Split Tenth Circuit Vacates Major Crimes Act Murder Conviction and Orders New Trial on Self-Defense

Here is the opinion in United States v. Britt.

Briefs:

Britt Brief

US brief

Reply

Tenth Circuit Denies Certificate of Appealability to Prisoner Attempting to Invoke McGirt Jurisdictional Defense

Here are the materials in Williams v. Harpe:

Application for Certificate of Appealability

CA10 Order

Split Tenth Circuit Panel Affirms Sanctions Award Against Ute Tribe

Here is the order in Becker v. Ute Indian Tribe.

Lower court materials here.

Tenth Circuit Briefs in Wichita and Affiliated Tribes v. Stitt

Here:

Reply TK

Lower court materials here.

Tenth Circuit Affirms Post-McGirt Federal Conviction Where Jury Might Could Have Acquitted Defendant Under Oklahoma Self-Defense Law

Here is the opinion in United States v. Budder.

Briefs:

City of Tulsa v Hooper Stay Application Materials

Here:

Lower court materials here.

Tenth Circuit Affirms Interior Decision on Wyandotte Lands in Kansas

Here is the opinion in State of Kansas ex rel. Kobach v. Dep’t of the Interior.

Briefs here.

Tenth Circuit Decides Hooper v. City of Tulsa . . . Hooper 7, Tulsa 0

Here is the opinion in Hooper v. City of Tulsa.

Briefs here and here.

Substitute Hooper for Haley and Oklahoma for United States.

Tenth Circuit Reverses Jimcy McGirt’s Conviction, Orders New Trial

Here is the opinion:

Briefs:

Tenth Circuit Rejects Habeas Petition from Prisoner Asserting McGirt-Type Claims

Here is the opinion in McGill v. Rankin.

Available brief here:

We don’t post many of these post-McGirt prisoner cases, but this is exemplary of the numerous rejected habeas petitions filed by prisoners claiming to be Indian and convicted of crimes inside of Indian country. This person was convicted of a crime in 2001. This was his fifth habeas petition, filed in 2023, and the first raising McGirt-related claims. This footnote is as close as these late habeas petitioners get to relief:

We note that another Oklahoma prisoner also successfully made the same argument as Mr. McGirt, which the Supreme Court recognized in its decision. See McGirt, 140 S. Ct. at 2460 (“While Oklahoma state courts have rejected any suggestion that the lands in question remain a reservation, the Tenth Circuit has reached the opposite conclusion.” (citing Murphy v. Royal, 875 F.3d 896, 907-09, 966 (10th Cir. 2017)). In Murphy, we issued a writ of habeas corpus after agreeing with the petitioner that he should not have been tried in state court but instead “should have been tried in federal court because he is an Indian and the offense occurred in Indian country.” 875 F.3d at 903.

It’s not much, eh? Remember Oklahoma in 2017-18?

Oklahoma’s cert petition in Royal v. Murphy (later Sharp v. Murphy).

Maybe yes (maybe?) on the pending prosecutions, but not so much the existing convictions, eh? Hmmmm.