Asked in Criminal Law for Oklahoma

Q: My felony warrant was recalled. It states because of mcgirt case & title 12 section 39. What do those mean exactly?

Charged with a felony 1st degree burglary and domestic assault. Police made falsehoods and omitted witnesses to which I could prove and wrote the DA proving such. Is it possible the officer is liable so they used these reasons to recall warrant instead of admitting officers fault?

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1 Lawyer Answer
David A. Cincotta
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Answered
  • Criminal Law Lawyer
  • Oklahoma City, OK
  • Licensed in Oklahoma

A: The McGirt case is a U.S. Supreme Court case decided earlier month. There is a lot to the decision - but to summarize it to its most basic form...the Supreme Court determined that certain land (the Muskogee-Creek Nation) that was historically Indian Country but not considered as such by the State of Oklahoma since statehood is still Indian Country for purposes of a federal law that restricts the prosecution of certain crimes to the federal government (or to the Tribe) if the crime was committed by or against a Native American. Thus, due to the supremacy clause, the State of Oklahoma does not have jurisdiction to prosecute Native Americans (or non-Native Americans when the victims are Native Americans) on said Indian Country for certain enumerated crimes. So, it must be the prosecutor determined that the State does not have jurisdiction to prosecute you based on the type of crime, the location of where the crime was committed (the McGirt case is expected to apply to other tribal land in Oklahoma besides just the Muskogee-Creek Nation), and either you or the victim are Native American.

Now, the dismissal could also be for the reasons you state, but you should be aware that that the U.S. Attorney can bring charges against you in federal court out of the same conduct that originally led to the State charges, and the U.S. Attorney may have been requested to do so in light of the State dismissing the charges against you per the McGirt case.

The reference to Title 12, Section 39 does not make much sense as a reason to dismiss or recall a warrant. That statute just prohibits a court clerk from making accessible online any document that references specific crimes but does not prohibit said records from being accessible to the public at the court clerk's office.

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