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In conventional journalistic shorthand, Yvonne Wanrow could be called several things.
A convicted murderess, A compassionate, gentle mother of three. An Indian and women's activist.
Ms. Wanrow, a Colville Indian, was convicted three years ago of killing a man who, she said, molested her children and those of a friend. As a result, she has become an activist whose speeches are bringing her national and international attention as she seeks a new trial.
IN A SMALL, wood-frame house in South Seattle, Ms. Wanrow tells her story, dispassionately, as she tends to her youngest, Chante Waste, who will be 2 years old this month.
Between questions, she answers the phone. Long distance, Los Angeles Times.
Yes, she will be back at home in Inchelium, Ferry County, next week.
An interview? Fine. Come by.
A call to Evergreen State College. She's running late for a rally.
Discussion. A European news magazine has carried a piece on her.
She departs, again, into the past, speaking slowly, her voice almost legalistic in its lack of passion.
AUGUST 11, 1972. Ms. Wanrow had visited a doctor who examined a cast around an ankle she had broken in a fall. She had left her two children, (Chante was born later), with a friend, Shirley Hooper, who was on welfare.
At about 8 that evening Ms. Hooper called. Would Yvonne come over? There was a prowler in the area, Ms. Hooper said.
Ms. Wanrow went to the Hooper home in the Hillyard District of North Spokane. In the bedroom, the landlord was repairing a slashed window screen.
Ms. Hooper said she thought the prowler, (whom she assumed had slashed the window), was William Wesler, a neighbor. She said Wesler had been in an asylum and had molested a 7-year-old boy in the area in 1969. The boy and the parents moved away.
Ms. Hooper had called the police, she said, after Wesler had invited one of her children and Ms. Wanrow's son, Darren, (then 9 now 12), into his house, then pulled a knife on them.
Ms. Wanrow said Ms. Hooper's daughter bolted for the door and ran home. She said Darren followed, but Wesler caught and bruised him before Darren shook free.
As Ms. Wanrow described the events, two police officers took statement from the children. Wesler, they said, had pulled their bikes onto his front porch in an attempt to lure them back again. They refused. The officers retrieved the bikes.
Then, sensing the safety of the police, according to Ms. Wanrow, one of Hooper's daughters, who was 7 at the time, said she had been assaulted by Wesler.
The officers took a statement from her. The women asked them what else they would do. Would they arrest Wesler?
Ms. Hopper and Ms. Wanrow were told that they would have to come to the station Monday morning to file a complain.
In the meantime, the officers advised Ms. Hooper to spread flour outside her bedroom window where the screen had been slashed.
That night, the children slept. The two mothers did not.
Saturday morning, Ms. Hooper called her brother-in-law. She said she was afraid. The man, his wife and children came to visit.
Ms. Wanrow said the man went to Wesler's house and told him to quit harassing the two women and their children. In response, Wesler and a 26-year-old companion returned the visit, entering the Hooper home.
Ms. Wanrow said the following preceded the shooting:
Ms. Hooper screamed at him: "Get out of here."
Then Wesler approached her 3-year-old nephew, who was sitting on a couch.
Ms Hooper's sister screamed at him "Leave my child alone."
Wesler turned away from the child for a moment, approaching Ms. Wanrow.
Ms. Wanrow had been carrying a gun because she was afraid. She said the fear had been building in her through the previous day and night.
She drew the gun and shot. Wesler died.
Her memory stops at that point. "I'm charged with assault in injuring the 26-year-old companion, (he was shot in the arm), but I don't remember," she said.
MS. WANROW WAS conviction of the murder of Wesler and injuring his companion May 13, 1973.
("Mothers Day," she notes.)
She was sentenced to not more than 25 years in prison. On appeal, Ms. Wanrow won a new trial. The Spokane County prosecutor, in turn, appealed to the State Supreme Court. Both sides presented arguments February 23 and are awaiting a decision.
In the original trial, the jury was instructed not to consider Ms. Wanrow's state of mind at the time of the shootings, she said. Because of this, "self defense" did not apply.
The state had contended that the fact Ms. Wanrow was carrying a gun showed that she was a "violent woman," apt to use it. Ms. Wanrow replies that entering the home of a friend who knew a prowler was in the neighborhood without a means of self-defense would have been rather stupid.
The Spokane County prosecutor in charge of the case, Fred Caruso, said office policy forbids him from commenting. He recommended comment from Karen Dorn, who prepared a documentary on the case for KSPS-TV, Spokane's educational station.
Ms. Dorn said she had checked Spokane police records and found Wesler had had one prior conviction for "taking indecent liberties" with a child, after a father had brought charges. Wesler served 2 days of a 90-day sentence, then was released on the condition that he not be in the presence of children unless their parents were also there.
Ms. Dorn also said the prosecutor said Wesler had spent time in Eastern Washington State Hospital, a mental institution 20 miles west of Spokane at Medical Lake. She said the hospital would not verify the information.
EVERY DAY, Ms. Wanrow waits. Will the Supreme Court decide today?
Another day passes. She travels and speaks and raises money for her defense.
When she is home, she paints designs and pictures on shirts — Indian women, sun motifs, animals. She sells the shirts to help pay living expenses and legal fees.
She says she does not really enjoy being a celebrity. "It has to be done," she said. "People have to know what my people go through."
"If I had been a white woman, I never would have been charged," she says. "If I had been a white male, I would have gotten a medal."
Ms. Wanrow will visit Seattle tomorrow to speak at a Mother's Day picnic in her honor in the Woodland Park picnic area. The event is sponsored by her defense committee. The admission is $2 a person for food and entertainment with rates for families.
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