State v. McCoy

This case involves the question of whether the state can enforce reasonably necessary regulations for the conservation of chinook salmon fisheries against an Indian whose tribe was a party to the Treaty of Point Elliott, 12 Stat. 927 (January 22, 1855).

Defendant, an American Indian of Swinomish descent, was charged with fishing in closed waters. The trial court acquitted him, holding that the Treaty of Point Elliott granted him immunity from state regulatory powers. The state appeals.

In the early morning hours of July 28, 1960, defendant was fishing from his boat in what is called the “jetty…