David Sohappy
Biography
David Sohappy Sr., known as Tucknashut, was a Wanapum and Yakama fisherman and religious leader who became a central figure in the Native treaty fishing-rights struggle on the Columbia River. Living at Cooks Landing, he fished according to treaty rights and refused to submit to state regulation, and was the named plaintiff in the landmark case Sohappy v. Smith (1969). In 1981 and 1982 federal agents ran an undercover sting known as Salmonscam, luring Columbia River Indians into selling salmon caught out of season. Sohappy, his son, and three other Yakama tribal members were convicted in 1983 under the federal Lacey Act, and he was sentenced to five years in prison — a term widely condemned as grossly disproportionate. He suffered a debilitating stroke while incarcerated and was released only on May 18, 1988, after U.S. Senators Daniel Inouye and Dan Evans intervened. He died three years later. Sohappy became an international symbol of the fight to defend Native treaty and human rights.
Wanapum traditional fisherman and religious leader who fought for Columbia River treaty fishing rights, leading to the 1969 Sohappy v. Smith decision affirming Native fishing rights. Targeted in the 1982 federal Salmonscam sting operation, convicted of illegal salmon sales, and sentenced to five years in federal prison despite his age and ill health. Documented in PFOC Breakthrough magazine.
Documented custody intervals, bail and transfers
The International Indian Treaty Council reports Sohappy Sr. and his son arrested at the Yakama courthouse on August 7, 1986 and released the next day. They surrendered again on August 22, 1986. September 18 movement to Yakima County Jail and September 20 transport to Lompoc were custody transfers, not releases. The incarceration field now records the August 22 readmission; separate completed intervals preserve the August 7-8 detention without counting the intervening bail period. The Oregon Historical Society identifies Sr.'s final release as May 18, 1988; his son was released the following day. The earlier 1982 arrest remains year precision, not January 1 as an established day. The five-year imposed sentence is not five years actually served: the counter is a subtotal of the two documented intervals, excluding any unquantified earlier detention.
Sources: International Indian Treaty Council, Treaty Council News, October 1986, page 2 (complete page visually checked); Oregon Historical Society, David Sohappy. Original identified photograph retained. Later prison transfers are not represented as uninterrupted custody at one institution.
Contemporary custody chronology (IITC, October 1986): Treaty Council News reports that David Sohappy Sr. and his son were arrested at the Yakama tribal courthouse on August 7, 1986, released after arraignment on August 8, and surrendered again on August 22. Its late bulletin says the two Sohappys and Matt McConville were moved from the tribal jail to Yakima County Jail on September 18 and transported to Lompoc on September 20; David Sr. called his family and attorney from El Reno on September 23. Those September dates describe transfers within custody, not new incarceration starts or releases. The announced onward itinerary through Terre Haute to Sandstone does not establish actual arrival there. The separately documented May 18, 1988 release and existing two custody periods are unchanged. Source: Treaty Council News, vol. 6 no. 4, October 1986, printed pp. 1-2, 10 and back page (PDF pp. 1-2, 6, 8).
The January 30, 1987 Militant places David Sohappy Sr. at Sandstone and reports that prison officials refused a return to the Yakama reservation for tribal proceedings.
