United States Ninth Circuit

Defendant's convictions under the Major Crimes Act, which provides for federal jurisdiction over certain crimes committed by Indians in Indian country, are reversed in part and remanded for resentencing, where: 1) whether defendant is a member of a given tribe that is federally recognized, as required for jurisdiction under Act, is a question of fact for the jury, not a question of law for the court; and 2) although the district court did not plainly err in admitting the Tribal Enrollment Certificate into evidence pursuant to the parties' stipulation, the Certificate is not sufficient evidence for a rational juror to find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is an Indian for the purposes of Act, where the government offers no evidence that the defendant's bloodline is derived from a federally recognized tribe.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/18/2013
• Published 01/18/2013

Judges

• PAEZ

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel