MISSION — Seventeen people cited for violating COVID-19 social gathering restrictions during a 2020 Easter day feast were found not guilty on Tuesday, March 9, by Associate Tribal Judge Dave Gallaher.

The ruling followed a 90-minute civil hearing in tribal court on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation near Pendleton.

The tribes’ board of trustees issued the “stay home” resolution in March 2020. Violation of the resolution carried a potential sentence of a year in jail or a maximum fine of $5,000.

However, the 17 were cited as a civil matter rather than arrested on criminal charges, tribal prosecutor Kyle Daley told the court before anyone gave testimony.

Toby Patrick, a CTUIR member, hosted a First Foods celebration on April 26, 2020, with more than two dozen family members at his home on the reservation.

First Foods include water, salmon, deer and elk, roots and berries.

Patrick, who was represented by Robert Klahn, and his longtime partner, Julia Johnson, a Warm Springs tribal member, appeared in tribal court while the others appeared by telephone.

Gallaher’s ruling hinged on the question of whether Patrick’s family feast was an “essential” event.

The BOT resolution prohibited “nonessential tribal, longhouse, social and recreational gatherings of individuals outside of a home or place of residence (parties, celebrations or other similar gatherings)” regardless of size, “if a distance of at least 6 feet between individuals cannot be maintained.”

According to the verdict and judgment, Patrick presented evidence the gathering was a “family religious observance” that was “essential to the spiritual and cultural well-being of the family.”

Gallaher’s ruling said the tribes, represented by Daley, presented no evidence a family religious observance is a “nonessential gathering.”

“In the absence of evidence on a material element of the violation, the Court is left to speculate as to what is meant by ‘essential,’ and ‘essential’ to whom? Such guesswork and speculation may not be the basis of a finding of guilt,” Gallaher wrote in his ruling.

Under questioning from Daley, Tony Barnett, who at the time of the feast was a member of the Umatilla Tribal Police working as an investigator for the CTUIR Department of Children and Family Services, testified the Patrick residence is a “certified foster home.”

A Facebook photo, which spurred the investigation and subsequent citations, showed at least one child and an adult who had a “protection order against him,” Barnett said, adding he told Patrick such gatherings “can’t continue if you want to keep your certification as a foster home.”

However, there was no further discussion of foster children during the trial.

Chairwoman Kat Brigham, speaking on her own and not for the full tribe’s Board of Trustees, said the restrictions in the resolution were never meant to punish people for their religious beliefs.

She said the Patrick gathering was investigated and resulted in citations because of “other concerns” apparent in the Facebook photo.

Brigham acknowledged that many families, including her own, had ceremonies at home.

“The resolution didn’t stop that. It just asked people to be careful of numbers,” she said. “We didn’t have a lot of information at the time, other than the need for social distancing, washing your hands and wearing masks. We just wanted people to take seriously being careful, being safe, and being healthy.”