COLE v. STATE

2021 OK CR 10
Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma·Decided April 29, 2021·Published·Cited by 20 cases

Opinion

COLE v. STATE
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COLE v. STATE
2021 OK CR 10
Case Number: PCD-2020-529
Decided: 04/29/2021
BENJAMIN ROBERT COLE, SR., Petitioner v. STATE OF OKLAHOMA, Respondent.


Cite as: 2021 OK CR 10, __ __

OPINION GRANTING POST-CONVICTION RELIEF

LUMPKIN, JUDGE:

1 ¶1 Benjamin Robert Cole, Sr., was tried by jury and convicted of First Degree Murder in the District Court of Rogers County, Case No. CF-2002-597. In accordance with the jury's recommendation the Honorable J. Dwayne Steidley sentenced Petitioner to death. Petitioner appealed his conviction and sentence in Case No. D-2004-1260, but this Court denied relief. Cole v. State, 2007 OK CR 27, 164 P.3d 1089. Petitioner previously sought post-conviction relief and was denied the same by this Court. See Cole v. State, Case No. PCD-2005-23 (Okl.Cr. Jan. 24, 2008) (unpublished) and Cole v. State, Case No. PCD-2020-332 (Okl.Cr. May 29, 2020) (unpublished). For the third time, Petitioner seeks post-conviction relief from this conviction and sentence, challenging the jurisdiction of Rogers County to try him for his infant daughter's heinous murder.

¶2 In his sole proposition, Petitioner claims the District Court of Rogers County lacked jurisdiction to try him. Appellant argues that his daughter, B.C., had some quantum of Cherokee blood and her murder occurred within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation.

¶3 Pursuant to McGirt v. Oklahoma, 591 U.S. __, 140 S. Ct. 2452 (2020), Appellant's claim raises two separate questions: (a) the victim's 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 Rogers 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 the victim's 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 the victim has some Indian blood and is recognized as an Indian by a tribe or the federal government and to 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 Cherokee 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 Kassie N. McCoy, Associate District Judge, held an evidentiary hearing in this case, and an Order on Remand from that hearing was 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 Rogers County District Attorney's Office, the Federal Public Defender's Office for the Western District of Oklahoma, and the office of the Attorney General of the Cherokee Nation.

¶7 In its Order on Remand, regarding whether the crime occurred in Indian country, the Order states that the State of Oklahoma and Petitioner stipulated that the crime occurred "within the geographic area set out in the Treaty with the Cherokee, December 29, 1835, 7 Stat. 478, as modified under the Treaty of July 19, 1866, 14 Stat. 799, and as modified under the 1891 agreement ratified by Act of March 3, 1893, 27 Stat. 612." The Order also states that "the State takes no position as to the facts underlying the existence, now or historically, of the alleged Cherokee Nation Reservation."

¶8 The District Court's Order on Remand further states that the State of Oklahoma and Petitioner "stipulated to B.C.'s Indian status by virtue of her tribal membership

2 and proof of blood quantum." Further, "[b]ased upon the stipulations provided, the Court specifically finds B.C. (1) had some Indian blood and (2) was recognized as an Indian by a tribe or the federal government."

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

1. The Cherokee Nation is a federally recognized Indian tribe. 84 C.F.R. § 1200 (2019).
2. The current boundaries of the Cherokee Nation encompass lands in a fourteen-county area within the borders of the State of Oklahoma, including all of Adair, Cherokee, Craig, Nowata, Sequoyah, and Washington Counties, and portions of Delaware, Mayes, McIntosh, Muskogee, Ottawa, Rogers, Tulsa and Wagoner Counties.

3. The Cherokee Nation's treaties are to be considered on their own terms, in determining reservation status. McGirt v. Oklahoma, 140 S. Ct. 2452 (2020).

4. In McGirt the United States Supreme Court noted that Creek treaties promised a "permanent home" that would be "forever set apart" and assured a right to self-government on lands that would lie outside both the legal jurisdiction and geographic boundaries of any state. McGirt, 140 S. Ct. at 2451-62. As such, the Supreme Court found that "Under any definition, this was a [Creek] reservation." Id., 140 S. Ct. at 2461.

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