State prosecutors and federal prosecutors from other regions may be appearing in Tulsa federal court soon in response to a flood of new cases hitting two U.S. District Courts in Oklahoma due to a recent Supreme Court decision.
U.S. Attorney Trent Shores said Tuesday that about 20 federal prosecutors and support staff members have answered a nationwide call to help handle a surge in criminal cases here since the Supreme Court ruled that the historic Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation was never disestablished.
The Tulsa U.S. Attorney’s Office currently employs 22 criminal prosecutors, he said.
Shores said he expects about the same number of federal prosecutors and support staff from across the nation will be assisting U.S. Attorney Brian Kuester in Muskogee, where the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma is located. Shores is the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
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The court ruling came in a case involving Jimcy McGirt, a Seminole Nation tribal member who challenged whether the state had jurisdiction to prosecute him in Rogers County on the grounds that Congress never disestablished the Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation.
The win for McGirt means he and others prosecuted in state court are now facing charges in federal court. The ruling also means future cases within the Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation will be tried in federal or tribal courts when either the victim or suspect is American Indian.
Shores’ comments came during a discussion with members of the media Tuesday in the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in downtown Tulsa.
Others there to talk about the McGirt decision were Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler, Muscogee (Creek) Nation Assistant Attorney General Kyle Haskins and Tulsa Deputy Police Chief Eric Dalgleish.
The discussion also came a few days after a grand jury last week in Tulsa indicted more than 50 individuals, Shores said.
“That’s a record for the Northern District of Oklahoma and a number of those cases are cases that, but for the McGirt decision, would have been in District Attorney Kunzweiler’s office,” Shores said.
The court decision has prompted changes in protocols at all levels of law enforcement, officials said.
Dalgleish said it has been a challenge for the Tulsa Police Department to keep up with all the jurisdictional changes the ruling has created.
“Since that day we have been in the process of making sure our officers have the guidance and the information needed to make decisions correctly on the front end so that we can limit the amount of work that has to be done on the back end to decide jurisdictional issues or who will prosecute, etcetera,” Dalgleish said.
Shores, Dalgleish, Kunzweiler and Haskins all said the goal was to make the jurisdictional changes go as smoothly as possible for the public.
“Nothing has changed in terms of citizens dialing 911,” Dalgleish said. “The important thing is to get an officer where they are needed immediately and that is still occurring.”
Shores said his office has taken a number of measures post-McGirt, including distributing index-sized cards to law enforcement in the field that contain information designed to help answer questions about the change in criminal law jurisdictions.
Other considerations include how to handle juveniles charged with serious crimes when the suspect or victim is American Indian and the crime occurred within the historic Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
Shores said federal officials are working with the Stroud-based Sac and Fox Nation to hold juveniles in a secure facility there, when one is charged with a serious crime that can’t be handled in tribal court.
In the past, state courts handled most criminal cases involving juveniles. The McGirt decision means federal or tribal officials will likely be called upon to handle juvenile criminal cases where at least one of the parties is American Indian and the tribe occurred within the 11-county footprint of the historic Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation.
Both the Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee Nations also have established a 24-hour hotline to enable law enforcement to confirm with tribal officials whether or not someone is a member of one of the two tribes, Shores said.
Haskins pointed out that individuals must be members of a federally recognized tribe for the McGirt decision to apply to them. The crime also has to have occurred within the Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation, although some tribal law experts believe the same jurisdictional decision would apply to four other tribes with similar historic treaties as the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
The four other tribes are the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole Nations.
Haskins also urged tribal members to carry their tribe’s membership card when traveling.
Asked how the increase in cases was affecting the tribe, Haskins said: “We can handle it; our court system is prepared for it. If we need to build and expand, whether it is courtrooms or more personnel, we will do so.”
Kunzweiler, meanwhile, said the shift in some cases to federal court hasn’t meant less work for his prosecutors.
“From a resources standpoint when we are already strapped, it’s become quite a juggling act to figure out how we are going to handle all of these post conviction relief cases,” Kunzweiler said, adding: “How am I going to handle what’s right in front of us and how am I going to counsel law enforcement as new cases come in, but we’re doing it, and we’re paid to do it and hopefully we’ll get some relief like U.S. Attorney Shores has been talking about.”
Shores recounted instances since the McGirt ruling where individuals stopped by police have claimed they were a member of a tribe, only to find out that they lied.
“Now our officers are hearing a lot on Indians because people think it’s a get out of jail free card all of a sudden and that’s not at all what it is,” Shores said.
In addition to receiving help from other prosecutors, Shores said the Federal Bureau of Investigation is posting agents from other regions of the nation in Oklahoma on a temporary basis to help get through the push in new cases.
Some Tulsa police have also been designated by the FBI as an officer capable of upholding federal law.
All present agreed that the numerous cross-deputization agreements that already existed between area law enforcement helped smooth out the transition to the new jurisdictional reality.
“The Supreme Court decision changed our jurisdictional responsibilities, but what it did not do is change was our partnerships,” Shores said.
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Let's Talk Town Hall discussing the Supreme Court McGirt decision.
