Yakima Indian Jury Finds Five Innocent of Fishing Violations
TOPPENISH, Wash. — A Yakima Indian Nation jury Wednesday acquitted five tribe members charged with violating salmon-fishing regulations, saying their right to practice ancient religious customs had been violated.
The five remain in custody, however, and face federal prison sentences of one to five years for their convictions in the 1983 case.
The men smiled as they were led from the courtroom after Tribal Judge David Ward read the verdicts. Defendant David Sohappy said he was pleased.
The defendants were Sohappy, 62; his son, David Sohappy Jr., 28; Leroy Yocash, 46; Wilbur Slockish, 42, and Mathew McConville, 28. They had faced maximum six-month jail terms and $600 fines for each violation.
The jury was asked to determine whether the fishing charges violated the defendants’ free exercise of religion and whether the 1981 and 1982 fishing seasons set by the tribe infringed on that right.
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