Muscogee Creek Nation Was Never Disestablished
Video Transcribed: McGirt has now been officially applied to a non-Indian defendant for crimes committed against Indians. I’m McGirt attorney James Wirth. And we’re talking about a new case, just decided March 11th of 2021 that expands the McGirt precedent and expands it in a couple of different ways.
The first off is that involves a crime that occurred on the historic boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation. So, that case decided that the Chickasaw Nation was never disestablished just like McGirt decided that the Muscogee Creek Nation was never disestablished.
And then in this case, based on other precedent and prior laws, that means that the state of Oklahoma lacks jurisdiction, not only to charge Indian defendants but also to charge non-Indians for crimes that occurred against Indians.
So, in the Bosse case, the defendant, Bosse himself, is not Native American. He is not an Indian, but the victims of his crime are Indian. And because of that, the court lacked jurisdiction, the state lacked jurisdiction to prosecute him. And now the court has vacated that sentence, vacated the conviction, and remanded it back to the trial court with instructions to dismiss.
Bosse himself is on death row, and this is undoing all of that. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s going to be released. The feds do have the opportunity to reprosecute them so long as the statute of limitations has not passed and there is still sufficient evidence for a new trial.
But he’s not the only one this is going to be occurring for. This applies to anybody who’s been convicted of a crime within the boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation, who is either Native American or the victims or alleged victims of the crimes were Native American.
So, it’s more disruption in our criminal justice system related to the McGirt precedent, but it’s also an opportunity for wrongfully convicted people under those circumstances, or for those that are overly charged or overly sentenced to get relief.
So, if that is something you’ve got questions about and want to talk to the attorney about your specific circumstances, you can talk to somebody at my office about that. You can get that scheduled by going to makelaweasy.com.
