In 1996, Richard Nelson Corrow of Scottsdale, Arizona, was convicted under the criminal provisions of Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). His conviction is believed to be the first one under the new federal law. Following is a summary of that case in which medicine bundles and ceremonial masks were recovered.

Background

According to a 1910 reference book on the Navajo, each traditional ceremony requires a separate buckskin jish, (the medicine bundle of a Navajo chanter), which contains feathers, rattles, stones, pollens, animal tissues, native herbs, ochres, and clays, and additional paraphernalia for specific chants. These Navajo medicine bundles are considered very sacred.

In addition to jish, Yei'is (masks) are also sacred and are not to be sold or possessed by non-Navajos or even Navajos untrained in their use. Archaeologist and Navajo expert David Brugge, said that Yei'is "are among the most sacred paraphernalia in Navajo religion." The Navajo Tribe, which enacted its own law in 1978 protecting religious artifacts, believes that the masks are tribal property "not to be sold or traded outside the clan or tribe." By traditional standards, Brugge told them, a widow does not usually inherit her husband's belongings, such as yei'is which typically go to another ceremonial singer.

The Case Unfolds

In October 1994, FBI Special Agents were alerted to the possible sale of ceremonial objects, some with protected eagle feathers attached. Working with the art gallery owners who were selling the objects, a price list was compiled and photographs of the objects were taken. A Zuni "constellation bundle" was priced at $850, a redtail hawk fan sold for $325, and peyote fans with eagle feathers were sold at $600 apiece. The prize collection of 22 Yei'i masks, brought from Arizona by a Scottsdale consigner, Richard Corrow, was priced at $120,000.

On December 9, 1994, federal agents served two federal search warrants on the art gallery. Among the items seized were rare crane-head fetishes, peyote fans, eleven leather medicine bundles, sheep and bear pouches and fetishes, hoof rattles, beaded pouches, and prayer bundles, and a set of twenty-two Yei'i masks. The search warrants also sought memory aids of dry-paintings and notebooks of the Shooting Way ceremony from the late Navajo medicine chanter, Ray Winnie.

Many of the items recovered in the search were purchased by Richard Corrow, an associate of the art gallery owners, from the widow of Ray Winnie, his granddaughter, and great granddaughter. The women told law enforcement they only sold Corrow the items after he assured them the objects would be given to an Arizona man who was an apprentice medicine man. The women told Corrow the items were sacred and were not to be sold or given to a museum. Corrow informed the women that a cleansing ceremony would be performed and they would be invited. The women were never contacted about the ceremony.

Only Indians with a religious ceremonial need for eagle feathers may apply for permits to have the feathers. Possession or sale of the feathers by anyone else is prohibited under the Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Prosecutors said Corrow violated the 1990 NAGPRA, which protects a tribe's "cultural patrimony" - property that cannot be bought, sold, or possessed except collectively. A jury found Corrow guilty of criminal misdemeanor charges of illegally selling traditional Navajo ceremonial items and illegally possessing items with feathers or protected bird species. Corrow was sentenced to five years probation. Corrow appealed his conviction to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. On July 11, 1997, the ruling of the lower court was upheld. Corrow attempted to appeal his case to the Supreme Court, however, the high court refused to hear the case.

Members of the Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Division who are ceremonial singers/chanters told task force officials that the Yei'is had been desecrated by improper handling and should be given back to the tribe for cleansing and renewed ceremonial use.

On September 26, 1996, a ceremony at the United States Attorney's Office in Albuquerque, New Mexico, marked the transfer of some 21 ceremonial items back to the Navajo Nation. A silent crowd of about 40 watched Navajo President Albert Hale, Navajo medicine man or singer Alfred Yazzie and Navajo cultural adviser Ned Nez chant and sprinkle corn pollen on items spread out on a table. Then Navajo guests, along with a handful of Anglo anthropologists, prosecutors and case agents, took turns sprinkling pollen over the items and Yei B'Chei masked dancers. The purification ceremony continued through the night and into the next day in Blue Canyon, Arizona, near the tribal capital of Window Rock. The jish was then turned over to a singer for use in traditional ceremonies.

"This was a tangible expression of how we can help - in a limited way, perhaps - to support and sustain traditional Native American religion," U.S. Attorney John Kelly said.

"It's a good day, a historic day, a happy day to have these returned," Hale said.

In addition to the items returned to the Navajo Nation, some of the items seized were identified as belonging to the Acoma, Apache, and Zuni tribes. These items are being returned to the appropriate tribe as they are identified.