The U.S. Department of Justice along with the state of Oklahoma and a number of state business and energy groups are asking a federal appeals court to rehear a state death penalty case that earlier this year after a panel of judges ruled that a state court did not have jurisdiction over the case.
On Aug. 8, a three-judge panel for the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Patrick Dwayne Murphy, who was convicted of first degree murder in 2000 in McIntosh County and subsequently sentenced to death, should have been
tried in federal court rather than state court since Murphy is an American Indian and the crime occurred within the tribal boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
Crimes committed by or against American Indians on what is considered “Indian Country” fall under federal or tribal jurisdiction.
The panel ruling, which reversed an earlier Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals ruling in the case, stated that the Muscogee Creek Nation’s reservation was never officially disestablished by Congress. The court has not yet issued a mandate in the case, giving the state an opportunity to file a motion for the court to reconsider the case.
The decision sent shockwaves through the criminal justice community in Oklahoma, and the state quickly petitioned for the case to be reheard, either by a new panel of judges or the full court. If it stands, the decision could call into question the past, present, and future prosecutions of hundreds or even thousands of criminal cases in the state.
Now, in addition to the state and the U.S. Department of Justice, which filed an amicus brief in the case Oct. 10, several groups that say they have a financial stake in the ruling are asking the court to rehear the case.
The Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association filed its own amicus brief in the case on Sept. 27, while the Oklahoma Oil and Gas Association, the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce and the Environmental Federation of Oklahoma (an organization that represents and lobbies on behalf of several electrical and gas utility companies, as well as other industries in the state on environmental issues) filed a combined amicus brief the following day. The Oklahoma Municipal League also submitted a separate brief on Sept. 28.
“OIPA does not traditionally comment on habeas matters, but the organization’s membership is compelled to provide comment on this case due to the broad impact that this case may have not just on criminal justice matters in Oklahoma, but also on the existing regulatory authority the state of Oklahoma currently maintains,” the brief submitted to the court by OIPA states.
Authored by A.J. Ferate, vice president of regulatory affairs for OIPA and general counsel for the Oklahoma Republican Party, the OIPA brief states that if the panel’s ruling is correct, OIPA’s members would possibly be required to submit drilling, air or water permits to tribal or federal regulators, rather than or in addition to state entities. Wells may also be subject to tribal taxation as well as state taxation, the OIPA states.
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Source: The Frontier, Clifton Adcock, October 19, 2017
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