Two Navajo SCT Opinions Filed Late in 2011: Criminal and Grazing Permit Disputes

Here they are (website):

Bitsie v. GreyeyesOpinion.  The Court grants habeas relief to a defendant who was verbally charged with an additional crime at his pre-trial conference, arrested, then denied bail at his arraignment later the same day.  While Navajo law allows bail to be heard at arraignment, the law requires specific findings on enumerated grounds by clear and convincing evidence.  No such findings were part of the record in this case.  Additionally, the Court stated that where the underlying charge does not specify incarceraton as a possible sentence, courts shall consider alternatives to detention as a first option. (December 29, 2011).

In the Matter of Quiet Title to Livestock Grazing Permit No. 8-487 Formerly Held by Martha FrancisOpinion.  In this appeal of the Kayenta Family Court’s dismissal of a quiet title action regarding a grazing permit due to lack of subject matter jurisdiction, the Court reverses, stating that Navajo Nation Council resolution CO-59-03 did not establish the Office of Hearings and Appeals as the exclusive forum for resolving disputes concerning grazing permits and did not divest the family courts of their authority to hear and decide such matters as part of probate and quiet title actions. The Court stated that upon remand, the family court must look into whether the decedent  perfected a transfer of the permit during her lifetime or effected an oral will. Additionally, the Court addressed the 5-year statutory probate filing deadline and stated in a footnote that a late filing does not mean that a decedent’s estate may never be legally distributed. A decedent’s family may still seek distribution of the decedent’s estate through intestate administration after the statute of limitations has passed. (December 29, 2011).