Double Jeopardy Claims
Native Americans have always had problems in the United States. Over recent years it has gotten better. Problems include: poverty, unemployment, murder, suicide and deportation. After Lara, an Indian who was not a member of the Spirit Lake Tribe, ignored the Tribe’s order excluding him from its reservation, he tried to resist arrest. Resisting the arrest resulted in one of the federal officers getting struck. He later pleded guilty in Tribal Court to the crime of violence to a policeman. The Federal Government then charged him with the federal crime of assaulting a federal officer. Lara claimed that, because key elements of that crime mirrored elements of his tribal crime, he was protected by the Double Jeopardy Clause. The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution provides, "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury,
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except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." The Tribe there had exercised in its own tribal authority, and not the delegated federal authority. By accepting this argument, the Judge rejected Lara’s double jeopardy claim. The Court did not consider the merits of his due process claim.
His claim was that his prosecution was invalid because the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968. It does not guarantee counsel to an indigent criminal defendant. By proving that claim, it does not show that the source of the tribal prosecution was federal power, which is something Lara must do to win his double jeopardy claim. Like the due process claim, Lara’s argument that the phrase “all Indians” in “inherent power … to exercise criminal jurisdiction over all Indians” violates the Equal Protection Clause.
From the era of Chief Justice John Marshall through the time of Justice Thurgood Marshall, the Supreme Court has struggled to define American Indian tribal sovereignty. Tribal sovereignty includes: military, social and economic difficulties.
My research showed that Native Americans had it worse than most people. They were disrespected and treated very poorly in the 1800’s and 1900’s. Even though it is now 2000 and beyond, people’s attitudes towards them have gotten better, but not by
much.
except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." The Tribe there had exercised in its own tribal authority, and not the delegated federal authority. By accepting this argument, the Judge rejected Lara’s double jeopardy claim. The Court did not consider the merits of his due process claim.
His claim was that his prosecution was invalid because the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968. It does not guarantee counsel to an indigent criminal defendant. By proving that claim, it does not show that the source of the tribal prosecution was federal power, which is something Lara must do to win his double jeopardy claim. Like the due process claim, Lara’s argument that the phrase “all Indians” in “inherent power … to exercise criminal jurisdiction over all Indians” violates the Equal Protection Clause.
From the era of Chief Justice John Marshall through the time of Justice Thurgood Marshall, the Supreme Court has struggled to define American Indian tribal sovereignty. Tribal sovereignty includes: military, social and economic difficulties.
My research showed that Native Americans had it worse than most people. They were disrespected and treated very poorly in the 1800’s and 1900’s. Even though it is now 2000 and beyond, people’s attitudes towards them have gotten better, but not by
much.