Judge Cancels Banishment, Orders Prison for 2 Robbers

The judge who had turned two Native American robbers over to a tribal court for banishment revoked the experiment Tuesday and sentenced them to prison.

Superior Court Judge James Allendoerfer said he had seen improvements in teen-agers Simon Roberts and Adrian Guthrie since they were banished a year ago to remote Alaska islands.

But “I find that this experiment has some flaws which, unfortunately, threaten its credibility and integrity,” Allendoerfer said. “I have determined, therefore, that it is time to end this experiment, while it can still be ended on a positive note.”

Allendoerfer sentenced Roberts to 55 months in prison, with credit for about a year already served, and Guthrie to 31 months, also with credit for about a year served.

He held them jointly liable for $35,000 in restitution to the pizza delivery driver they beat and robbed in August, 1993.

The two 18-year-old boys were ordered last month to return for Tuesday’s hearing, at which Allendoerfer heard testimony about the banishment’s effects on the youths.

Allendoerfer had said he was concerned about reports of inadequate supervision of the offenders and conflict among members of the traditional Tlingit tribal court.

Roberts and Guthrie, natives of Klawock, Alaska, pleaded guilty last year to robbing a pizza delivery driver and beating him with a baseball bat in this community about 30 miles north of Seattle.

The judge delayed sentencing for 18 months after banishment was proposed by traditional tribal judge Rudy James, an alternative that was to offer restitution for victim Tim Whittlesey and a chance at rehabilitation for the youths.

The teen-agers had been scheduled to return in March for a conventional sentencing hearing, but Allendoerfer also reserved the right to recall them at any time.