Ottawa Tribal Criminal Court

In March 2023, the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma began the process of creating and implementing a Tribal Criminal Court, leaving the adjudication of civil matters with the Court of Indian Offenses for the Miami Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma took this step due to the pressures of the United States Supreme Court's decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020), holding that land reserved for the Creek Nation in Oklahoma remains a reservation, and, therefore, Indian Country for the purposes of the Major Crimes Act. These pressures came about due to the varied responses to this holding at the local, state, and federal level. At the local level, District Court judges in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, had begun recognizing that, by the reasoning of McGirt, Indian defendants held for crimes in Indian Country could only be tried in tribal or federal court, vacating their state court cases. At the state level, the Governor of Oklahoma was pushing for every case upholding the reasoning of McGirt to be appealed onward to the United States Supreme Court once again, hoping that changes in personnel on that Court would also result in an abrupt change of policy, though the McGirt case had been decided less than three years before. At the federal level, the United States Attorney's office for the Northern District of Oklahoma was waiting for an appellate level decision of the courts of Oklahoma, deferring to that authority.

This left our territory a place where justice was being impermissibly delayed, a place that could be taken to give credence to the claims of the Governor of Oklahoma that tribal nations could not be trusted to render justice. We chose, instead, to step forward and to take hold of these rights that are also a responsibility. Our decision to do so has since been validated by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals in the 2023 Brester decision, holding that the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma's reservation in northeastern Oklahoma was never disestablished.

The Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma Criminal Court has been hearing cases since the early fall of 2023. The documents on this page are the foundation of that Court.

Contact
The Court Clerk may be reached at:

(918) 541-1456.

The Miami Agency Court of Indian Offenses (CFR Court) can be contacted through:

Miami Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs

(918) 542-3396