BILL REQ. #:  S-4704.1 

Read first time 02/11/2004.   Referred to Committee on Judiciary.

     TO THE HONORABLE CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, GERRY ALEXANDER, AND TO THE HONORABLE ASSOCIATE JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, BOBBE BRIDGE, TOM CHAMBERS, MARY FAIRHURST, FAITH IRELAND, CHARLES JOHNSON, BARBARA MADSEN, SUSAN OWENS, AND RICHARD SANDERS, AND TO THE WASHINGTON STATE SCHOOL DIRECTOR'S ASSOCIATION:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, Chief Leschi was a Nisqually Indian leader at the time the Treaty of Medicine Creek was signed in December 1854; and
     WHEREAS, By the terms of the Treaty, the Nisqually Indians were assigned to a reservation on lands far removed from the Nisqually River and its fisheries which had sustained them for centuries; and
     WHEREAS, Chief Leschi met with territorial leaders seeking a reservation with a sufficient land base for the Nisqually people, but was refused; and
     WHEREAS, War broke out between Indians and territorial forces, and in the course of war, A. Benton Moses, a soldier in the Washington Territorial Militia, was killed during the Battle of Connell Prairie; and
     WHEREAS, Chief Leschi was charged with murder in the death of Moses and was tried before a territorial court. The trial resulted in a hung jury after the jurors were instructed that killing of a combatant in the time of war was not murder; and
     WHEREAS, Chief Leschi was tried a second time and was convicted of murder and sentenced to death by hanging after the court refused to give the jury instruction regarding the death of combatants. The judge also refused to admit into evidence a map of the battleground showing that Chief Leschi could not have been in a position to fire at A. Benton Moses; and
     WHEREAS, The U.S. Army refused to execute Chief Leschi, who was regarded as a prisoner of war, and he was hanged only after the Territorial Legislature ordered the Supreme Court to schedule his execution which took place on February 19, 1858; and
     WHEREAS, The Supreme Court of the State of Washington has inherent authority to provide justice, no matter how old the case, and has exercised that authority by granting Takuji Yamashita posthumous admission to the Washington State Bar Association; and
     WHEREAS, Like Takuji Yamashita, Chief Leschi was the victim of discrimination--in his case, the ultimate discrimination of being executed because he was non-Caucasian; and
     WHEREAS, Chief Leschi left a legacy in Washington State history as a courageous leader whose sacrifice for his people is worthy of honor and respect; and
     WHEREAS, There was at that time and continues to be a public outcry over the wrongful conviction and execution of Chief Leschi;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the Supreme Court of the State of Washington use its inherent power of providing justice to vacate the conviction of Chief Leschi and depublish the record in his case; and
     Your Memorialists further pray that the Washington State School Director's Association urge school districts throughout the state to purchase and use Washington History textbooks that accurately and fairly portray the life, trial, and execution of Chief Leschi; and
     Your Memorialists further pray that the injustice that occurred in 1858 with the trial and execution of Chief Leschi be recognized and the commitment to a legal system under which a fair trial is the right of everyone regardless of race or creed be reaffirmed.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the state of Washington, Gerry Alexander; and to the Honorable Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the state of Washington, Bobbe Bridge, Tom Chambers, Mary Fairhurst, Faith Ireland, Charles Johnson, Barbara Madsen, Susan Owens, and Richard Sanders; and to the Washington School Director's Association; and to the Nisqually Indian Tribe.