Yvonne Swan Wanrow (now Yvonne Swan) is an activist advocating for the rights of Native Americans and women. She is a member of the Colville Tribes of eastern Washington. On August 11, 1972, Wanrow shot and killed a convicted sex offender when he attempted to assault her young son. She was convicted of murder and sentenced to twenty years in prison, but appealed the verdict.
Wanrow’s conviction was reversed in 1975, on the grounds that the police had illegally used a recording of Wanrow’s 911 call as evidence against her. In response, the State of Washington appealed this reversal to the state Supreme Court. In the State Supreme Court, Wanrow’s all-woman legal team argued the recording issue but also attacked the discriminatory instructions given to the jury in Wanrow’s trial. They contended that the jury should have been directed to consider the situation from Wanrow’s own perspective.
The State Supreme Court sided with Wanrow and issued a ruling stating that the jury should have considered “perceptions of the situation, including those perceptions which were the product of our nation’s long and unfortunate history of sex discrimination.” This ruling became a landmark in cases of women defending themselves or their families from male attackers.
Wanrow’s conviction was overturned, and a new trial scheduled. In 1978, Wanrow plead guilty to lesser charges and was sentenced to five years of probation. During and after her case, Wanrow became involved in activism for Native and women’s rights.
This photo of Yvonne Wanrow was taken when she was in Seattle the week before her case was heard by the Washington State Supreme Court. She appeared at El Centro de la Raza on Beacon Hill, at an event sponsored by a coalition of local feminist groups.
Caption information source: “State of Washington v. Wanrow” https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/state-washington-v-wanrow Caption information sources: “Kunstler Will Aid Indian’s Appeal” by Hilda Bryant, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 18. 1976, p. 14; “Fighter for women’s rights tells her story of a self-defense plea” by Al Denbeste, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 8, 1983, p. 28.
