Here is Wednesday’s opinion in United States v. White Twin (CA8):
And here is Wednesday’s opinion in United States v. Two Moons (CA9):
Eighth Circuit
Eighth Circuit Rejects Effort to Move Trust Breach Claims to Court of Federal Claims
Here is today’s opinion (the third Indian law opinion from the CA8 this week!) in Bernard v. Dept. of Interior:
The briefs:
Excerpts:
Maynard Bernard decided to develop some of the Indian trust land he owned on the Sisseton Wahpeton Reservation in a project planned with his cousin Grady Renville. Bernard and Renville consulted a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) realty officer about how to proceed. She advised Bernard to sign a gift deed to convey the entire property to himself and Renville asjoint tenants with the right of survivorship. The agency subsequently denied a request by Bernard and his wife Florine to set aside the deed. After an unsuccessful administrative appeal the Bernards brought an action in federal district court against the United States Department of the Interior (the Department) seeking review of the agency decision and money damages for breach of trust. The Bernards later amended their complaint to eliminate the damage
claim and subsequently settled with Renville, who agreed to deed back some of the land. After the district court affirmed the administrative decision and dismissed the Bernards’ action, they moved to alter the judgment, seeking transfer of their damage claim to the Court of Federal Claims (CFC). The district court denied the motion, and the Bernards appeal. We affirm.
And:
We recognize that the facts of this case are troubling. Apparently on her own initiative, the BIA realty officer advised Bernard to sign a gift deed conveying half of his interest in his entire property to Renville in a joint tenancy with the right of survivorship. In addition she told Bernard that this would be only a “temporary” arrangement based on Renville’s alleged oral assurances, and she permitted Bernard to waive appraisal of his land before the transfer. She also allowed Renville to fill out the gift deed application, apparently because Bernard’s eyesight was so bad he could not do it himself.
Eighth Circuit Affirms BIA Decision to Take Yankton Travel Plaza into Trust
Eighth Circuit Affirms Convictions of Fake Indians for Abuse of Process and Obstructing Justice
Here is the opinion in United States v. Reed:
An excerpt:
Gregory Allen Davis and Michael Howard Reed irrationally believe that their membership in the Little Shell Nation, an unrecognized Indian tribe, means they are not United States citizens subject to the jurisdiction of the federal courts. This belief led them into serious trouble. First, Reed threatened North Dakota District Judge Ralph Erickson because he refused to dismiss federal drug charges against two other Little Shell members. Months later, when District Judge Daniel Hovland denied a motion to dismiss a firearm charge pending against Reed, Davis filed a Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) financing statement listing Judge Hovland and acting United States Attorney Lynn Jordheim as $3.4 million debtors and Davis as the secured party. After a three-day trial, a jury convicted Davis and Reed of conspiring to file and filing false liens against Judge Hovland and Jordheim in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1521. The jury also convicted Reed of corruptly obstructing justice in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1503(a), based on his earlier threats. On appeal, Davis argues that the evidence was insufficient to prove a violation of § 1521. Both Davis and Reed argue, for somewhat different reasons, that the district court violated their constitutional rights by allowing them to represent themselves at trial. We affirm.
Eighth Circuit Rejects South Dakota’s Challenge to Sisseton Trust Acquisition on Standing Grounds
From the CA8 website:
111745P.pdf 01/11/2012 State of South Dakota v. U.S. Department of Interior U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 11-1745 U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota – Pierre [PUBLISHED] [Riley, Author, with Wollman and Beam, Circuit Judges]
Civil case – Indian law. In an action by the State of South Dakota seeking to prevent the Secretary of the Interior from completing land-into- trust acquisitions, the State lacked standing to bring a constitutional due process claim, and the appeal is dismissed.
Here are the briefs.
Updated Briefing in Charles Mix County’s Constitutional Challenge to IRA Section 5
We posted the opening brief here. Here are the remaining briefs:
Charles Mix County Reply Brief
Lower court materials are here.
Minnesota Court Recognizes Tribal Court Judgment of $19 Million against Gaming World International
Here is the news coverage.
We posted about the tribal court decision here.
Eighth Circuit Affirms Sentence in U.S. v. Eagle Louse
Here is the unpublished opinion.
Eighth Circuit, Over a Dissent, Affirms 48-Year Sentence for Indian Juvenile Convicted of Murder
Here is the court’s opinion in United States v. Boneshirt.
A lengthy excerpt from the dissent:
As a longtime federal judge, I have seen and reviewed scores of cases in which Indian males have been convicted of assaultive crimes, including murder. Alcohol has played a substantial role in the crime in almost every one of those cases. See, e.g., United States v. Jensen, 423 F.3d 851, 853 (8th Cir. 2005), United States v. LeClair, 338 F.3d 882, 884–85 (8th Cir. 2003), United States v. Emeron Taken Alive, 262 F.3d 711, 712 (8th Cir. 2001). And alcohol obviously played a major role in the unfortunate homicide of Ms. Walking Eagle. Yet the sentencing judge chose a sentence well above the average sentence for murder when, in context, the circumstances were not outside of the usual, serious crime by an adult male Indian, particularly on a reservation.
In addition, the district court did not take into consideration Boneshirt’s life expectancy. The sentencing judge specifically expressed the desire to protect the public by ensuring that Boneshirt would be an old man when he was released: “the Court believes that there is just too much of a risk with Mr. Boneshirt being a part of society before the point where he’s of a very mature age.” However, the district court did not properly consider Boneshirt’s background as a Native American male, who has a life expectancy of fifty-eight years. See Christopher J. L. Murray et al., Eight Americas: Investigating Mortality Disparities across Races, Counties, and RaceCounties in the United States, 3 PLoS Med. 1513, 1514 (2006) “Native American males in the cluster of Bennet, Jackson, Mellette, Shannon, Todd, and Washabaugh Counties in South Dakota had a life expectancy of 58 [years] in 1997–2001 . . . .”). Even if he earns all of his good time credit, which the district court was not optimistic about, he will still serve more than forty years in prison. The district court anticipated Boneshirt would be an old man when he was released, but in reality he may be a dead man.
News Coverage of Settlement of Alltel v. Oglala Sioux Tribe
Here, via Pechanga. The Eighth Circuit briefs are here.
An excerpt:
SIOUX FALLS — A federal lawsuit has been dismissed this week after Alltel and the Oglala Sioux Tribe ironed out a dispute over the communications company’s divested assets on the reservation.
The tribe sued Alltel in tribal court in 2009, using a sovereignty argument in an attempt to take the company’s divested assets within its reservation borders. That prompted Alltel to sue the tribe in U.S. District Court in South Dakota in 2010 to prohibit the tribal suit.
Under the June settlement that agreed to dismiss both lawsuits, the company will pay the tribe $1 million and forgive and waive past-due balances owed by tribal customers.
AT&T bought Alltel’s customer base when it acquired former Alltel assets from Verizon last June. Verizon bought Alltel in 2008.
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