Criminal Law
Is Spanking Child Abuse in Oklahoma?
An Oklahoma Statute preserves your right to appropriately discipline your children, either in the form of spanking, switching, or paddling. Read more »McGirt Now Officially Applies to All of the "Five Civilized Tribes."
McGirt attorney James Wirth talks about an expansion of the McGirt precedent from the United States Supreme Court on July 9th of 2020. Read more »Grayson: McGirt DOES Apply to the Seminole Nation
The court found that the Seminole Nation was established and pursuant to the McGirt precedent, the court has to find that there was clear, unambiguous congressional language passed into law that disestablished it in order for it to be disestablished. Read more »Sizemore: McGirt DOES Apply to Choctaw Nation Reservation
McGirt attorney talks about a new decision from the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals that dropped today, April 1st, 2021. Read more »Major McGirt Decision Update!
Recently, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals handed down two important decisions regarding the status of the Cherokee tribe and the Chickasaw tribe. Read more »McGirt Officially Applied to Non-Indian with Indian Victims
The Chickasaw Nation was never disestablished just like McGirt decided that the Muscogee Creek Nation was never disestablished. Read more »Does Oklahoma Have Concurrent Jurisdiction Over Indian Victim Cases Under McGirt?
State argues the clear language of both statute and case law, federal and state courts have concurrent jurisdiction over non-Indians. Read more »McGirt v Oklahoma
Download the full text of McGirt-v-Oklahoma (pdf) McGirt v Oklahoma Summary On July 9, 2020, the United States Supreme Court returned a decision that significantly changed criminal prosecution in Oklahoma. The court determined that boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Reservation had not been reduced when Oklahoma gained statehood in 1907. Because the Muscogee (Creek) Nation […] Read more »McGirt Class Action Lawsuits
If the State of Oklahoma lacked jurisdiction to prosecute Indians for crimes alleged to have occurred on tribal reservation land (now considered to include nearly half the State of Oklahoma), what about the those wrongfully prosecuted and held and those required to pay fines and costs that the State had no authority to collect? That […] Read more »Is the Timing of Obtaining Tribal Membership Relevant to Jurisdiction?
Some prosecutors are objecting to dismissals based on McGirt if the Defendant was not a tribal member on the date of the alleged offense. When determining who is an “Indian” under the relevant Federal law, is one born an Indian or does one only become an Indian when registering with the relevant tribe? Prosecutors are asserting the […] Read more »Can the Court Delay Dismissal to Allow Time for McGirt Charges in Tribal or Federal Court?
In the Travis Hogner case, mentioned in the article about McGirt Reservation Boundaries. (Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals F-2018-138), the Attorney General in its Supplemental Brief of Appellee After Remand nearly acknowledges that the State had no jurisdiction to prosecute and confine the defendant but states, “Should this Court find the defendant is entitle to relief […] Read more »Can Subject Matter Jurisdiction be Waived in McGirt Cases
In an attempt to avoid the overturning of thousands of unlawful convictions in Oklahoma courts, many prosecutors and the State Attorney General are asserting that lack of jurisdiction arguments were waived by the defendants not asserting it previously or that the doctrine of “Laches” prevents it from being heard now given the delay. However, Oklahoma […] Read more »Is There A Requisite Blood Quantum for McGirt Relief?
Prosecutors do not like dismissing cases or having convictions overturned, so there has been much incentive for creative arguments to get around the consequences of the McGirt ruling. One such argument is to decrease the number of people that qualify as “Indian” by requiring some specific quantum of Indian blood, irrespective of tribal membership. The authority cited […] Read more »Does McGirt Precedent Apply to Municipal Courts?
On February 2, 2021, Judge McCune, the presiding judge for Tulsa Municipal Court, ruled that the City of Tulsa maintains jurisdiction over Indians who are alleged to have committed offenses within the boundaries of the City of Tulsa, irrespective of the McGirt holding. McCune found that Section 14 of the Curtis Act is still in full force […] Read more »Does the McGirt Precedent Apply to Misdemeanors?
The McGirt case specifically dealt with a crime enumerated under the Major Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. 1153) and committed within the historic Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation. The Major Crimes Act provides that the prosecution of an Indian for a “major crime” occurring in Indian County is within the “exclusive jurisdiction of the United States.” (Emphasis added). It cannot […] Read more »Does Oklahoma Have Jurisdiction over Non-Indian Defendants with Indian Victims
No. If a crime occurs in “Indian Country,” and EITHER the defendant or the victim is an “Indian” then the State lacks jurisdiction to prosecute. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals articulated this as far back as 1989 in State v. Klindt, 1989 OK CR 75, which said in dicta, “the State of Oklahoma does not […] Read more »Does McGirt Apply to Tribes Outside of the Five Civilized Tribes
Yes, McGirt is Very Likely to Apply to at Least Some Tribes Outside of the Five Tribes The legal tests articulated in McGirt, and the cases cited therein, could be applied to the factual histories of other tribes, but because tribal histories can be quite unique, there is little reason to believe applying the same test […] Read more »To What Historic Reservation Boundaries Does the McGirt Precedent Apply?
Both McGirt and Murphy dealt with crimes alleged to have occurred within the historic boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation; however, the circumstances of that tribe’s land and treaties are almost identical to that of the other “Five Civilized Tribes.” Therefore, the Wirth Law Office has been advising from the beginning that the McGirt precedent […] Read more »Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Shoots Down Prosecutors' Blood Quantum Argument in McGirt Case
The Muskogee Creek Nation was never disestablished and a good portion of Northeast Oklahoma is still reservation territory. Read more »Procedural Bars to McGirt Relief Fail at Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals
McGirt case dealt with the boundaries of the Muskogee Creek nation and how it was never disestablished, therefore it's still tribal land. Read more »Bosse: McGirt DOES Apply to Chickasaw Nation
So for anybody who is Native American, Indian, who has been charged or convicted, or has a pending case in any of those territories of historic boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation, they may be subject to dismissal. Read more »Hogner: McGirt DOES Apply to the Cherokee Nation Reservation!
The United States Supreme Court decision from July 9th of 2020 ruled that Muskogee Creek Tribal Reservation was never disestablished. Read more »Tulsa City Judge Rules McGirt Does Not Apply to Tulsa Municipal Court
McGirt Attorney, James Wirth, speaks on jurisdiction for crimes committed within the City of Tulsa limits by Native Americans. Read more »Does the McGirt Precedent Apply to Municipal Cases? Tulsa Says No!
United States Supreme Court that ruled the Muskogee Creek historic reservation boundaries were never disestablished. Read more »McGirt Class-Action Lawsuit Update: Dismissal Appealed
Oklahoma attorney James Wirth, speaks on the class-action lawsuit filed in Okmulgee County District Court, seeking compensation for fines and costs paid by Native Americans that were improperly prosecuted in state courts. Read more »
