McGirt
How Does McGirt Affect Custody Cases for Tribal Members Living in Indian Country?
The United States Supreme Court decision that decided that most of Northeast Oklahoma are actually tribal reservation land. Read more »Does McGirt Affect People's Rights to Vote?
McGirt and the right to vote. I'm Oklahoma criminal attorney James Wirth, and I'm talking about how the McGirt decision may affect people's rights to vote. Read more »McGirt Class Action Suit for Return of Fines & Costs Taken by Oklahoma in MCN
The United States Supreme Court on July 9th of 2020 decided that the Muskogee Creek Nation Reservation was never disestablished. Read more »What About Indian Victims Under the McGirt Precedent?
What about Indian victims under the McGirt precedent? Tulsa attorney, James Wirth answers. Read more »McGirt Class Action: Municipalities' Response
Oklahoma attorney, James Wirth discusses the municipalities' response to the class action lawsuit under McGirt. Read more »McGirt Class Action: State's Response
What is the state's response to the class-action lawsuit, seeking fines and costs back to defendants who were prosecuted improperly in state court in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation? Tulsa criminal attorney James Wirth has that answer. Read more »McGirt: Can Tribes Prosecute Non-Indians?
The Violence Against Women Act that became federal law in 1994, it added the ability for tribes to prosecute certain offenses even against non-natives. And those crimes are domestic violence, dating violence, violation of protective orders, where one of the three things occurs. Read more »McGirt: Where Are the Tribal/Reservation Boundaries?
Where are the tribal boundaries? Oklahoma attorney, James Wirth, speaks on McGirt and the repercussions that follow it. Read more »McGirt: When Jurisdiction Not Addressed at Trial and Direct Appeal is Pending
What happens when you did not question the jurisdiction of the court under McGirt at your trial and your case is now on direct appeal? Oklahoma Attorney, James Wirth answers. Read more »McGirt: Direct Appeal Denied at the Trial Level?
What happens when you make a McGirt argument on direct appeal after being denied at the trial level? Tulsa attorney, James Wirth answers that question. Read more »McGirt Dismissal in Tulsa County
They are dismissing many cases if you have clear evidence that the defendant is Native American and clear evidence that it occurred within the boundaries of the Muskogee Creek Nation, then they are dismissing those and sending those off to either the tribe or the Feds for potential prosecution, depending on what the circumstances of the case are and where it needs to be potentially tried. Read more »McGirt: Who Has Burden of Proof to Establish Tribal Membership or Lack Thereof?
Who has the burden of proof for the defendant's tribal membership or lack thereof for prosecution in state court? Tulsa attorney, James Wirth has the answer. Read more »McGirt: Tulsa County DA is Stipulating to Tribal Membership but Setting Up Blood Quantum Battle?
United States Supreme Court on July 9th, 2020, decided that for vast areas in Northeast Oklahoma that the state courts, meaning the county courts, the district attorney's offices, particularly Tulsa County, lacked jurisdiction to charge Native Americans. Read more »McGirt: Tulsa Federal Head Prosecutor Hit with "Absolute Tsunami of Cases!"
KTUL interviewed Trent Shore, and he is the Chief Federal Prosecutor for the Northern District of Oklahoma, which covers about a third of the state of Oklahoma, but primarily deals with all of these issues with the Muskogee Creek Nation not being disestablished and all of these prosecutions that are going that direction. So hundreds, if not thousands, of cases were improperly tried in state court and now need to go to federal and tribal courts, if they have the ability to do that after the amount of time that's gone by. And the quote from Trent Shore in that article is that he's being hit and his department's being hit with an absolute tsunami of cases. He's describing that in the last 20 years, they've handled three homicides, but they've picked up about 20 homicides just in the last six weeks. Read more »McGirt: Oklahoma Attorney General Not Conceding Existence of Reservations
The United States Supreme Court case that decided that most of Northeast Oklahoma is reservation land still because the tribes reservations were not disestablished through statehood. And that all of these cases that the States have prosecuted against native Americans over the last 100 years, they never have the authority to do that. Read more »McGirt: Why Pursue Expungement Instead of Post-Conviction Relief for Some Completed Cases
Why pursue expungement instead of post-conviction relief for completed sentences that fall under McGirt? Tulsa attorney James Wirth answers. Read more »Where Do You Find the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Tribal Code?
