Maine’s governor issues posthumous pardon for a tribal attorney convicted of possession of marijuana while asserting land claims by the Passamaquoddy tribe.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills wipes a tear after becoming emotional before signing papers to posthumously pardon Don Gellers, a Passamaquoddy tribal lawyer convicted of marijuana possession, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020 at the Statehouse in Augusta, Maine.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills had tears in her eyes after signing the pardon for the late Don Gellers on Tuesday, telling a group including tribal leaders that justice “was a long time coming.”Supporters of Gellers, who died five years ago, contend law enforcement officers arrested him in 1968 to quash his tribal land claims and advocacy for the tribe. Gellers’ early work laid the groundwork for Maine’s tribal land claims settlement act, which happened in 1980.
The Portland Press Herald called attention to the circumstances surrounding Gellers' fall from grace in a 2014 series, “Unsettled: Triumph and tragedy in Maine’s Indian country." After his legal appeals were exhausted, Gellers informed the state attorney general that he was immigrating to Israel, where he adopted his Hebrew birth name, Tuvia Ben-Shmuel-Yosef. He fought and was wounded in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.“While this pardon cannot undo the many adverse consequences that this conviction had upon Mr. Gellers’ life, it can bestow formal forgiveness for his violation of law and remove the stigma of that conviction," the governor said Tuesday.
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