Oklahoma AG asks federal judge to rule tribal nation lacks jurisdiction

Derrick James, McAlester News-Capital, Okla.
·2 min read
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Mar. 8—Oklahoma's attorney general is asking a federal judge to rule an eastern Oklahoma tribal nation does not have the jurisdiction to charge a non-native police officer with assaulting a tribal police officer.

Matthew Douglas, a detention officer for the Okmulgee County Sheriff's Department, was charged in December 2023 in Muscogee (Creek) Nation District Court with felony protected status battery. Records show Douglas was released on his own recognizance after a virtual court hearing on Dec. 21, 2023, with arraignment set for March 24, 2024.

Douglas was charged following a dispute over the arrest of a non-Native American man by a tribal officer for a narcotics charge and the booking of the man into the county jail that does not have a contract to house tribal inmates. The tribal officer said he made the arrest under a cross-deputization agreement with the Grand River Dam Authority and was acting as an agent of the state.

The dispute led to a physical altercation between Douglas and the tribal officer.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a petition in the Eastern District of Oklahoma stating the MCN lacks jurisdiction over Douglas.

According to Drummond's petition, the charging of Douglas is based on jurisdiction contemplated by federal law. Drummond claims the law is only applicable "during, or because of, the performance or duties of that individual during "a covered crime."

Those crimes are child violence, dating violence, domestic violence, obstruction of justice, sexual violence, sex trafficking, stalking, and violation of a protection order.

Drummond argues the narcotics charge does not fall under a covered crime.

"To be clear, the petitioner believes that these charges are unfounded, unjust, and unwise, and he intends to vigorously contest them — either in federal court, if those facts were deemed relevant to this court, or in tribal court, if this petition were not granted," Drummond wrote.

Jason Salsman, press secretary for the Muscogee Nation, told NonDoc the Nation believed Drummond's filing was a waste of state resources when the law is on the Nation's side.

"Muscogee (Creek) Nation is aware that Attorney General Drummond's office has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the authority of the nation to file criminal charges in its own court and under its own laws against a non-Indian defendant for acts occurring within the Muscogee Reservation, even though Congress has already affirmed the authority of tribal nations to exercise this authority in certain situations," Salsman said. "It is unfortunate that AG Drummond will spend the State's resources challenging the authority of the nation to prosecute crimes in its own Reservation when that defendant has his own attorney and is free to make those challenges for himself in court."