Tribal Elders Vote to Banish 2 Teen-Age Robbers

A panel of elders from the Tlingit tribe voted Friday night to banish two young felons to the Alaska wilds, agreeing to a plan set in motion by a Washington state judge.

Simon P. Roberts and Adrian J. Guthrie, both 17-year-old Tlingits from Alaska, pleaded guilty to beating a deliveryman and robbing him of $50 in Everett, Wash., last year. The 12-member tribal court of Tlingit elders met in tiny Klawock to question the youths and rule on punishment and compensation for the crimes.

Much of the questioning Friday involved a white man the boys say gave them the idea for the assault and robbery. One elder branded the unidentified man an accomplice who should be on trial as well.

Earlier, Guthrie recounted their story of how they drank rum at a party and hatched a plan to order a pizza, then ambush the driver, “to make quick cash.” Roberts admitted hitting the driver, Tim Whittlesey, two or three times in the head with a baseball bat.

At one point, Roberts was rebuked for smirking during the proceedings. “You don’t joke about things like this,” said elder George Dalton Sr. “This joking manner has brought you to this position.”

“Alcohol has brought us to this position,” Roberts responded.

The hearing was held in a modest community hall more often the site of bingo games than high ritual, and it has drawn an international focus to this fishing and logging village of 800 on Prince of Wales Island near the southern tip of the Alaskan panhandle.

In July, a Snohomish County, Wash., judge consented to an unusual alternative sentence proposed by the boys’ defense: solitary banishment to uninhabited islands for a year. The exiles would live off the land and reflect on the nature of their crimes, following Tlingit custom. Restitution would be made to the victim, in the form of money or a new house.

But almost immediately questions arose about the arrangement. Most Tlingits say they’ve never heard of banishment as a tribal tradition. State and federal agencies cautioned that they would not allow the use of their lands for such purposes.

Most of the controversy centers on Rudy James, a Tlingit living in the Seattle area who convinced Superior Court Judge James Allendoerfer to allow him to take Roberts and Guthrie back to Alaska, where he said the tribe would monitor the banishment. Tribal officials in Klawock say James never talked to them about supervising the punishment or contributing to restitution.

Allendoerfer postponed his official sentencing until March, 1996, when the two are ordered to return to court. They still could receive 2 1/2 to 5 1/2 years in a Washington state prison. Snohomish County prosecutors say they doubt the two will spend any time banished to an island, and have appealed Allendoerfer’s decision.

Whittlesey, 25, partially deaf from the attack, said he supports the plan and attended the council meeting with family members.