Cherokee Nation: McGirt is 'settled by law,' as SCOTUS readies for jurisdiction case - KTUL

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — Non-tribal member Victor Castro-Huerta was convicted in Tulsa County in 2015 and sentenced to 35 years in prison for the neglect of his stepdaughter who is a tribe member. That case is now heading to the Supreme Court with ramifications for all of Oklahoma.

“Now, this particular case is not another look at McGirt that is by now settled law,” said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. “This is a subset of McGirt, the issue, in this case, is whether the state of Oklahoma should have concurrent jurisdiction over crimes committed by nonnatives, against Members of federally recognized tribes within the reservations. The answer, of course, is no.”

Cherokee Nation Attorney General Sara Hill says they do believe the federal government should have the power to prosecute, but the nation is not opposed to coming together to figure out what works best.

“We would like to have more options to deal with what the rules should be in Indian country, that that's something that we have affirmatively sought,” said Hill. “So I do think that there's room for, you know, solutions on the civil side, which is often where the state, you know, sort of ends up going back to civil issues.”

Hill says the decision has been good for them so far, the tribe has filed 4,000 felony and misdemeanor cases. So they’re hopeful that the Supreme Court will side with them.

“The state's professed concern for the welfare of Indian crime victims is belied by the poor results of the state's exercise of criminal jurisdiction pre-McGirt. In 2019, the state only cleared about 37 robberies and aggravated assaults in the state,” said Hill. “Indians are disproportionately victimized by these unpunished crimes. Regardless of the state's failure to protect Indian victims, the law is still clear.”

The Supreme Court is set to start hearing arguments on Wednesday, and a decision isn't expected to come until this summer.

source: https://ktul.com/news/local/cherokee-nation-mcgirt-is-settled-by-law-as-scotus-readies-for-jurisdiction-case

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