North Dakota Supreme Court

Linus and Raymond Poitra appeal the district court judgment of eviction. The Poitras argue the district court erred by exercising jurisdiction over this matter, and by sending a North Dakota law enforcement officer onto the reservation to evict tribal members from property within the Turtle Mountain Reservation. We affirm.

Briefs:

Appellant Brief

Appellee Brief

North Dakota SCT Affirms Conviction of Standing Rock/NoDAPL Protester for Criminal Trespass, Vacates Riot Conviction

February 13, 2019February 13, 2019Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in State v. Bearruner.

North Dakota SCT Issues Tribal Court Jurisdiction Decision

August 29, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in Gustafson v. Poitra.

Briefs:

appellant brief

appellee brief

North Dakota SCT Asserts Concurrent Jurisdiction over Nonmember Indian Child Support Orders

July 12, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in State v. Peltier.

Briefs:

peltier brief

state brief

North Dakota SCT Rejects State Criminal Jurisdiction over Nonmember Indians

April 11, 2018April 11, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Olson v. North Dakota Dept. of Transportation:

Appellant Brief

Appellee Brief

Opinion

North Dakota ICWA Case on Qualified Expert Witness

December 11, 2017Kate Fort

Here: Interest of K.S.D. and J.S.D., 2017 ND 289

The lack of qualified expert testimony on whether the continued custody of the child by the parent or Indian custodian is likely to result in serious emotional or physical damage to the child leaves this record without evidence necessary for the district court to find the State established the ICWA requirement by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. 25 U.S.C. There is a line of authority that upholds termination of parental rights absent an ICWA qualified expert witness. We choose to follow the other branch of authority because the United States Code and the United States Code of Federal Regulations require—and do not merely suggest—that a qualified expert witness testify on the ICWA requirements in all ICWA terminations.

(Unrelated, one has to love a Court that only allows opinions to be downloaded as WordPerfect documents. That’s commitment.)

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