Criminal

Abramoff-Related Conviction Reversed by D.C. Circuit

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The case is US v. Safavian, and the opinion is here.

From the news coverage:

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court overturned the conviction of a former White House official Tuesday in a significant defeat for prosecutors who are overseeing the investigation into the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal.

David Safavian was convicted in 2006 of four charges related to statements he made to officials who were investigating Abramoff, a former lobbyist who pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe lawmakers and bilking his Indian-tribe clients out of millions of dollars.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out two felony-concealment charges against Safavian, saying he had “no legal duty to disclose” details about his relationship with Abramoff to General Services Administration ethics and inspector-general officials. At the time, Safavian was the GSA’s chief of staff and helped Abramoff attempt to buy two GSA-managed properties in the Washington area.

LA Times on Soboba Killings

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From the LA Times. An excerpt:

San Jacinto Mayor Jim Ayres and the City Council asked the tribe to withdraw an application to annex more than 500 acres of land for a hotel and casino complex until the violence is quelled.

But Salgado, 65, is having none of it.

No one, he says, has the right to tell Indians how to run their sovereign nations.

“Why didn’t Stone come to me man to man and say that? And who is the mayor of San Jacinto to tell us what to do?” he asked. “Where were these people when we had nothing? Now that we are self-sufficient, it makes them fearful.”

State of Washington v. Pink — PL280 in Washington State

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the opinion by the Washington Court of Appeals:

We hold that, because he did not commit any traffic violations involving the operation of a motor vehicle, the State lacked the jurisdiction necessary to prosecute Pink, an enrolled tribal member, for allegedly unlawfully possessing a firearm in violation of RCW 9.41.040 on SR 109 within the Quinault Tribe lands.

Report on PL 280 Published

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indian Country Today:

pl280_study

LOS ANGELES – When attorney Carole Goldberg was asked by a law professor at Stanford Law School in 1970 to research Public Law 280 for a book he was writing, she produced a 100-page paper.

The subject intrigued her, she told Indian Country Today.

Now, 38 years and dozens of articles later, Goldberg is an acknowledged expert on P.L. 280 and, with her University of California – Los Angeles colleague Duane Champagne, recently completed a 568-page report called ”Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice under Public Law 280.”

Continue reading →

The Legal Needs of Native American Survivors of Sexual Violence

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Sexual Violence Law Center: Report

District Court Judge on Tribal Cops at Rosebud

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Indianz reports that the district court judge in South Dakota will adopt the report and recommendation of the Magistrate in United States v. Erickson (dct-order-adopting-rr-in-erickson-case). Here are the rest of the materials.

US v. Friday — Constitutional Challenge to National Eagle Repository Rejected

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the Tenth Circuit’s decision in United States v. Friday — us-v-friday-ca10 (thanks to Sarah Krakoff for the heads-up).

Judge McConnell wrote the decision. Here is our previous commentary on the case (here). Guess no circuit split….

Gordon v. House Materials

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Coverage from Indianz on this case (here).

Here are the materials:

house-opening-brief

new-mexico-answering-brief

house-reply-brief

ca10-opinion-gordon-v-house

Indian Fraud Violates RICO

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indianz:

Three men who created a fake tribe at an Arby’s restaurant are guilty of violating federal racketeering laws, a judge ruled last week.

The “Wampanoag Nation, Tribe of Grayhead, Wolf Band” and its founders filed numerous legal claims against officials in Utah. The targets responded with a countersuit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Judge Stephen P. Friot agreed that James W. Burbank, Martin T. Campbell, Dale N. Stevens, and Thomas Smith violated the law. He said the men used their fake tribe and other organizations to try and intimidate government officials. The group is not in any way affiliated with the two federally recognized Wampanoag tribes in Massachusetts.

We’ve written about these guys before (here).

Continue reading →

Eastern Cherokee Judge Martin on Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the article from the ABA Judicial Division Record — inside-the-maze.

This story highlights the problem of violence against women in Indian Country, with the Amnesty Report (available here) as a jumping off point.