Landmark Case Leads to Release of Perpetrator
Glad to have you with us. I’m Brenna Rose. Jim C. McGirt, the person at the center of a landmark case, will be released from prison in just 30 days. It comes after a federal judge announced the 75-year-old’s 30-year sentence for aggravated sexual abuse has been completed with credit for time served. News Channel 8’s CJ Macklin joins us now to walk us through how this case became a Supreme Court ruling. CJ. McGirt v. Oklahoma is a law that millions of Oklahomans know very well. But the judge’s decision comes after McGirt ruled guilty last December to one count of aggravated sexual abuse in Indian country.
Jim C. McGirt, a Muscogee man, was originally convicted back in 1997 of sexually abusing a four-year-old child in Wagner County. He was sentenced to two 500-year sentences along with life without parole. McGirt appealed that conviction, stating that he was a member of the Seminole Nation and that the crime took place on the Muscogee Creek Nation Reservation. That would mean the state of Oklahoma lacked jurisdiction in his case. Over 20-plus years later, according to the Tulsa Federal Defense, he was tried federally in 2020 since the state lacked jurisdiction and he was found guilty and sentenced to 90 years in federal prison. That ruling would now spark up a law that we now know as McGirt.
Impact of McGirt Ruling on Oklahoma
But just yesterday, Judge John Hale sentenced McGirt to 30 years and granted him time served because he was in prison for over 27 years. It was after McGirt confessed to sexually abusing a child in August of 1996 as part of a plea agreement. He is expected to be out of prison in the next 30 days. When I heard that, just really shocked, like I think most Oklahomans. So McGirt is what started this whole mess and this whole jurisdictional problem. But this guy is a child rapist. He should still be in prison. We had him in prison until his defense attorneys came up with a crazy, crazy scheme that he shouldn’t be tried as an Oklahoman from Oklahoma court.
The U.S. Attorney Christopher Wilson also released a statement after the ruling of McGirt. Today’s sentence closes a chapter on a perpetrator who has attempted to evade the legal consequences of his actions at every turn. For the victim, we hope it is but a beginning. To go into a courtroom to fight, to be heard, and to be believed. That takes courage. One local attorney talks about the effect the McGirt ruling has had on thousands of Oklahomans. I can’t think of anything else that has been this big in Oklahoma or nationwide where we’ve got essentially we’re operating one way as a state for about 100 years and then just overnight the law changes.
Expert Insight from Attorney James Wirth
Criminal defense attorney James Wirth located in Tulsa also said that state courts are determined by juries, while federal courts are determined by the guidelines, which are far less extensive than the state’s court’s determinations. Live on Lookout Mountain, I’m CJ Macklin. Who should we do?
Call to Action: Schedule Your Initial Strategy Session
For expert legal guidance on cases related to the McGirt ruling or any other legal matters, contact a Tulsa attorney for a low-cost initial strategy session. Call 918-879-1681 today to schedule your appointment.
