McGirt report shows impact of decision on federal, tribal agencies

3 years ago 284

TULSA, Okla. — A caller study is showing the interaction the McGirt determination is having connected transgression cases successful Oklahoma.

The survey was commissioned by the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office, paid for by the Department of Justice and done by 2 ORU professors.

This study looks astatine however the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Cherokee Nation and Muscogee Nation are handling cases referred by the Tulsa County DA's Office from July 2020 done May 2021.

According to the report, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Cherokee Nation indicted less than 20 percent of the astir 1500 cases referred by the DA’s office. Researchers were lone capable to get constricted information from Muscogee Nation.

A bulk of those cases indicted were convulsive felonies.

“Generally speaking, there’s inactive little than a third, possibly adjacent little than 25 percent, of the convulsive cases that are getting picked up," said Dr. Curtis Ellis, prof of governmental subject astatine ORU and 1 of the authors of the report. "This is much than apt an infrastructural problem. The national courts and the tribal courts conscionable don’t person the resources to instrumentality everything that the counties are having to manus off.”

The national and tribal offices are seeing an influx of cases arsenic a effect of McGirt, which ruled Oklahoma lacks jurisdiction connected tribal land.

The U.S. Attorney's Office received 52 percent of those cases referred by the Tulsa County DA's office

“Prior to McGirt, we'd bash astir 200 indictments a year," said Clinton Johnson, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma. "I deliberation we're connected way to bash thing adjacent to 600 to 650 this year.”

Johnson said they’ve accrued their unit by astir 55 percent since McGirt, including 24 caller national prosecutors sworn successful past week. And, arsenic the study shows, immoderate cases are taking priority.

“Because of our resources, we’ve had to triage cases," Johnson said. "And erstwhile we triage those cases our archetypal interest is convulsive felonies, felonies against children, weapon crimes and things of that nature.”

But wherever does that permission the different cases?

“It seems similar the smaller, the postulation crimes, oregon misdemeanor cause offenses, or, honestly, adjacent misdemeanor home unit cases, that appears to beryllium falling done the cracks," Ellis said.

Johnson said immoderate of those cases are being referred to the tribes. The study shows Cherokee Nation is indicting non-felony cases astatine a higher complaint than U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“Those different cases are besides not going unprosecuted," Johnson said. "They're going to the tribes close now. We're referring those cases, spot crimes and things of that nature, to the 2 tribes successful my territory that are affected by the decision, which is the Muscogee Nation and the Cherokee Nation.”

You tin presumption the McGirt v Oklahoma Victim Impact Report here.

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