Alaska Tribe Charges Washington State with Bias in

[WhiteHawk]

PRESS RELEASE from the Kuiu Thlingit Nation Alaska • Tribal Office Raven Avenue • Saxman Village, Ketchikan, AK 99901

For more information contact:
George S. James, Jr., Secretary of State
Gowukáan - Traditional Peacemaker
Ph/Fax: 206-362-7725
email address: wolf...@earthlink.net

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Alaska Tribe Charges Washington State with Bias in
Murder Case. Tribe asks Prosecutor to seek Death Penalty or Transfer
Jurisdiction

Seattle, WA — 02/24/99 — The Alaska Tribe that banished two Thlingit youth to
remote islands in Alaska after attacking a pizza delivery driver, is asking for
jurisdiction in a case involving the brutal slaying of one of their own young women
in Grays Harbor County of Washington state. The badly decomposed body of Lori
Peterson, a 36 year old Kuiu Kwáan Tribal Member, was found off Bay View Road
near Ocosta, WA on December 17, 1998, following her disappearance late last
summer. The gruesome discovery came on the heels of a confession by Jason
Stalkfleet, who is also charged in three bank robberies.
Stalkfleet admitted in a statement to police that he killed Lori Peterson.
Persons close to her family state that Stalkfleet had been selling Ms. Peterson’s
personal effects and disposing of other belongings in the weeks before the grim
finding of her remains. Reports indicate that the young woman suffered several
broken ribs and a broken leg at the time of her death. Several individuals have been
implicated in the disposal of the body and subsequent cover-up.
“Lori Peterson was ‘thrown away’ like so much trash in an attempt to hide
the body and conceal the crime,” states a letter from the Kuiu Tribe addressed to
Michael D. Smith, Pacific County Prosecutor.
The President and Spokesman for the Kuiu Thlingit Tribe has written a letter
alleging that Prosecutor Smith is not disposed to vigorously prosecute Jason
Stalkfleet to the full extent of the law and taking a “soft approach.” The letter cites a
high official in the local police department who was heard to complain that one
officer was assigned to investigate the murder of the Thlingit woman while 28
officers were assigned to investigate a crime against one of their own officers.
When interviewed at home, George Suckinaw James, Jr., said, “Well its not the first
time officials haven’t cared about the death of an Indian. I have an article here from
the newspaper that says Indians are more likely to be victims of violent crime.”
When asked if the reluctance on the part of the Smith to vigorously prosecute in this
case was due to racism, James replied, “When the victim is an Indian girl and the
confessed murderer is a non-Native, it sure looks like it.”
Copies of the letter were served this day via fax and U.S. mail on Attorney
General Janet Reno, the Office of Tribal Justice Director Tom LeClaire, the Bureau
of Indian Affairs Director Gover, Washington Governor Gary Locke, Washington
State Attorney General Gregoire, the Washington State Institute of Public Policy
Criminal Justice Project, and the international Human Rights Association of
American Minorities, a United Nations Non-governmental Organization with
Roster Status.
The Kuiu Tribe is asking for an in-depth investigation into the murder of their
Tribal daughter and for imposition of the death penalty.
Tribal Spokesman, Rudy James requested that jurisdiction in the case to be
turned over to the Combined Court of Thlingit Law for adjudication. The state of
Washington has been invited to enjoy Concurrent Jurisdiction with the Tribal Court.
According to Tribal officials, Jason Stalkfleet would be granted a fair hearing
before a panel of Tribal Judges, be allowed the benefit of his current legal counsel,
and be entitled to all the rights, powers, privileges and protections available to any
Tribal Member under Traditional Tribal Law.
Reached in his office in California where he is on a fellowship writing about
Traditional Tribal Law, Mr. James said, “We hear about states getting tough on
crime - this posture of Prosecutor Smith regarding the murder of my niece is most
surprising. If the non-Natives are reluctant to administer justice in this case, the
Tribe is prepared to step forward.”