Alaska Tribal Elders Question Teen-Age Robbers

Tribal elders considering possible banishment for two Tlingit teen-agers convicted of robbing and beating a pizza deliveryman focused Friday on a man who the youths say suggested the robbery.

The 12 elders also questioned the boys at length about the pizza, including its size, who ate it and the toppings.

Some of the questions elicited smirks from the defendants, Adrian Guthrie and Simon Roberts.

The 17-year-old cousins, both formerly of Klawock, pleaded guilty in May to robbing and beating Tim Whittlesey of Everett, Wash., permanently damaging his hearing and eyesight.

Last month, a Washington state judge postponed sentencing the pair to see if Tlingit justice would work better than prison.

The two-day hearing marks the first time a state court has referred a criminal case to a Native American tribal panel for punishment--in this case, banishment to separate, isolated islands in Alaska’s vast Alexander Archipelago.

The elders said they hoped to conclude the hearing Friday and deliberate in private before announcing their ruling.

The youths told the elders they had gotten drunk on rum at a party the night of the attack last year.

When one of the judges, Rudy James, expressed disbelief that the crime was done without planning, Guthrie said: “We didn’t sit down and draw a map. . . . I mean, it doesn’t take a lot of skill to rob a pizza man.”

On Thursday, Guthrie said they got the idea from another boy who bragged that he had mugged pizza deliverymen “to make quick cash.”

But on Friday, Guthrie described the other person as a 25-year-old white man who lived in the Everett apartment building where the party was held.

The elders asked numerous questions about the man, and one of them suggested he should be standing with the teen-agers as an accomplice.

“The only reason he didn’t get arrested is he wrote statements against us saying what we did,” Roberts said.

The judges also asked detailed questions about the pizza.

When one judge inquired about the toppings, Guthrie snapped: “I don’t see what relevancy that has.” He also smirked and showed exasperation at other questions.

A tribal advocate for the defendants asked the elders to explain the purpose of the questions, drawing a stinging rebuke from elder Byron Skinna Sr.

“You broke tribal law. Worse than that, you brought shame on your families. That’s the worst thing,” he said.

George Dalton Sr., another elder, told the boys not to smirk.

“You don’t joke about things like this. This joking manner has brought you to this position,” he said.

When Simon replied: “Alcohol has brought us to this position,” Dalton said: “I didn’t ask you to answer.”

Whittlesey, 25, is attending the hearing with his wife, father and uncle.