Court exonerates chief hanged in 1858

TACOMA – When the judge read the verdict, Cynthia Iyall wept tears of joy and relief. “Exonerated.”

It was the news her tribe had waited to hear since 1858, when Nisqually Chief Leschi was hanged for the murder of a white militia soldier.

On Friday, a “Historical Court of Justice,” led by state Supreme Court Justice Gerry Alexander, determined that Leschi should never have been charged with the crime because he acted as a lawful combatant during a time of war.

“I’m just happy. This is really about the future,” said Iyall, a descendant of Leschi’s sister and chairwoman of the Committee to Exonerate Chief Leschi. “This is for all the kids … they need to know who that man was and what truthfully happened to him.”

The seven-member court’s unanimous decision isn’t legally binding. But the judges and the participants hope it will rewrite the historical record.

“We cannot bring Leschi back to life, and we cannot restore Leschi to his land. We can, we must, restore his good name,” said Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg, a former prosecutor who helped represent Leschi’s descendants before the historical court.

Leschi was hanged for the killing of Col. A. Benton Moses of the territorial militia during the region’s Indian War of 1855.

The war broke out after the territorial government tried to put the Nisqually on a high forest reservation, far from their homes on the prairie and near the Nisqually River.

The government later moved the reservation to a more suitable spot on the Nisqually River, about 50 miles south of Seattle, where his descendants still live.

Leschi’s first trial ended in a hung jury. He was convicted in a second trial, but historians say the judge refused to instruct the jury that killing an enemy soldier in war is not considered murder.

Alexander created the historical court after the state Legislature passed a resolution calling on the state Supreme Court to overturn Leschi’s conviction. Because Leschi was convicted under the territorial government, Alexander said he didn’t believe the current state Supreme Court has jurisdiction, but he wanted to do something.

The historical court did not reach the question of whether Leschi shot Moses – after so long, it’s impossible to know for sure what happened. But the judges were convinced that Leschi should have been protected by the rules of war, which prevent lawful combatants from being prosecuted.

Over the years, everyone from Leschi’s executioner to respected historians had questioned his guilt.

Several schools, a beach and a ritzy Seattle neighborhood bear his name. But officially, he remained a murderer.

Nisqually tribal member Andreya Squally, 17, remembered arguing about Leschi at school, insisting he had been unjustly convicted.

“They said it was right because it was in the history book,” said Squally, who attended the trial with her mother and younger siblings. “Now they have to change the history books.”

Her mother, Grace Hyasman, said the event was important enough to take her children out of school for a day.

“I told them, ‘You’re going to be part of history,’ ” she said. “It’s very important to know their history and be able to pass it down.”

The Nisquallies’ storytelling tradition kept Leschi’s story alive through the generations.