Inmates seek to join lawsuit filed by Muscogee Nation against the city of Tulsa (2024)

Nearly a dozen inmates have sought to intervene in a federal lawsuit filed by the Muscogee Nation against the city of Tulsa over who has criminal jurisdiction over tribal members when it comes to traffic tickets and similar municipal citations.

The inmates, 10 so far, all claim in filings this month to be tribal members who have an interest in the outcome of the case.

All of those filing requests come from the James Crabtree Correctional Center in Helena, 150 miles west of Tulsa, including that of Brian Patterson.

Since 2015, Patterson has been serving a sentence of life with the possibility of parole related to a Tulsa County robbery.

In a handwritten statement, Patterson indicated he is a Cherokee Nation member who was convicted of crimes within the Muscogee Nation reservation in the city of Tulsa “and the outcome of this matter will profoundly impact Patterson’s ability to vote and other civil liberties.”

Most of the other nine inmate requests use the same language in their motions.

The city of Tulsa has responded to some requests, including Patterson’s, essentially saying the judge assigned the case should wait until a pending state appeal involving Gov. Kevin Stitt’s brother in a similar case is decided before ruling on the intervention requests.

The city points out in its responses that many inmates seeking to intervene have already had challenges thrown out in other courts because their cases were brought after their convictions became final.

“This case is not a proper mechanism for challenging the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals decision, and Mr. Patterson is simply seeking an end-run around this Court and the State Court’s prior rulings,” the city wrote in its response to Patterson’s filing.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled relief does not apply in post-conviction appeals that rely upon the Supreme Court’s 2020 McGirt decision regarding the continued existence of the Muscogee Nation.

The motions to intervene follow the Muscogee Nation’s filing of a civil lawsuit against the city of Tulsa Nov. 15 in Tulsa federal court, seeking an injunction prohibiting the city of Tulsa from enforcing its municipal ordinances upon tribal citizens.

The Nation is seeking a declaration that the city of Tulsa doesn’t have criminal jurisdiction to prosecute tribal citizens in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 McGirt ruling.

The 10 inmates join the U.S. Department of Justice in seeking to intervene in the Muscogee Nation’s lawsuit against the city of Tulsa.

The DOJ, acting on behalf of the Interior Department, filed papers May 13 in the federal court case, seeking to intervene in the Nation’s lawsuit. The Muscogee Nation welcomed the request while the city opposed it.

The city of Tulsa, in a May 20 response to the DOJ motion, asked that the matter not be ruled upon until the judge responds to the city’s request to dismiss the lawsuit.

The city also offered the option of pausing the case until the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals rules on a case involving the governor’s brother, Keith.

Keith Stitt is challenging the city’s authority to cite him for a traffic violation in light of his tribal membership status.

“Because a decision in this case would interfere with decisions of the OCCA in pending cases involving the United States, MCN (Muscogee Nation) and the City, this case should be dismissed, and the motion to intervene rendered moot.”

In its initial filing, the Muscogee Nation asks a judge to order the city to stop enforcing its laws against tribal citizens within Indian Country.

“Tulsa’s ongoing criminal prosecutions of Indians for conduct within the Creek Reservation are causing irreparable injury to the Nation by interfering with its sovereignty and undermining the authority of its own criminal justice system, including the authority of its Attorney General, Lighthorse Police and courts to prosecute under the Nation’s owns laws criminal offenses committed by Indians within its Reservation,” the tribe said in its original complaint.

A federal appellate court in June 2023 ruled that the city of Tulsa could not rely upon the Curtis Act, a 19th century-era law, to give it criminal jurisdiction over tribal citizens within a reservation.

In addition to Keith Stitt’s case, the city of Tulsa said there are several other cases in the court pipeline that address the same jurisdictional issue.

The city of Tulsa said there is one other case similar to Keith Stitt’s pending before the OCCA. Another case involves a tribal member trespassing on land owned by a non-tribal person is pending in municipal court, but the person who challenged the city’s jurisdiction has had a warrant issued for their arrest after failing to appear at a court hearing.

City officials have argued that another U.S. Supreme Court case involving tribal jurisdiction, Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, opened the door to states and municipalities, in some cases, being able to prosecute tribal members for crimes committed on tribal land.

Attorneys for the Muscogee Nation officials say states and municipalities lack criminal jurisdiction over tribal members absent statutory authorization, which they don’t have in this case.

Tulsa World is where your story lives