TACOMA — A pretrial hearing on motions to dismiss federal charges against five Makah whale hunters will proceed on Tuesday.
Peninsula Daily News erroneously reported Sunday that the hearing had been postponed. A reporter mistook a motion signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Oesterle for one signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Kelley Arnold.
Arnold on Wednesday ordered the hearing to proceed as scheduled and set aside two days for it.
The crux of the hearing will be a defense claim that the charges void the 1855 Treaty of Neah Bay, in which the government granted to the Makah the right to hunt and kill whales and seals.
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, ruled that the National Fisheries Service could not permit the Makah to hunt whales until the service completed an environmental impact investigation.
