' The chairman's response was 'Go ahead, get one.'
"Theron asked if he would have the Makah Tribal Council's support.
"Ben (Johnson) said they would support the whale hunt if Theron decided
to go out for a whale."
The tribe's current chairman, Micah McCarty, told the newspaper, "I'm
not aware of this."
Associated Press calls for comment Monday to Ben Johnson, the tribal
council, and the tribe's Seattle lawyer John Arum, were not immediately
returned.
In April, Arnold convicted Johnson and Noel of conspiracy to violate the
Marine Mammal Protection Act and unlawfully taking a marine mammal, both
misdemeanors.
A month earlier, Theron Parker, Secor and Gonzales accepted a federal
plea deal, admitting that they violated the Marine Mammal Protection
Act, also a misdemeanor, after prosecutors agreed they would not
recommend jail time.
In May, a Makah tribal judge deferred prosecution for the five men.
The federal government removed the gray whale from the endangered
species list in 1994.
Jun, 30, 2008
Two Makah Indians get jail time for illegal hunt
TACOMA, Wash. -- Five Makah Indian whalers who killed a gray whale in an
illegal hunt last September were sentenced Monday in federal court. The
sentences include jail time for two men considered the leaders of the
group.
Wayne Johnson received five months in jail, and Andy Noel was sentenced
to three months in jail. Both men also will be supervised for a year
after their release, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
The other three men - Frankie Gonzales, Theron Parker and William Secor
- received two years of probation and between 100 and 150 hours of
community service.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kelley Arnold determined that Johnson and Noel led
the effort. Both men received longer sentences than the 60 days
prosecutors had recommended.
The Makah, who have been whalers for centuries, have sought to resume
their hunts as part of their cultural heritage. Tribal members legally
killed a whale in 1999. But since then their treaty rights to hunt
whales have been tangled in the courts.
Arnold said the illegal hunt had hurt the tribe's efforts to obtain a
legal hunting permit and pointed at Johnson in particular.
"I don't believe there is one ounce of remorse on Mr. Johnson's part and
I believe he will do this again unless deterred by this court," Arnold
said Monday.
As part of the sentencing, Arnold also said all five men have lost their
privilege to hunt whales during their supervision period, even if the
tribe obtains a federal permit for a legal whale hunt.
Lawyer Jack Fiander, representing Noel, said, "It's not clear that the
court can restrain them" from hunting because it's an issue of a federal
treaty.
The sentence "was harsher than expected," he added.
In another development, The Peninsula Daily News of Port Angeles has
reported that a court document filed prior to sentencing by Parker
alleges that at least some Makah tribal leaders had knowledge of the
hunt before it happened.
At Monday's sentencing, Arnold indicated he did not believe the five
undertook the hunt with the implied permission of tribal council
members.
"I don't believe it, and if they did it's no excuse," he said.
The five men harpooned the whale four times and shot it at least 16
times last Sept. 8. The animal died nine hours after the attack.
The men did not have a federal permit to kill the whale, which
eventually sank and was not harvested. After the hunt, the Makah Tribal
Council called it "a blatant violation of our law."
The killing was a public relations disaster for the tribe, which had
been working with federal authorities to obtain a permit for a legal
hunt, and Makah officials rushed to Washington, D.C., shortly after the
hunt to assure the government they did not approve.
In one of five statements filed with the court in support of Parker's
bid for a more lenient sentence, a witness said then-Tribal Chairman Ben
Johnson Jr. told council members, "I think it's time to go fishing."
"He was referring to getting a whale," wrote Luke Warkishtum of Port
Angeles, who said he heard the comment almost two months before the
hunt. "The whole tribal council nodded in agreement."
Another witness, Paul Parker of Neah Bay, was quoted in the court
document as writing about what he said was an exchange between Theron
Parker and Ben Johnson: "Theron asked Chairman Johnson, 'What if I went
out and got a whale?' The chairman's response was 'Go ahead, get one.'
"Theron asked if he would have the Makah Tribal Council's support.
"Ben (Johnson) said they would support the whale hunt if Theron decided
to go out for a whale."
The tribe's current chairman, Micah McCarty, told the newspaper, "I'm
not aware of this."
Associated Press calls for comment Monday to Ben Johnson, the tribal
council, and the tribe's Seattle lawyer John Arum, were not immediately
returned.
In April, Arnold convicted Johnson and Noel of conspiracy to violate the
Marine Mammal Protection Act and unlawfully taking a marine mammal, both
misdemeanors.
A month earlier, Theron Parker, Secor and Gonzales accepted a federal
plea deal, admitting that they violated the Marine Mammal Protection
Act, also a misdemeanor, after prosecutors agreed they would not
recommend jail time.
In May, a Makah tribal judge deferred prosecution for the five men.
The federal government removed the gray whale from the endangered
species list in 1994.