Trigger warning: This story contains graphic descriptions and testimony of sexual assault, violence, and suicidal ideations. If you or someone you know is in need of support, the following are national and regional resources. The 988 Lifelineis a national suicide and crisis lifeline, and can be reached by dialing 988. Indigenous residents in Washington state can press 4 and be connected with an Indigenous counselor. The Strong Hearts Native Helplineis a national hotline that provides resources for Native Americans and Alaska Natives who have experienced sexual and domestic violence, and can be reached at 1-844-7NATIVE (762-8483).
Luna Reyna
Underscore Native News + ICT
SEATTLE — In the small beige King County courtroom, Native women in colorful ribbon skirts with Coast Salish embroidery holding traditional medicine filled the first four rows of public seating at Redwolf Pope’s sentencing on Jan. 7. Survivors of Pope’s crimes, other Native women, friends and family were also present to support one another.
Pope sat in an orange jumpsuit just a few feet in front of the first row where he represented himself as he had for the duration of the trial.
Pope, a 49-year-old man who posed as a Native American for decades, was sentenced to more than 46 years in prison. A jury convicted him of five counts of second-degree rape and four counts of first-degree voyeurism in Washington state courts in September.
In 2018, Pope was arrested in Phoenix, Arizona, on the New Mexico warrant accusing Pope of videotaping himself sexually assaulting multiple unconscious women and secretly recording a guest in a bathroom. He was extradited to face the charges. A Santa Fe jury found Pope guilty of second-degree rape and voyeurism in 2020. He was sentenced to four years in prison in New Mexico, serving just two years after receiving credit for the almost two years already served while awaiting trial. He was extradited to Washington state in 2022 to face additional rape charges, for which he was recently sentenced to over 46 years.
Survivors of Pope’s violence requested in statements to Judge Tanya Thorpe of King County Superior Court that Pope should receive the harshest sentence possible to keep others in the community safe from ever being harmed by him again.
Survivors walked their statements up to the judge by going behind the first row of people and around the prosecuting attorneys desk on the right side of the room to not have to face Pope directly or be near him. Each had their back to Pope as many detailed sexual and physical violence they endured.
Pope’s case raised questions about identity in Indian Country. Survivors also questioned why community leadership and local authorities couldn’t act when women alerted them about Pope more than two decades ago. It took several other survivors and video evidence to see some form of justice.
For the survivors, the sentence and trial coming to a close are a relief and the bond created between them all has formed a sisterhood that has inspired advocacy for victims rights in the courtroom.
Survivors speak at sentencing
During the first few hours of sentencing, survivors of Pope’s crimes were given the opportunity to speak to the judge recounting the violence in detail.
“You stalked me, you drugged me, you raped me, you threatened me…” a survivor who asked to remain anonymous said in her statement while facing the judge with her back to Pope.
ICT and Underscore News typically does not identify victims of sexual abuse except in cases where they publicly identify themselves or share their stories openly.
She went on to explain that when she saw that Pope was being prosecuted and convicted in New Mexico for the exact same crimes he had committed against her, she began to understand her delicate mental and emotional state.
“Even though my case was one of many, they were unable to prosecute. I’m still one of your victims, perhaps more so as I stand with hundreds of other women you raped that will never see justice for themselves, perhaps still wondering what happened to them, why they don’t remember and why they’re afraid,” the anonymous survivor said.
City Hall Park & King County Courthouse, Seattle, Washington, USA. Photo by Joe Mabel.
She recounted an incident of physical abuse in September 2012 being so bad that she thought she had a concussion. She was too afraid to report the physical and verbal abuse so she fled Washington state after she graduated from law school, leaving her family and everything she has ever known. She said his actions impacted her career, relationships, and peace of mind, but she’s stronger now.
“I’ll be here watching ready to ensure you never have the chance to try again,” the anonymous survivor said. “You thought you cast aside your victims, forgetting each of us as you move on to the next instead, you made an army, one victim at a time. We’ll always be watching. We’ll always be ready, and now we’re going to make sure that you will never be free.”
Survivors took this opportunity to read statements they had prepared as a way to take back their power and to urge the judge to hold Pope accountable for his actions by giving Pope the harshest sentence possible. Most read their statements with their backs to him while looking at the judge. Others addressed him directly while standing near the judge’s podium.
Erica Elan urged Judge Thorpe to protect future women from Pope, by giving him the harshest sentence possible.
“I firmly believe that the only option for collective safety is a life sentence,” Elan said.
Elan and Lehi Sanchez found the cameras throughout Pope’s living spaces in his condo in the Capital Hill neighborhood of Seattle. They shared their findings with one of the survivors who was subletting the condo. She went to the Seattle police. Elan and Sanchez went to the Santa Fe police which led to the cameras in Pope’s Santa Fe apartment being discovered as well.
“His brazen violence, as we’ve unfortunately all witnessed, his targeting of the Native community, his clear pattern of abuse, his selfie style videos of himself spliced together while violating women who I love and respect are forever seared in my mind,” Elan said. “A person who can do this over and over does not have a place in any free society.”
