The Banishing Judge

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That was prudent, given the information that had already begun leaking out. Although James has no criminal convictions, he has a history of bad debts, and civil court judgments against him have reportedly reached $60,000. Klawock's only federally recognized Tlingit organization, the Klawock Cooperative Association, sent a letter disassociating itself from the case. Sociologists were up in arms. Says Sasha Hughes, author of two books on Native Alaskan heritage and a longtime James observer: "Banishment is not part of Tlingit culture. Rudy is a con man. He just makes it up as he goes along." Adds Aaron Isaacs of the Cooperative Association: "People want to know. Who's he representing?"

A good question. In Klawock last Thursday, the panel of judges was peculiarly constituted. Five of the 12 were named James; a sixth was Roberts' grandfather; a seventh was invited on at the last minute by Guthrie's mother. Relatives also made up a large fraction of the hearing's meager Tlingit audience. After the purification ceremonies and a speech by 92-year-old George Jim exhorting the Tlingits to "march together; that way we will not fall apart!" the defendants entered, dressed in reversed tunics, to indicate their shame, and traditional red head coverings.

While Whittlesey, whom James had promised restitution for the partial deafness he has suffered, looked on from the audience, both boys apologized for their crime. But then, responding to leading questions by their elders, they ticked off a list of extenuating circumstances: they had been drunk; Roberts always carried a bat with him for fear of gangs; he had "heard a report that one of the Domino's Pizza deliverymen had a gun" and might be dangerous. The day's session ended with a statement by one of the elders that "it's a known fact that under the influence of alcohol you can break all the Ten Commandments of God." The two defendants, who sometimes had trouble keeping a straight face during the proceedings, replaced their ceremonial headdress with baseball caps, jumped into a jeep and drove home for the evening, grinning.

On the following day, to nobody's surprise, they were banished for from 12 to 18 months apiece. It will be interesting to see how onerous that penalty actually turns out to be.