Two Land Claim Demonstrators Offered Deals to Dismiss Charges

By Andy Gardner.

MASSENA – Two of the eight people from Akwesasne arrested during a demonstration opposing a proposed Mohawk land claim settlement have been offered conditional discharges for trespass and conspiracy charges filed against them when they were arrested on Barnhart Island on May 21.

The two offered deals during their appearances on Tuesday afternoon are 48-year-old Brent Maracle and 26-year-old Marina Johnson Zafaris. They were among eight people arrested at the demonstration where 67-year-old Larry V. Thompson was digging with an excavator, which he says was to build a foundation for Native housing. One of the people arrested was a reporter for the Akwesasne newspaper Indian Time who was there covering the developing event. Everyone arrested during the event was charged with trespass, which is a violation, and misdemeanor sixth-degree conspiracy. Thompson is also charged with felony second-degree criminal mischief, for allegedly damaging New York Power Authority land valued over $1,500.

Outside the courtroom on Tuesday afternoon, a reporter asked Thompson to go into details about the housing he had planned for Barnhart Island when he was arrested. He said he was planning to build "maybe 500 buildings." When asked about how it would be funded, Thompson said, "We've got to handle one thing at a time: get the land back that was stolen, and then move on to that other part."

Thompson said he was not acting under government authority of either Kaienerakowa Kanonsesne or Onkwehonweh Neha Kanonhsesne. He said he was acting on his own volition.

In Massena Town Court on Tuesday afternoon, St. Lawrence County Assistant District Attorney Alexander Nichols offered a six-month adjournment in contemplation of dismissal to Johnson-Zafaris and Maracle. That means they would not have to plead guilty. As long as they aren't charged with anything new for six months, the trespass and conspiracy charges will be dismissed and the records sealed, "like it never happened," Town Justice Joseph Brown told the defendants. They neither accepted nor rejected their respective deals. Brown adjourned their cases to give them time to research the offer and make a decision.

The demonstrators are rejecting attorneys and opting to represent themselves. They maintain that the court has no authority over them because they are Onkwehonweh on land that rightfully belongs to them.

In 2022, a judge ruled New York state unlawfully took thousands of acres of Mohawk land in the 1800s. Negotiations for a settlement have been ongoing between Albany and U.S., Canadian and traditional Mohawk councils. The federal government also sold large swaths of the reservation without Congressional approval, in violation of the Indian Non-Intercourse Act of 1796. It stands as the American law today. It says Native land cannot be sold without an affirmative vote of Congress. Those disputed lands include Barnhart Island.

The protesters demand fair compensation for Barnhart Island, integral to the Moses-Saunders power dam, which has generated billions of dollars in electricity for the U.S. and Canada.

They also seek redress for generations of pollution-related illnesses caused by upstream industrial activities by Alcoa, Reynolds Metals and General Motors, which for decades used large amounts of PCBs – known carcinogens – in their operations. PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, were used in industrial products before being banned in the United States in 1976.

During Johnson-Zafaris's appearance, she asked Nichols if the discovery materials provided by his office includes deed and title to Barnhart Island. Nichols said it does not. Johnson-Zarafis said she, along with all other Mohawk women, hold matrilineal deed and title to the land.

"It is in my ovaries, my eggs ... stewarded and protected by the ways ... of our clan mothers," she said.

"I have a special responsibility ... to protect our land, to protect it for our children and grandchildren and those unborn," Maracle said during his appearance.

They each repeated prior arguments for why the court doesn't have authority to try or convict them.

Brown took no action on either case and adjourned Maracle until Sept. 24 and Johnson-Zarafis until Oct. 22.

Thompson appeared on Tuesday wearing traditional 'kastowa' – a feathered headpiece and a purple ribbon shirt. He started by laying a peace pipe, a cane, and a Two-Row Wampum on a table in front of the judge, saying he is governed by the treaties those represent, and not state or federal laws.

Thompson and Justice Brown butted heads as Thompson went into a lengthy speech where he accused court officials of treason and presented an argument to support the claim which he said is based in international law. He said treaties made between the Native peoples and first Dutch settlers over 400 years ago are still the law today, which includes the Two-Row Wampum. It's a beaded belt with two purple rows over a white background, representing the Natives and colonizers sailing parallel in separate vessels and not interfering with each other's paths.

While Thompson was shouting his legal speech, the judge frequently tried to interject in an attempt to explain that the local court doesn't have the authority to consider dismissal of a felony case, but the county court does. At the conclusion of his speech, Thompson received applause, mostly from the 10 or so people there to support him, and also from several other defendants waiting their turn in the gallery to appear on unrelated charges.

Brown asked Thompson a series of questions to determine his competency to represent himself when the case reaches county court. The questions included asking if Thompson understood he would have to conform to specific legal procedures, which Thompson acknowledged.

"The court has determined you are competent to move forward representing yourself in trial procedures," Brown said following the questions.

Accompanying Thompson in court was a man who Thompson identified as his "spiritual and legal advisor," Wapiskisit Piesew, who said he does not divide his name into first and last. When asked where he resides, he said the laws that govern him do not allow him to identify as residing in lands referred to as Canada.

Outside of the courthouse following the appearances, Wapiskisit Piesew went into more detail about his view of international law and how it applies to the case of the eight Akwesasne defendants, echoing Thompson's statement in court that the New York state legal system is violating international law by pressing the cases, and therefore guilty of treason.

"They do not want the truth about the law revealed," Wapiskisit Piesew said.

He believes the United States was founded as a penal colony, and part of his legal perspective includes a unique theory about the American Civil War.

"[The Civil War] wasn't about Black slaves. It was over those prisoners wanting to grow marijuana," he said.

The other defendants with pending cases related to the May 21 demonstration are Gabriel J. Oakes, 58; Kimberly A. Terrance, 41; Isaac N. White, 42; Dana L. Thompson, 67; Donald Delormier, 35. White was at the demonstration working as a reporter for the Indian Time newspaper at the time of his arrest.