Judge Concerned About Banishment Experiment

The judge who allowed two Tlingit men to participate in an 18-month banishment has requested an immediate meeting with a tribal representative and lawyers in the case because he thinks his judicial experiment could be failing.

Judge James Allendoerfer of Snohomish County, Wash., Superior Court sent a letter last week to Tlingit tribal court judge Rudy James and his wife, Diana Wynne James, a tribal social worker, requesting a meeting to discuss the banishment.

“I am deeply concerned that the program may be faltering. I need more assistance in evaluating its current status and its prognosis for the future,” the judge told the couple.

According to Friday’s letter, Simon Roberts and Adrian Guthrie, the banished 18-year-olds, need not attend the meeting, but their lawyers, the prosecutor in the case and a representative from the tribal court must appear.

Two weeks ago, Guthrie was seen in Craig, Alaska, where he apparently took a driver’s-license test and had a car transferred to his name.

Roberts also has been seen in civilization. During a telephone interview Tuesday, Klawock, Alaska, Police Chief Gary Will said, “I saw Simon Roberts walking downtown this morning.”

Roberts and Guthrie pleaded guilty last year to the August 1993 assault and robbery in Everett of Tim Whittlesey, who was beaten with a baseball bat and left with debilitating injuries.

Before their sentencing, Rudy James asked Allendoerfer to allow the tribe to take custody of Roberts and Guthrie and banish them to isolated islands in southeastern Alaska for rehabilitation.