BENCH v. STATE

2021 OK CR 12
Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma·Decided May 6, 2021·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

BENCH v. STATE
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BENCH v. STATE
2021 OK CR 12
Case Number: PCD-2015-698
Decided: 05/06/2021
MILES STERLING BENCH, Petitioner v. STATE OF OKLAHOMA, Respondent.


Cite as: 2021 OK CR 12, __ __

OPINION GRANTING POST-CONVICTION RELIEF

LUMPKIN, JUDGE:

1 ¶1 Miles Sterling Bench was tried by jury and convicted of First Degree Murder in the District Court of Stephens County, Case No. CF-2012-172. In accordance with the jury's verdict, the Honorable G. Brent Russell sentenced Petitioner to death. Petitioner appealed his conviction in Case No. D-2015-462 and this Court denied relief. Bench v. State, 2018 OK CR 31, 431 P.3d 929. Petitioner sought post-conviction relief, filing the instant post-conviction application. Petitioner seeks post-conviction relief from this conviction and sentence, challenging the jurisdiction of Stephens County to try him for B.H.'s heinous murder at the Teepee Totem convenience store in Velma, Oklahoma.

¶2 In his first proposition, Petitioner claims the District Court of Stephens County lacked jurisdiction to try him. Petitioner argues he had some quantum of Indian blood and the murder occurred within the boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation.

¶3 Pursuant to McGirt v. Oklahoma, 140 S. Ct. 2452 (2020), Petitioner's claim raises two separate questions: (a) his Indian status and (b) whether the crime occurred in Indian Country. Because these issues require fact-finding, we remanded this case to the District Court of Stephens County for an evidentiary hearing.

¶4 Recognizing the historical and specialized nature of this remand for evidentiary hearing, we requested the Attorney General and District Attorney work in coordination to effect uniformity and completeness in the hearing process. Upon Petitioner's presentation of prima facie evidence as to his legal status as an Indian and as to the location of the crime in Indian Country, the burden would shift to the State to prove it has subject matter jurisdiction. The District Court was ordered to: determine whether Petitioner has some Indian blood and is recognized as an Indian by a tribe or the federal government and determine whether the crime occurred in Indian Country. The District Court was directed to follow the analysis set out in McGirt to find (1) whether Congress established a reservation for the Chickasaw Nation, and (2) if so, whether Congress specifically erased those boundaries and disestablished the reservation. In so doing, the District Court was directed to consider any evidence the parties provided, including but not limited to treaties, statutes, maps, and/or testimony.

¶5 We also directed the District Court that in the event the parties agreed as to what the evidence would show with regard to the questions presented, the parties could enter into a written stipulation setting forth those facts upon which they agree and which answer the questions presented and provide the stipulation to the District Court. The District Court was also ordered to file written findings of facts and conclusions of law with this Court.

¶6 The Honorable G. Brent Russell, Associate District Judge, held an evidentiary hearing in this case, and Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law from that hearing were timely filed with this Court. The record indicates that appearing before the District Court were attorneys from the office of the Attorney General of Oklahoma, the Stephens County District Attorney's Office, the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System and the Chickasaw Nation. Members of the victim's family were also present.

¶7 The District Court's Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law set forth that the State of Oklahoma and Petitioner "stipulated that Petitioner, Miles Sterling Bench, has 1/64 Choctaw blood" and "was an enrolled member of the federally recognized Choctaw Nation at the time of the crime."

¶8 The Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law further state, regarding whether the crime occurred in Indian Country, that the State of Oklahoma and Petitioner stipulated that the crime occurred "in Stephens County, Oklahoma, at the Teepee Totem gas station located at 407 North Main Street in Velma, Oklahoma" and "that the above --described address is within the historical geographic area of the Chickasaw Nation, as set forth in the 1855 and 1866 treaties between the Chickasaw Nation, the Choctaw Nation, and the United States." The Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law also state that "the parties stipulated that if the Court determines that treaties established a reservation on behalf of the Chickasaw Nation that has not subsequently been disestablished, then the crime occurred within Indian Country as defined by 18 U.S.C. § 1151(a)."

¶9 In determining whether Congress established a reservation for the Chickasaw Nation, the District Court found:

3. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 authorized the President of the United States to cause so much of any territory belonging to the United States, west of the Mississippi River, to be divided into a suitable number of districts, for the reception of such tribes or nations of Indians who may choose to exchanges [sic] lands where they already resided.
4. Pursuant to the authority set out in the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was entered, in which the United States caused to be conveyed to the Choctaw Nation, "while they shall exist as a nation and live on it," certain lands described as "beginning near Fort Smith where the Arkansas boundary crosses the Arkansas River, running thence to the source of the Canadian fork; if in the limits of the United States, or to those limits; thence due south to Red River, and down Red River to the West boundary of the Territory of Arkansas; thence north along that line to the beginning."
5.

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