SEATTLE — Raymond Fryberg was found guilty Tuesday of illegally possessing the gun that his son used to shoot five friends at Marysville Pilchuck High School last year.
A U.S. District Court jury convicted Fryberg, the 42-year-old father of Jaylen Fryberg, on all six counts of illegal firearm possession.
Raymond Fryberg was the subject of a 2002 protection order in Tulalip Tribal Court that forbade him from owning guns.
Fryberg’s lawyers claimed that he was never served with the protection order and therefore had no way of knowing he was prohibited from owning weapons.
Fryberg’s attorney, John Henry Browne, alleged that his client was misled by the government into thinking he was allowed to have guns. Since 2002, Fryberg had passed background checks for gun purchases, obtained a concealed pistol license, and also had his name checked by game wardens during tribal hunting trips, Browne said in court.
The tribal protection order was not entered into a database that can be checked during firearm purchases and during contacts with police. Jurors were provided testimony from the tribal court and others that the order was served.
Prosecutors argued in filings this week that there was not enough evidence to support Browne’s theory, also known as “unintentional entrapment.” A judge did not allow the claim to become part of his instructions to the jury.
Fryberg, who did not testify, faces more than a decade in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 11.
The jury began deliberations Monday and announced its verdict late Tuesday afternoon.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the Tulalip Police Department. The jury was not told about the high school shooting, which ended in five deaths, including Fryberg’s son by suicide.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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