Oklahoma AG challenges Muscogee Nation's case against county jailer over dispute caught on video

Oklahoma’s attorney general is challenging the Muscogee Nation’s right to prosecute an Okmulgee County jailer accused of assaulting a tribal police officer during a dispute over a jail booking.

Gentner Drummond filed the case Wednesday in federal court in Muskogee, asking a judge to rule the eastern Oklahoma tribe has no authority over the jailer, Matthew Douglas, because he is not Native American.

Douglas was charged with felony protected status battery on law enforcement in Muscogee Nation District Court in December, days after he was allegedly involved in an altercation with Muscogee Nation Lighthorse Police at the county jail. Lighthorse officers had been trying to drop off a non-Native man to be booked when a disagreement escalated, video of the incident shows.

The situation put a spotlight on the tensions that still exist between some local and tribal law enforcement agencies more than three years after the McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling. The landmark Supreme Court decision found that the Muscogee Nation’s reservation still exists. The ruling has since been applied to several other tribal reservations in eastern Oklahoma. The state cannot prosecute Native Americans accused of committing crimes in those areas; that authority falls to tribal and federal courts.

Drummond’s legal filing on behalf of Douglas names the Muscogee Nation’s top prosecutor, Geri Wisner; criminal prosecutor Matthew Hall; and the judge hearing the case against Douglas, Lisa Otipoby-Herbert, as defendants.

How the Muscogee Nation has responded so far

Jason Salsman, a spokesman for the Muscogee Nation, said its officials had not yet been served with the petition but "will respond appropriately when the time comes."

Speaking generally about the allegations, Salsman said Congress affirmed that the Muscogee Nation has the right to pursue such charges against non-Native defendants.

"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," Salsman said in a written statement.

McGirt v. Oklahoma, 3 years later: How police work on the Muscogee Nation reservation

Tribal courts don't have extensive powers over non-Native people accused of crimes. But a federal law passed in 2022 allows certain tribal courts to prosecute people accused of hurting a tribal police officer, regardless of whether or not that person is a tribal citizen. At a press conference in December when Wisner announced the charges against Douglas, she said that law gave the tribe jurisdiction to file charges against Douglas.

Drummond argued in his court motion that the authority granted by the new law was much more limited.

In a separate filing attached to Drummond's motion, Douglas said he attended an initial court hearing via video-conference on Dec. 21. Otipoby-Herbert told him during that hearing that he would be released on his own recognizance, he said. He is set to be formally arraigned March 27.

Wisner said in December that Lighthorse Police officers had stopped at the jail to drop off a man they had stopped after he was driving the wrong way in a school zone in Okmulgee, where both the tribe and the county jail are based. After police stopped the man, Wisner said, he admitted to fentanyl possession and was arrested.

Lighthorse officers arrested the man under jurisdiction granted by a working agreement with the Grand River Dam Authority, a state agency. The GRDA suspended that authority in the aftermath of the incident.

Gov. Kevin Stitt said the scuffle prompted him to create a new “One Oklahoma Task Force” to recommend model working agreements and legal fixes in light of McGirt. The Muscogee Nation and several other tribes have refused to participate in the task force.

The Muscogee Nation convened several law enforcement agencies earlier this week in Tulsa to discuss criminal justice issues on tribal reservations. About 300 people, including some federal prosecutors, attended.

Editor's note: This is a developing story and will be updated.

Molly Young covers Indigenous affairs. Reach her at mollyyoung@gannett.com or 405-347-3534.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma AG challenges Muscogee Nation case against Okmulgee County jailer