Peter d'Errico Papers

Randall Trapp et al. v. Commissioner Dubois et al. was a major case of d'Errico's, involving the religious freedom of incarcerated indigenous People. He worked with inmates at North Center Correction Institute (NCCI) in Gardner, MA, and The Massachusetts Correction Institute in Shirley, MA. Randall Shield Wolf Trapp, along with Chris Black Crow Bousquet, William White Feather Durfee, and others at NCCI Gardner filed a lawsuit against Commissioner Lawrence Dubois, John Marshall, P.J Chalapatas, and Michael Dorian over discriminatory restrictions on the practice of indigenous People's spirituality in Massachusetts prisons.

They argued that their religious freedom was violated by confiscation of sacred headbands, pipes, and herbs, as well as a requirement that inmates prove membership to "federally recognized tribes" in order to join the Weekly Circle. They claimed acts of aggression, intimidation, and harassment by Department of Corrections (DOC) officers and employees. They also fought for the establishment of Purification (sweat) Lodges at Massachusetts correctional facilities, based on their success in other state-run prisons throughout the United States. In May of 1995, the judge approved a preliminary injunction, requiring the DOC to allow the use of Headbands and other sacred items, and to return sacred items which had been confiscated. In October of that same year, the plaintiffs filed a motion of contempt, stating that the DOC was violating the injunction by continuing to deny the use of sacred items. They also filed for certification as a class action lawsuit so as to secure protections for inmates at other MA correctional facilities. Both motions were denied. In February of 1997, a motion to add more plaintiffs was also denied. In December 1999 the case went to trial, and on May 4 2000, the court ruled against the establishment of Lodges but in favor of plaintiffs regarding sacred items and membership criteria for the Circle. In June, Trapp and the other plaintiffs filed an appeal to the court ruling on Purification Lodges, and a settlement agreement between the plaintiffs and the DOC was reached in 2003. Lodges were to be built at a select number of MA correctional institutions, however in 2004 all ceremonies were halted because of alleged health concerns. In 2015 the court ruled this a violation of the settlement and of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000.

Series 1 documents this decade long legal battle. The bulk of the series is correspondence with plaintiffs and inmates at NCCI Gardner and MCI Shirley, including Randall Shield Wolf Trapp, William White Feather Durfee, and Chris Black Crow Bousquet, with whom d'Errico kept a regular correspondence for over fifteen years.* Bousquet also sent a number of drawings and other artwork to d'Errico. Additional correspondence is between d'Errico, his legal partner Robert T. Doyle Jr., and the DOC legal team, specifically Anne McCarthy and Joan Kennedy.

The series also contains court memos, reports, briefings, affidavits, DOC grievance reports, and other legal documents relating to the Trapp case. Legal writings, newspaper articles, essays, and other court cases that d'Errico used for research on Trapp v. Dubois are also complied. The series is arranged alphabetically, with the creator's original organization in mind and maintained wherever possible. Correspondence and Trapp legal document subsections are in chronological order.

* While attorney-client privilege might apply to some of the materials in this collection, according to d'Errico, the materials "were understood by the attorney and plaintiff inmates to be available for use in public hearings and documents," and are therefore available for research.

This series documents d'Errico's work with the Western Shoshone National Council (WSNC) in Nevada from the 1990s through the 2000s. During this time, he advised or worked directly on several court cases, including Western Shoshone National Council v. The United States and Oro Nevada Resources; Raymond Yowell et al. v. The United States et al.; and The State of Nevada v. Tim Dann. Most of these legal battles were against the United States government and the Bureau of Land Management, involving conflicts over property ownership and use, such as trespassing and grazing privileges. A major concern at the time was the distribution of the Indian Claims Commission's (ICC) settlement award. Many tribes in the Western Shoshone Nation refused to accept the settlement money as they believed it would be taken as a ceding of their land to the U.S. Government. The debate over the claims award and the fight against the Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act of 2004 are well documented in this series. The 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, and other treaties are frequently cited in articles, essays, and legal documents related to land disputes. D'errico and others conducted a large amount of background research on legal and historical precedent, most of which is included. Other key issues revolved around gold and mineral mining, nuclear testing, and waste dumping. WSNC protested the use of Western Shoshone land for such activities, arguing that it violated their rights to the land and posed environmental and health risks.

The bulk of the series relates to the many court cases and civil suits in which d'Errico was involved. This includes correspondence, trespassing notices, case filings, written and recorded testimony, and other legal documents. The series also contains materials related to the ICC award distribution, such as letters to congressional representatives, senate committees, and then-President Bill Clinton, as well as newspaper articles, WSNC meeting minutes and newsletters, and other documents. Also included are articles, flyers, and brochures about mining and nuclear testing and waste dumping. The series also contains several publications, articles, and clippings concerning other Western Shoshone issues.

This series documents several cases related to indigenous fishing and shell fishing rights in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The bulk of the series involves conflicts between Mashpee Wampanoag shell fishers and local governments in the Cape Cod area. The defendants in these cases were accused of violating shell fishing regulations related to conservation. However, members of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe claimed exemption through various treaties and indigenous rights laws, arguing that shell fishing is a key aspect of Wampanoag life and is crucial to their livelihoods. The Commonwealth's case was weakened by their allowance of commercial jet clamming. Other cases include The Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Martin Hendricks, The Commonwealth v. Michael J. Maxim and David S. Green, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Glenn A. Marshall and the subsequent lawsuit Glenn A. Marshall v. Charles Merritt and Jeffrey Bailey. D'errico also worked on another fishing case, The State of Rhode Island v. Donald P. Hopkins.

The bulk of the series is documents related to these court cases, such as filings, memos, and affidavits, as well as a large collection of research related to indigenous shell fishing rights, which covers laws, treaties, and similar court cases. The series also contains newspaper clippings and some correspondence.