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Home > History Museum > 9-11 Images/span>
Leschi: Historical Court of Inquiry and Justice
On December 10, 2004, a "Historical Court of Inquiry and Justice", led by Chief Justice Gerry Alexander, exonerated Chief Leschi (pronounced LESH-eye) of the crime of murder 146 years after his execution. Chief Leschi of the Nisqually Tribe was war chief of the Medicine Creek nations during the war between the United States and the Tribes of Western Washington. Chief Leschi's execution was the first recorded case of capital punishment in Washington Territory. The chief's descendents and historians now agree that Leschi was wrongly put to death for killing Abram Benton Moses, a colonel in the territorial volunteer militia who was serving with the US Army troops based at Fort Steilacoom. A Resolution from the Washington State Legislature asked the Washington State Supreme Court to vacate Chief Leschi's conviction and de-publish the record of murder. In response to this memorial Chief Justice Alexander and the descendants of Leschi and the Nisqually Tribe decided to convene a historic court at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma.
Chief Justice Alexander explained that the Historical Court of Inquiry and Justice was a definitive trial in absentia -- a new day in court for Chief Leschi. The passage of time made it impossible to convene an actual trial. Although the historic court would have no strict legal status, Nevertheless Chief Justice Alexander stated "…It would still be like a regular trial because we are searching for the truth as best as it is humanly possible." The seven judges of the historic court stepped back into the 19th century and tried to make sense of a complicated written historical record with its gaps and unanswered questions. The witnesses that were called were some of Washington State's leading American Indian and territorial era historians. Others were experts on American Indian and military law. The descendants of the Chief Leschi gave personal accounts of living with this injustice.
The expert witnesses testified that Chief Leschi was hung after two federal territorial court trials. The first trial resulted in a deadlocked jury, but Leschi was convicted of murder in the second.. The witnesses also testified that the victim was a colonel in the territorial militia and aid-de-camp to U.S. Army Captain Maloney. Colonel Moses was shot to death in an ambush on a prairie in Western Washington near the modern day town of Buckley. The killing of Moses occurred as part of the conflicts that followed the signing of the Medicine Creek treaty as well as a number of other treaties with tribes in the Washington territory.
Questions were raised from the record whether or not Chief Leschi was even present at the ambush. But the most convincing argument was that even if Chief Leschi did kill Colonel Moses, he was a lawful combatant in war. The Historic Court concluded that Chief Leschi should never have been accused of murder. The second jury was not instructed to consider the laws of war, which could have exonerated him even if he had been found to have killed the Colonel.
Carl Hultman, Chief Prosecutor for the Historical Court of Inquiry and Justice, stated, "We have had a process that allowed for a fair ending...a finality. You don't just argue on forever about things."
Defense team lawyer for Chief Leschi and Pierce County Executive, John W. Ladenburg said he felt the case had long cried out for re-examination. "We can't un-hang him, but, I think it is important to set the record straight..." Chief Leschi, Chief of the Nisqually Tribe and War Chief of the Medicine Creek Nations, was exonerated of murder on December 10, 2004.
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