The McGirt decision from the United States Supreme Court, says that the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation was never disestablished through statehood, which means that way more land than we thought now is actually on the reservation and subject to the jurisdiction of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and that includes most of Tulsa County and many of the surrounding counties. So, that means a lot more cases are going to be going on in Muscogee (Creek) Tribal Court, particularly we're talking about criminal cases. Read more »Cultivation of Marijuana Is a Felony in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation
Attention Green Country growers: Cultivation of Oklahoma marijuana is a felony on the Muscogee Creek Reservation. I'm Tulsa Criminal attorney, James Wirth. We're about to talk about the Muscogee Creek Nation Code and how it deals with cultivation. So all of this is relevant because of the McGirt Decision that came out in June of 2020 where the United States Supreme Court held that the Muscogee Creek Tribal Reservation was never disestablished through Oklahoma Statehood. And what that means is that there's a good chunk of Northeast Oklahoma, including most of Tulsa County, and all of them, many of the surrounding counties, are actually part of the Muscogee Creek Tribal Reservation, and native Americans living in that area are going to be subject to the laws of the Muscogee Creek Nation, in addition to state law and federal law. Read more »What's Your Right to Speedy Trial in Muscogee (Creek) Tribal Court?
What is your right to a speedy trial in the Muscogee Creek Nation Tribal Court? Tulsa Attorney, James Wirth has that answer. Read more »Is First Offense of Possession of Marijuana in Oklahoma a Felony?
There Is a Risk for a Felony If You Are a Tribal Member, Any Tribal Member, and You Are Possessing on Muskogee (Creek) Reservation Land. Read more »Are Landlords Renting to Growers in NE Oklahoma Committing a Felony?
Attention landlords renting to growers here in Northeast, Oklahoma. You're going to want to know what the Muscogee Creek Nation code says about your circumstances. I'm Tulsa attorney James Wirth, and we're about to talk about that. This all starts with the McGirt decision from the United States Supreme Court coming down in June 2020, and what it said is that the Muscogee Creek Nation reservation was never disestablished through Oklahoma statehood. This means a lot of the land in Northeast, Oklahoma, including most of Tulsa County and all of many of the surrounding counties, is all reservation land subject to the jurisdiction of the Muscogee Creek Nation. Now the Muscogee Creek Nation is a sovereign entity. It does not recognize, necessarily the OMMA and licensing and all of those things, so we've got to look at what the code for the tribe says to see if this may be applicable to you. Read more »Statute of Limitation for Criminal Charges in Muscogee (Creek) Nation Tribal Court
If you're in a circumstance where you are Native American, were you were tried in state court for a crime that occurred on what we now know is reservation land, you're going to want to know the statute of limitations in the tribal court to see if you get your case dismissed and reversed, whether they can still charge you in the tribal court. So that's why we want to look at the statute of limitations for the tribe. Read more »DUI Is Never a Felony in Muscogee (Creek) Nation Tribal Court
US Supreme Court in McGirt found the Muscogee Creek original reservation was not disestablished and it comes with a chunk of NE Oklahoma. Read more »Is Possession of Drugs a Felony in Muscogee (Creek) Nation Tribal Court?
Most of Northeast Oklahoma, including most of Tulsa County and all of many of the surrounding counties, is all part of the Muskogee Creek Tribal Reservation, which means that native Americans, whether they're members of that tribe or any other tribe, are going to be subject to criminal filings against them for crimes that occur in that area. Because of that, we're looking at the differences between state law and tribal law now that we're about to see a lot more cases in tribal court, as we're seeing a lot of cases thrown out of state court. One of the more interesting ones is possession of drug paraphernalia. Read more »Murder by Sleeping? One Reason Some Are Happy About McGirt Decision
Oklahoma has one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation. It was actually number one for women and number one for men for a period of time. Now I believe we're down to number two in the nation for prison population. There are many reasons that go into that, but I've got an example of a case that gets you an idea on why some people are happy that the McGirt decision came out and divested the state courts with authority to charge certain Indians for crimes in Northeast, Oklahoma. Read more »