One survivor, who asked to remain anonymous, told the judge that at 35 weeks pregnant she should be preparing for her baby, “ … but again, I am here face to face with my rapist.”
“He is and should be considered by this court to be a serial rapist, a serial sex offender and predator, one that our community needs indefinite protection from,” she said. “He did not find his victims off the street, nor were they random strangers. He picked his victims carefully, calculatedly, and made his victims believe that he was their friend.”
No witnesses came to speak on Pope’s behalf.
When the Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Jocelyn Cooney, addressed the court she also commented that judgment in this case is long overdue.
“The jury in this courtroom for eight weeks, witnessed the defendant’s acts, caught on film,” Cooney, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma citizen, said. “Him grinning at the camera as he violently raped his unconscious friends. Footage of his friends unknowingly being filmed in the most intimate of places, the bathroom. And after hearing the testimony of the brave survivors, the countless law enforcement officers and seeing the evidence for themselves, they found the defendant guilty on nine separate felony sex offenses, and today, the judgment of the court must reflect who he truly is at his core, a serial rapist and a serial voyeur, as he deserves no lenience from this court.”
Cooney also pointed out that Pope doesn’t just deny he did anything wrong, he continues to attempt to villainize the very people who uncovered his crimes. It shows that he is a “continued risk” to society, Cooney said.
Pope received a law degree from Seattle University and represented himself in court. However, he is not a licensed lawyer, confirmed the Washington State Bar Association. His LinkedIn page lists him as an attorney who has worked for the Tulalip Tribal Court for over a decade, but the Tulalip Tribes said he never worked as an attorney there.
During his closing arguments he attempted to paint himself as a victim and addressed survivors instead of defending his case. Judge Thorpe interjected and told him this isn’t an opportunity to disparage witnesses but to defend his case.
Pope’s sentence came swiftly, within minutes after closing statements. Because of the trust built between Pope and his victims, Judge Thorp’s ruling was for the harshest sentence possible under Washington state law: a total of 560 months or over 46 years.
Trust through identity
Trust was built due to Pope’s claims of Western Shoshone and Tlingit heritage, according to accounts from survivors and Pope himself during sentencing. Survivors recounted meeting Pope at demonstrations against the Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock and outside the White House in Lafayette Square in 2017 for the Native Nations Rise March on DC.
This led to him being asked to give a TEDxSeattle talk about his activism called “Lessons of Courage from Standing Rock.” He also appeared on FOX’s “The O’Reilly Factor” giving his perspective on Thanksgiving.
King County Courthouse stairs. Photos by Susan Dennis.
But the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska say he is not an enrolled citizen. During the trial Pope changed his story and claimed that he learned his mom isn’t Tlingit but comes from up north. Through the years, Pope has claimed to be a member of the Western Shoshone Tribe. There are several Shoshone tribes in America’s west. Shoshone members also have said they’ve found no record of Pope’s enrollment. Though it’s unclear whether he has claimed citizenship to any particular tribe or lineage or familial connection to those tribes. Pope shared during his Jan. 7 sentencing in Seattle that he was disenrolled.
“He certainly built his reputation as somebody who was an activist. I don’t think there’s a strong likelihood he would not have had access to at least a few of our survivors if not for that,” Cooney said. “It’s also a big reason why we did go to that aggravator, that abuse of trust, that he was only able to perpetrate his offenses because of the position of trust that he built with everybody.”
Cooney explained that the exceptional sentence was necessary because violence committed against those who trusted him. Cooney said he stripped his friends of an ability to trust those around them, and took away any sense of safety they are entitled to feel.
Another survivor who asked to remain anonymous shared with Underscore + ICT, “This is someone who was born into [the] thievery of Native culture[s]. This is why cultural appropriation is so dangerous and violent.”
For Patricia Allen, nickname Chookenshaa, which means Glacier Bear Woman in Tlingit, Pope’s false claims of Tlingit identity has caused her to question who in her community are actually Tlingit citizens. She is concerned about who can be trusted, especially men who called Pope “brother” that have been completely silent throughout the trial.
Allen met Pope about 14 years ago when she was around 21. She’s now 35.
She said he was interwoven in her social scene, and involved in the academic, nonprofit, social justice and intertribal spaces. He claimed he was Tlingit. He also said he was from an Eagle Brown Bear Clan from the village of Yakutat. Allen is from an Eagle Black Bear Clan and in Tlingit culture if you’re both from an Eagle clan, you’re considered like siblings so she addressed him as an eagle brother.
“It makes me wonder just who’s either complicit or who’s been supporting [Pope],” Allen said.
She believes that Pope harmed more people.
Allen and many others that she knows have stayed over at Pope’s residence in Seattle many times, thinking it was a safe place because Pope said he was sober, or on the Red Road.
“It’s gonna take a long time for us as a community to really even scratch the surface of just how deeply this impacts us, even just people who went there to use the bathroom,” Allen said.
Allen doesn’t believe that the sentencing is enough.
