United States Ninth Circuit

Dismissal of an indictment brought against defendants under the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act (CCTA) is affirmed where the district court did not err in interpreting and applying the Yakama Treaty to dismiss the indictment against defendants as the government cannot rely on the State of Washington's pre-notification requirement as the basis for pursuing a CCTA prosecution against tribal members of the Yakama Nation.

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/17/2006
• Decided 05/18/2007
• Published 05/18/2007

Judges

• PAEZ, Circuit Judge., Before D.W. NELSON, DAVID R. THOMPSON, and RICHARD A. PAEZ, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• James A. McDevitt, United States Attorney, and Jane Kirk, Assistant United States Attorney, Yakima, WA, for the plaintiff-appellant., Sharon I. Haensly, Debora Juarez, Gabriel S. Galanda, and Daniel W. Ferm, Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC, Seattle, WA, for amicus The Yakama Nation., Jack W. Fiander, Towtnuk Law Offices, Ltd., Sacred Ground Legal Services, Inc., Yakima, WA, for amicus Yakama Nation Commerce Association.


• For Appellees:
  
• Rebecca L. Pennell, Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho, Yakima, WA, for defendant-appellee Kato Smiskin., Russell Mazzola, Mazzola Law Office, Yakima, WA, for defendant-appellee Harry James Smiskin.