tribal courts

Minn. Public Radio on Leech Lake/Cass County Wellness Court

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here. From Pechanga.

An excerpt:

Some Leech Lake tribal leaders were suspicious when asked to help create the wellness court back in 2006. The tribe is sometimes at odds with the state, and band leaders are protective of their sovereignty.

But the tribe came to realize that participating in the program gave tribal judges the chance — for the first time ever — to sit in a courtroom with county judges as equals. It gave the tribe a direct say in the outcome of cases involving band members.

The Leech Lake tribe has a lot at stake. By some estimates, as many as 60 percent of the reservation’s tribal residents struggle with drug and alcohol addictions. It’s a problem that touches nearly every family.

In Cass County, Ojibwe people make up about 12 percent of the population, but they typically account for close to half of the county jail population. They’re over-represented in the state corrections system, too, and they’re more likely to reoffend and get sent back to prison.

Korey Wahwassuck is an associate judge for the Leech Lake Band. In wellness court, she shares the bench with her counterparts from Itasca and Cass counties. Wahwassuck says the program is a way to heal people rather than lock them up.

Federal Court Rules against Navajo Courts in Nonmember Tribal Jurisdiction Case

Matthew L.M. Fletcher5 Comments

Here are the materials in EXC, Inc. v. Jensen (D. Ariz.):

DCT Order Granting EXC Motion for Summary J

Jensen Motion for Summary J

EXC Motion for Summary J

Navajo Court Defendants Brief

Jensen Response

EXC Response

Jensen Reply

EXC Reply

Tribal court materials are here.

Federal Court Denies Motion to Suppress Evidence Taken under Red Lake Tribal Court Warrant

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in United States v. Stateley (D. Minn.):

Magistrate R&R Denying Motion to Suppress

DCT Order Adopting R&R

Two Announcements from Interior

Kate Fort

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of President Obama’s commitment to fulfilling this nation’s trust responsibilities to American Indians and Alaska Natives, the Office of the Secretary of the Interior will have the Secretarial Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform hold a public Webinar meeting on Monday, August 13, 2012.

Details for registering here. (pdf)

WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services (OJS) will hold the second of six training sessions to improve the trial advocacy skills of tribal court prosecutors, defenders and judges on August 14-16, 2012, in Ignacio, Colo. This training session, which will focus on domestic violence, was originally scheduled to take place in Durango.
The training is being conducted under the Tribal Court Trial Advocacy Training Program, a joint effort by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice that furthers the mandate of the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 (TOLA) to strengthen tribal sovereignty over criminal justice matters on federal Indian lands by strengthening the skills of those who practice within the tribal court system.

Details here

Joint Interior-Justice Tribal Court Advocacy Programs for Tribal Prosecutors

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Interior Press Release on Trial Ad Programs

Trial Advocacy Training Announcement (Great falls, MT)

Trial Advocacy Training Announcement (Ignacio, CO)

From the press release:

A pilot training session on domestic violence held by the OJS and the ATJ in August 2011 in Rapid City, S.D., proved so successful that the OJS and its federal partners provided funding for seven additional sessions. The first of those, which focused on illegal narcotics, was held March 13-15, 2012, in Phoenix, Ariz. Each of the six remaining sessions, to be held through the rest of 2012 and into 2013, will focus on one training topic. The schedule for the coming sessions is:

• July 24-26, 2012, Duluth, Minn.
• August 14-16, 2012, Durango, Colo.
• September 11-13, 2012, Great Falls, Mont.
• October 2-4, 2012, Seattle, Wash.
• October 23-25, 2012, Chinle, Ariz.
• January 15-17, 2013, Albuquerque, N.M.

ABA Resolution Supporting VAWA Reauthorization and Tribal Jurisdiction

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here:

ABA Final Tribal Jurisdiction – VAWA reauthorization resolution as approved 8-7-2012

The materials are here on the ABA site as well:

Updated Materials in Poulson v. Ute Indian Tribe (State Judge Suit to Enjoin Tribal Court Proceedings)

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are updated materials:

Ute Indian Tribe Motion to Dismiss

Pro Se Defendants Motion to Dismiss

Pro Se Defendants Removal and Remand Brief

Pro Se Defendants Suppmental Motion on Retaliation

Poulson Second Omnibus Response

The complaint and tribal court materials are here.

Minnesota Wellness Court Story and Video

Adrea Korthase

Pioneer Press story is here. An excerpt

Excessive drinking cost the U.S. economy $223.5 billion in 2006, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2009, 10,839 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for roughly one-third of all traffic-related deaths in the U.S. that year.

Which brings me to Cass County District Judge John Smith and Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Tribal Court Associate Judge Korey Wahwassuck.

The jurists, from their upbringing and from handling cases, were long aware of the devastating impact of alcoholism on a good number of county residents, particularly on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation.

They realized that business as usual — locking up DWI offenders only to see them show up in court again and again for another offense — was not doing anybody any good.

So six years ago, Smith, Wahwassuck, probation officials and others established a first-of-its-kind joint DWI “wellness court.” They weathered initial pushback and resolved overlapping jurisdictional issues involving child custody and other matters.

Update in Dish Network v. Tewa: Tribal Court Exhaustion Case

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here are the materials in the pending motion to dismiss:

Hopi Motion to Dismiss

Dish Network Response

UPDATE (8/16/12): Hopi Reply

The opinion and other materials in Dish Network’s motion for a preliminary injunction in a similar case out of North Dakota are here.

Nebraska COA Decides ICWA Tribal Court Transfer Case

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here is the opinion.

An excerpt:

Even if we had not found that Sellers failed to object to the parents’ motion to transfer in the county court, his assignment of error has no merit. He argues that the court abused its discretion by ordering a transfer to the tribal court when good cause was shown not to transfer the case. But the burden to prove good cause was on Sellers. See In re Interest of Leslie S. et al., 17 Neb. App. 828, 832, 770 N.W.2d 678, 682 (2009) (“party opposing a transfer of jurisdiction to the tribal courts has the burden of establishing that good cause not to transfer the matter exists”). And per our standard of review, we review the county court’s decision for abuse of discretion. There was testimony that the tribal court could convene for any necessary hearings in Hall County. Indeed, commentary to the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ guidelines specifically referred to the ability of tribal courts to alleviate hardship on the parties and witnesses “by having the court come to the witnesses” or by appointing members of the tribe who live outside of the reservation as tribal judges. Guidelines for State Courts; Indian Child Custody Proceedings, 44 Fed. Reg. 67,584, 67,591 (Nov. 26, 1979) (not codified). Furthermore, the tribal representative testified that the tribal court could always receive testimony from witnesses in Hall County via telephone or documentary evidence. Given this evidence, the county court did not abuse its discretion in finding that Sellers failed to prove that there was good cause to deny the transfer based on hardship to potential witnesses.