Oklahoma AG wants people released on McGirt back in custody
Jan. 19—Oklahoma Attorney General John O'Connor said certain inmates released from state prison on McGirt claims should be rearrested following the U.S. Supreme Court's denial to hear the issue of retroactivity.
The Supreme Court let stand last week an Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruling that the high court's July 2020 landmark ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma did not apply retroactively to criminal cases in which an inmate's appeals have been exhausted.
O'Connor told a Tulsa television station on Friday that people who were released due to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in McGirt "must be taken back into custody."
"Last week's SCOTUS decision leaves in place the victory the state won six months ago," said Rachel Roberts, Oklahoma AG communications director. "So, any process of putting people back behind bars has already started."
SCOTUS rejected the appeal of Clifton Parish, a member of the Choctaw Nation who argued the state did not have jurisdiction over him because the killing for which he was convicted happened on land within the tribe's historic reservation.
Parish asked SCOTUS whether McGirt applies retroactively to convictions that were final when McGirt was announced, in which the high court denied Parish's petition and leaving OCCA's ruling intact.
O'Connor told the television station that his office was sending out new guidance to district attorneys in eastern Oklahoma on how to handle the re-arresting of previously convicted criminals who still had time left on their sentences.
District 18 District Attorney Chuck Sullivan serves two southeast Oklahoma counties within the Choctaw Nation tribal boundaries.
Sullivan said his office awaits the attorney general's guidance.
"My office has not yet received any guidance from the AG, but we are reviewing cases to see if any meet the criteria," Sullivan said.
Oklahoma's petitions asking SCOTUS to reverse or limit its decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma were scheduled for review on Friday for a third time.
The state seeks the full reversal of the court's decision in the landmark 2020 case. Oklahoma alternatively asks the nation's top court to limit its decision and allow the state to criminally prosecute non-Native Americans who commit crimes against Native Americans on reservations.
Judges of the court were scheduled to review the petitions on Jan. 7 with online court records show the matter was moved to the Jan. 14 conference before being moved again to the Jan. 21 conference.
According to the U.S. Supreme Court, a case only needs four votes to be accepted for review with all conference decisions to be published at a later date and could be announced as soon as Monday, Jan. 24.
Out of the more than 40 petitions filed by the state, the main argument comes in the case against Victor Manuel Castro-Huerta who was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment for child neglect in Tulsa County District Court.
OCCA overturned the case in April, ruling the state did not have jurisdiction to prosecute Castro-Huerta because the victim was a Cherokee and the crime occurred within the Cherokee Reservation.
The state appeals court has repeatedly denied the state's argument of having concurrent jurisdiction stating the state's theory is a "political matter" only addressable with Congress, not the court.
Contact Derrick James at djames@mcalesternews.com
