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[article provided by Pat Morris. Thanks!]

Tue, 29 Feb 2000
http://www.billingsgazette.com/

Court says U.S. can prosecute  Indians a second time

SAN FRANCISCO - An Indian who commits a crime on another tribe's land and
is convicted in tribal court can be prosecuted again, with a longer sentence, in
federal court, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

In a case from northeastern Arizona, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said
the multiple prosecutions do not violate the Constitution's ban on double
jeopardy - being prosecuted twice for the same crime.

An Indian tribe and the federal government are separate sovereignties and
can file separate charges for the same conduct, in the same way that someone
can be charged in both state and federal court for the same acts, the court said.

Tribes can prosecute Indians from any tribe for crimes committed on their land.
They cannot prosecute non-Indians.

Allowing a separate federal prosecution is important because the maximum
sentence in tribal court is a year in jail, said Cathy Colbert, spokeswoman for
the U.S. attorney's office in Phoenix.

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