PROVIDENCE -- Four years and eight months after a Governor Carcieri-ordered raid on the Narragansett tribe's tax-free smoke shop turned into a tense clash between state troopers and Indians, a jury today cleared seven tribal members of 12 out of 16 misdemeanor charges.

But Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas, who was captured on video and in photos struggling with a trooper, was not among them.

He was found guilty of simple assault, while cleared of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Defendant Hiawatha Brown was found guilty of simple assault and disorderly conduct, and cleared of resisting arrest. Randy Noka was found guilty of disorderly conduct, but cleared of resisting arrest.

Journal photo / Mary Murphy

Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas, second from right, listens with the six other defendants in the in Superior Court as the verdict is read. From left are defendants and tribal members John Brown, Hiawatha Brown, Adam Jennings, Randy Noka, Bella Noka, Thomas and Thawn Harris.

Four others were acquitted of all the charges against them in a case that pitted the authority of the state against that of the tribe.

The long road to the trial featured detours into other courtrooms. It took more than three years for a federal court to rule that state police had the right to carry out the search-and-seizure warrant. Then a state Supreme Court ruling, sought by the governor, determined he would not be made to testify in the case that arose out of his objections to the tribe selling cigarettes without charging state taxes.

Jurors mulled a total of 16 misdemeanor counts since deliberations began Tuesday afternoon in the high-profile case that came after 16 days of testimony.

No date has been set for sentencing. Motions for a new trial will be heard on April 28.

Sighs of relief were heard in the packed courtroom when the jury returned three not-guilty verdicts against the first defendant, Bella Noka, on charges of disorderly conduct, obstruction and simple assault.

But there was a different tone to the sighs when the jury announced that it had found the next defendant, Hiawatha Brown, guilty on two counts.

After the verdict was read at 3:20 p.m., each juror was polled to affirm the four guilty counts. For some, emotion seeped into the procedural step. A woman juror cried as she was polled, saying, "Sorry," as she did so, wiping tears. A sheriff in the courtoom handed tissues to another juror.

The trial stemmed from a clash between Narragansetts and state police who raided the smoke shop on tribal land in Charlestown, on July 14, 2003, two days after the Narragansetts started selling tax-free cigarettes.

During the 16 days of testimony, jurors heard 25 witnesses on topics ranging from allegedly missing state police e-mails to the relevance of federal recognition of the tribe as a sovereign nation in 1983.

They saw hours of videos plus photos -- some taken by news cameras and photographers at the scene -- showing police arrive at the Route 2 shop to execute a search warrant and the violent scuffle with tribal members that ensued.

Journal file photo

Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas struggles with a state trooper during the 2003 raid.

Chief Sachem Thomas had little to say outside the courtroom after the jury returned its verdicts.

"I think what happens, happens and we'll see what happens on the 28th," Thomas said, referring to the date Superior Court Judge Susan E. McGuirl set to hear motions.

Asked if he fears punishment, Thomas said, "No, no. I did what I had to do..."

Late this afternoon, the office of Governor Carcieri -- who had ordered the raid -- issued this statement:

“Governor Carcieri respects the jury's verdict in this case. While the governor had no role in the prosecution or trial, he is satisfied that the rule of law has been affirmed. He also wants to reiterate once again his support for the State Police and the great job they do for the people of Rhode Island.”

Another court found that Carcieri did not have to testify in the case.

“With the conclusion of this trial, Governor Carcieri hopes that the Narragansett Indian Tribe and the State of Rhode Island can put the smoke shop incident behind us and move forward into a more cooperative future,” his spokesman said in the statement.

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, whose office prosecuted the case, said, "These were cases that needed to be tried, and we accept the jury's verdict."

"We did did our job, just as the state police did their job that day," he said. "Now the jury has done its job."

Lynch added: "Whatever has been said -- and too much has been said -- our prosecution has never been about trying to force the defendants to plead to crimes they didn't commit. Our prosecution has simply and solely been about adhering to the process that our criminal-justice system afford us."

State Police Col. Brendan Doherty, asked about Thomas's conviction for simple assault, said, "We're obviously interested in people being held accountable."

"We believe and felt all along that we were there legally...and the troopers showed great restraint," Doherty said.

Before the defendants were brought to trial, the case went to court in other ways.

It took more than three years for a federal court to rule that state police had the right to carry out the search and seizure warrant. And Governor Carcieri, who ordered the raid after objecting to the tax-free cigarette sales, successfully fought defense efforts in state Supreme Court to make him testify at trial.

In closing arguments Monday, the defense contended that the raid's timing and manner were driven by money and intended to humiliate the tribe.

The prosecution argued tribal members willfully violated state law and orchestrated the scene to embarrass the police in the media.

On Tuesday morning, Judge McGuirl instructed the jury to decide based on the evidence and facts. She said race should not be a factor. And her instructions regarding resisting-arrest charges said that a defendant has a right to use reasonable force in an arrest in which an officer uses excessive force.

The resulting verdicts for each defendant are listed below:

* Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas, who has served on the tribal council since 1990 and was elected the tribe’s youngest chief sachem since Colonial times:

- Not guilty: Disorderly conduct

- Not guilty: Resisting arrest

- Guilty: Simple assault

* Hiawatha Brown, who works as a stonemason and has served on the tribal council for much of the past three decades:

- Guilty: Disorderly conduct

- Not guilty: Resisting arrest

- Guilty: Simple assault

* John Brown, the tribe’s medicine-man-in-training and historic preservation officer who's been on the tribal council for 25 years:

- Not guilty: Disorderly conduct

- Not guilty: Resisting arrest

* Thawn Harris, a federally trained conservation officer for the tribe:

- Not guilty: Resisting arrest

- A second charge, of simple assault, was dropped

* Adam Jennings, a dealer at Foxwoods Resort Casino in eastern Connecticut:

- Not guilty: Disorderly conduct

- Not guilty: Resisting arrest

* Randy Noka, tribal first councilman and a federally trained law enforcement officer who works at the Mohegan Sun casino in eastern Connecticut:

- Guilty: Disorderly conduct

- Not guilty: Resisting arrest

* Bella Noka, Randy Noka’s wife, who was on the tribal council at the time of the raid:

- Not guilty: Disorderly conduct

- Not guilty: Simple assault

- Not guilty: Obstruction

Six tribal members were defended by lawyer William P. Devereaux, a former Rhode Island assistant attorney general who handled mob prosecutions and environmental cases and who has lobbied for casino interests, including the most recent backer of the Narragansett tribe’s gambling plans.

Kevin J. Bristow, who began at the Brooklyn, N.Y., district attorney’s office prosecuting homicide cases and later worked as a Rhode Island state prosecutor, defended Harris, the tribal conservation officer.

The state's prosecutors were Special Assistant Attorney General Pamela E. Chin, the lead prosecutor who joined the Attorney General’s Office in 1998 after working in private practice, and Special Assistant Attorney General Maria Ferro Deaton, who joined the attorney general’s office in 2006 after working as a Cape Cod prosecutor and in private practice in Yuma, Ariz.

-- With reports from projo.com staff writers Michael McKinney and Jack Perry and Journal staff writer Katie Mulvaney