Tulsa Attorney BlogCategory: McGirt

22 Articles:

• Where Do You Find the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Tribal Code?

  By Staff, August 20th, 2020

  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.

• Cultivation of Marijuana Is a Felony in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation

  By Staff, August 19th, 2020

  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.

• What’s Your Right to Speedy Trial in Muscogee (Creek) Tribal Court?

  By Staff, August 18th, 2020

  What is your right to a speedy trial in the Muscogee Creek Nation Tribal Court? I’m Tulsa Attorney, James Wirth and we’re about to talk about the right to a speedy trial in Muscogee Creek Nation. So with the McGirt decision for the United States Supreme Court that said that the Muscogee Creek Reservation was never disestablished, there’s way more reservation land now, which means there’s way more jurisdiction for the tribe. And there’s way more cases going to tribal court, and we’re about to see more and more of that. So that brings us to looking at some of the differences between state court and tribal court regarding your rights, because a lot of the rights are under US Constitution, are under Federal Law or under State Law.

• Is First Offense of Possession of Marijuana in Oklahoma a Felony?

  By Staff, August 17th, 2020

  Is first offense, simple possession of marijuana in Oklahoma, a felony again? I’m Tulsa attorney James Wirth, and the answer to that question is yes, for some people. So let me give you a little bit of the background. So the laws in Oklahoma and elsewhere regarding controlled and dangerous substances, they have five different schedules for lists of drugs going from the more serious to the less serious, Schedule 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Marijuana is listed at Schedule 1 at the federal level, the state level and at the Muskogee (Creek) Nation tribal level. However, in Oklahoma, although initially marijuana was a felony, it was removed from the level of being a felony decades ago and had been prosecuted as a first offense for a misdemeanor.

• Are Landlords Renting to Growers in NE Oklahoma Committing a Felony?

  By Staff, August 14th, 2020

  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. So, 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.

• Statute of Limitation for Criminal Charges in Muscogee (Creek) Nation Tribal Court

  By Staff, August 13th, 2020

  If you’re in a circumstance where you are Native American, 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.

• DUI Is Never a Felony in Muscogee (Creek) Nation Tribal Court

  By Staff, August 12th, 2020

  DUI is never a felony under the Muscogee Creek Nation Tribal Court. Tulsa attorney, James Wirth talking about some of the differences between state law and the Muskogee Creek Nation Tribal law, now that the United States Supreme Court in McGirt has found the Muscogee Creek original reservation has not been disestablished and actually it comes as a nice chunk of Northeast Oklahoma, including most of Tulsa County and all of, many of the surrounding counties. So we’re seeing a lot of cases get dismissed in state court because that McGirt case says that the state court has no jurisdiction over crimes committed by or against tribal members on the reservation. And now we’re seeing a lot of new cases filed in Muscogee Creek Tribal Court.

• Is Possession of Drugs a Felony in Muscogee (Creek) Nation Tribal Court?

  By Staff, August 11th, 2020

  A lot 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.

• Murder by Sleeping? One Reason Some Are Happy About McGirt Decision

  By Staff, August 10th, 2020

  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. So there are a lot of 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.

• Is McGirt Going to Effect Deprived Child Cases in Oklahoma?

  By Staff, August 7th, 2020

  In a deprived child case, that is where the state of Oklahoma or another government entity has taken children out of the home, put them into state or governmental custody in order to protect them from parents who have deprived them, and Indian law has always been a big deal in deprived child cases in Oklahoma, even when CPS, Child Protective Services, DH, Department of Human Services, even when they start their investigations, that’s one of the first thing they’re looking into is are these Indian children? Is this family a member of a tribe? Are they eligible to be a member of a tribe? Because if so, ICWA applies, Indian Child Welfare Act applies, and that brings in Federal Law that greatly changes how the cases are affected.