TULSA, Okla. — Two Oklahoma District Attorneys are facing a lawsuit from the Department of Justice.
The court filings seek to halt their prosecution of tribal citizens for crimes committed within Indian Country.
The complaint alleges that Rogers County District attorney Matt Ballard and Okmulgee and McIntosh County District attorney Carol Iski do not have criminal jurisdiction over Native Americans.
You may remember back in 2020 – the Supreme Court ruled in McGirt Versus Oklahoma that most of eastern Oklahoma is on tribal reservations.
Local News
What is the McGirt decision?
That limited state authority over crimes involving tribal members.
Then, in 2022, a ruling in the Castro-Huerta case allowed states to prosecute non-Natives committing crimes against tribal citizens on tribal reservations.
More recently in the case of the City of Tulsa versus O’Brien, Oklahoma courts ruled that the state has jurisdiction in some cases involving Native American defendants.
“Two weeks ago, Oklahoma courts said that the state does have jurisdiction over some Native American defendants and so we are moving forward with that. We are prosecuting cases against bad actors that need to be in jail and that need to be behind bars, and the state has an interest in that and we’re moving forward with that,” said Ballard.
Since then, some Oklahoma prosecutors have used this ruling to claim a broader jurisdiction in the prosecution of tribal citizens.
However, according to the lawsuit filed by the DOJ, this violates federal law.
2 News dug into the court documents, and on page 14, the filing states:
“By continuing to prosecute Indians, including non-member Indians in Indian country despite overwhelming federal case law establishing that Oklahoma does not have jurisdiction over such cases, Defendant has spurned federal Indian law and has itself created jurisdictional chaos.”
Ballard said he is appalled by this lawsuit.
“If the federal government wants to come in and take over these cases they can do the investigation. You don’t see that happening. These are local investigations and this is local law enforcement and there is an absolute state interest in that,” said Ballard.
According to the court documents related to Ballard, the suit specifically lists cases his office filed against defendants, Brayden Bull, Tony Williams and Eric Ashley.
They include horrific crimes such as producing violent child porn involving the rape of toddlers, drug dealing and child neglect.
“These cases are the most egregious, examples of crimes that you can imagine and they wouldn’t go prosecuted and we can see that in these specific cases. In these cases, nobody had filed from the federal government and had filed charges until my office stepped forward and stood in the gap and took on offenders that needed to be in prison,” said Ballard.
Rogers County Jail
Ballard says he is committed to enforcing the laws of Oklahoma, and he will not sit back and let the federal government interject itself into the community that he calls home.
We reached out to Carol Iski’s office for comment but have not heard back.
Cherokee Nation attorney General Chad Harsha sent 2 News this statement:
Since the McGirt decision affirmed the status of the Cherokee Nation reservation, we have worked diligently to meet our public safety responsibilities and collaborate with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners. This collaboration requires mutual respect for jurisdictional limits and the rule of law, which are deeply rooted in the United States’ founding and constitution.
Attempts by some law enforcement officials to circumvent the law and improperly impose state jurisdiction over tribal citizens within tribal reservations impact the integrity of criminal cases and put Oklahoma’s public safety at risk. We appreciate the Department of Justice’s action to properly enforce the law and will continue to follow this matter closely as we continue to protect our rights and our sovereignty
Governor Kevin Stitt said in a Facebook post :
“Biden’s DOJ would rather let criminals – including drug traffickers and child abusers – go free instead of letting Oklahoma district attorneys prosecute criminals. The McGirt decision continues to cause chaos in my state and our DAs are one of the last lines of defense. This is insanity.”
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