She has served as an elected delegate for the Tlingit & Haida Tribes of Southeast Alaska from April 2018 to March 2024, led the National Coalition to End Urban Indigenous Homelessness, and served as a community advocate with Chief Seattle Club in Seattle from September 2019 to December 2022.
As a delegate she brought Pope’s crimes up on the annual tribal assembly floor in 2019 asking leadership to make a public statement, and every year after that until 2024. She believes that Tlingit leadership should be more vocal, with statements advocating for the victims who should have been a priority during the trial process, considering many of the survivors of Pope’s crimes were Tlingit citizens.
Justice
Justice in this case looks different for everyone.
The prosecuting attorney said Pope’s sentence was just and fair based on the evidence presented and the crimes Pope perpetrated against the survivors.
“I think it was a display of what justice can look like in the system to hold somebody accountable, but also to give survivors a platform to be able to speak about what this individual did to them,” Cooney, the prosecuting attorney, said.
Moreno found relief in the sentencing.
“I’m glad that I don’t have to look over my shoulder anymore. I don’t have to worry about him being released on bond, or someone believing him, and this getting overturned,” Moreno said.
But true justice to her needs to go a step further, past the court systems and into the community of people who didn’t believe her.
“There’s still the anger that none of this needed to escalate in this manner like people have spoken up about him for a very long time,” Moreno said. “I think for me, justice would have looked like being believed in the first place and justice would have been not having to stay in class with him after I got a protection order against him… justice for me would also look like the people who publicly shamed me for being a victim. It would look like public apologies.”
She also said justice is Pope not being able to harm another woman.
“This is one step towards real justice, and that step has been our collective truth, the truth of our collective experience has resulted in a very bad, evil person being banished from our society where he belongs, incapable of doing any more harm,” she told Underscore + ICT.
City Hall Park, King County Courthouse, and King County Administration Building, Seattle, Washington, U.S. Photo by Joe Mabel.
Elan is grateful that after eight years the case is over, but she doesn’t believe that justice was served.
“In no world should any type of pursuit for justice from a predator take nearly eight years to get to some type of result,” Elan said. “And really, in no world should that predator be able to hold his victims hostage on the stand for days at a time and really use forms of psychological torture and brutalize them further. It’s egregious that that can happen.”
She went on to explain that the systems that are meant to maintain justice leave a lot to be desired.
“Justice doesn’t feel like the right thing. The last eight years I’ve been so grateful to get to know many of the people who he deeply harmed, and so many of them, myself included, have and are still dealing with the effects of what he’s done,” Elan said. “So I don’t think there’s really justice, but I do think there are things that we are all working to transform out of this and maybe prevent something, or at least a piece of this in the future.”
Victim bill of rights
In cases where defendants choose to defend themselves, they have the right to cross examine witnesses which includes survivors. Pope chose to defend himself and was able to cross examine each survivor throughout the four yearslong trial processes.
Elan and other survivors are working to update Washington’s victim bill of rights so that in the future abusers are less likely to be able to cross examine their victims in court. The updates to the victims bill of rights would give a judge the discretion to appoint somebody else to ask the questions of the victims. This creates a barrier between an individual who’s committed these acts and the survivor in cases where defendants want to represent themselves.
“Every survivor that came forward in this, during this trial, every named victim, and even some that didn’t, but every witness had to be cross examined by their rapist or assault abuser,” a survivor who asked to remain anonymous told Underscore + ICT.
This survivor went on to explain the psychological trauma of being cross examined by Pope.
“It’s like we got raped all over again,” she said.
This caused multiple survivors to mentally “spiral into really bad places” to the point of needing to seek out additional mental, emotional, and spiritual support.
“More needs to be done to protect survivors and rights can be upheld for people who choose to defend themselves, but we need to change the law so that there are protections for survivors who are brave enough to take the stand,” the anonymous survivor said.
“What this sick man did was try to convince his victims that it was consensual,” she told Underscore + ICT. “He tried to vie for people’s approval again.”
“It was enraging,” the survivor continued. “I went dark. I’m on medical leave.”
“That’s such a terrible position for anybody to be in where the individual who perpetrated these harms against you, especially sexual violence, now has the opportunity to question you again,” Cooney said. “And what we saw was there were multiple survivors that he kept on the stand for multiple days, and it was not commensurate with how long I kept them on.”
According to Cooney, the longest direct examination of a survivor she did was close to two hours. Pope then questioned that survivor for two days.
“Hopefully that’s something that will actually pass, and it will be added into the victims rights bill,” Cooney said. “[The survivors] are working really hard to make that happen. It has kind of turned this pretty awful situation for the survivors into something that could benefit other survivors in the future.”
In January, an amendment to the Crime Victim Bill of Rights was introduced to the legislature. This amendment was shaped directly by survivors and Native community members. The amendment is currently in committee. The deadline to sign up to testify for or against the amendment was on January 27.
The Seattle Indian Health Board is advocating for support of the amendment and has provided links for written testimony, graphics to share on social media in support of the amendment and more.
This story is co-published byUnderscore Native NewsandICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest.
The post Redwolf Pope survivors reclaim power in courtroom appeared first on ICT.
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