State v. Jones

729 N.W.2d 1, 2007 Minn. LEXIS 134, 2007 WL 851645
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedMarch 22, 2007
DocketA05-365
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 729 N.W.2d 1 (State v. Jones) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Jones, 729 N.W.2d 1, 2007 Minn. LEXIS 134, 2007 WL 851645 (Mich. 2007).

Opinions

OPINION

ANDERSON, PAUL H., Justice.

In December 2004, the Cass County Attorney filed a complaint against Peter John Jones for failing to register his current address with the appropriate authorities. More particularly, the county attorney charged Jones with violating Minn. Stat. § 243.166 (2002),1 which requires a person who is convicted of certain “predatory” offenses to register his current address with the appropriate authorities and to complete and return address-verification forms. Jones, who is an enrolled Indian tribal member and resides on his reservation, moved to dismiss the charges, arguing that section 243.166 is civil/regulatory in nature and therefore the State of Minnesota lacks subject matter jurisdiction to prosecute Jones. The state responded by asserting that section 243.166 is crimi[3]*3nal/prohibitory in nature and therefore the state has subject matter jurisdiction to prosecute Jones. The Cass County District Court granted Jones’s motion to dismiss and the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed. State v. Jones, 700 N.W.2d 556, 558 (Minn.App.2005). Because we conclude that a tribal member’s violation of section 243.166 is a criminal/prohibitory offense and therefore the state has subject matter jurisdiction, we reverse.

Respondent Peter John Jones is an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and resides on the- Leech Lake Indian Reservation. In 1996, he committed an offense for which he was subsequently convicted of and sentenced for kidnapping under Minn.Stat. § 609.25 (2006). A person convicted of kidnapping is required to register his current address with the proper authorities. Minn.Stat. § 243.166, subd. 1(a)(1)(h) (2002).

In July 2001, as required by MinmStat. § 243.166, Jones registered his Leech Lake Reservation address. On July 1, 2002, and June 30, 2003, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) sent Jones address-verification requests, but Jones failed to reply as required by Minn.Stat. § 243.166, subd. 4(e)(2) (2002). Subsequently, on July 21, 2003, Jones completed a change of address form, notifying the BCA that he had moved to a new address on the Leech Lake Reservation. On July 24, 2003, the BCA sent Jones an address-verification request, and Jones again failed to reply. On March 11, 2004, a Cass County deputy sheriff, who was performing routine checks on registered offenders, checked the address provided by Jones on his change of address form. Jones’s mother was at the address Jones had provided to the BCA. She informed the deputy that her son was no longer living at that address and provided the deputy with her son’s current address, which was also on the Leech Lake Reservation. On March 30, 2004, the BCA sent an address-verification request to the address provided by Jones’s mother, and Jones again failed to reply. Finally, on June 28, 2004, the BCA sent an address-verification request to the last address Jones reported to the BCA, but Jones did not reply.

In December 2004, the state charged Jones with one count of failing to notify the BCA of his change of address and five counts of failing to return the required address-verification forms in violation of Minn.Stat. § 243.166, subds. 3(b), 4(e), 5 (2002). Jones moved to dismiss the charges, arguing that the State of Minnesota lacked subject matter jurisdiction to prosecute him. A hearing was held on the motion and the district court granted Jones’s motion to dismiss. The court concluded that Minn.Stat. § 243.166 is civil/regulatory in nature, and therefore the state lacked subject matter jurisdiction to prosecute Jones. The state appealed, and the court of appeals affirmed the district court. Jones, 700 N.W.2d at 558. The state then sought review by our court, arguing that both the district court and the court of appeals erred in concluding that the state lacked jurisdiction.

Jones is charged with violating section 243.166, which requires registration by persons who have been convicted or adjudicated delinquent of first-degree murder involving criminal sexual conduct; kidnapping; criminal sexual conduct; indecent exposure; a variety of solicitation and pornography offenses involving minors, or another offense arising out of the same circumstances; and persons convicted of a so-called predatory crime and sentenced as a patterned sex offender under Minn.Stat. [4]*4§ 609.108 (2002).2 Minn.Stat. § 248.166, subd. 1(a) (2002). Additionally, Minn.Stat. § 243.167 (2002)3 requires persons to register under section 243.166 who (1) have been convicted of a specified “crime against the person” and have previously been convicted or adjudicated of an offense listed in section 243.166, subd. 1(a), but were not required to register at the time; or (2) have previously completed the registration requirements of section 243.166 and commit a crime against the person. A Minnesota resident who is subject to these sections is. required to register with his assigned corrections agent or,‘if none, with the law enforcement authority in the area of his residence. Minn.Stat. § 243.166, subd. 3(a) (2002).

At least five days before starting to live at a new primary residence, a person subject to section 243.166 is required to give written notice of his new address to the corrections agent or law enforcement authority with which he is registered. Id., subd. 3(b). Changes in primary address are forwarded to the BCA. Id. The BCA is required to mail an address-verification form to the person’s last reported address, and the person is required to return the signed form by mail within ten days after receiving it. Id., subd.' 4(e). A person required to register under this section who knowingly violates any of its provisions or intentionally provides false information is guilty of a felony with a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a fine up to $10,000, or both. Id., subd. 5(a) (2002). The minimum sentence is one year and one day for the first offense and two years for a subsequent offense. Id., subd. 5(b)-(c) (2002). Whether the State of Minnesota has jurisdiction to enforce section 243.166 with respect to Jones, who is an enrolled member of an Indian tribe charged with an offense committed on his reservation,4 is an issue that we review de novo. See State v. Busse, 644 N.W.2d 79, 82 (Minn.2002).

We begin our analysis with the premise that the state’s authority to exercise subject matter jurisdiction over Indians is governed by federal law. See Act of Aug. 15, 1953, Pub.L. No. 280, 67 Stat. 588 (partially codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1162 (2000)); accord State v. R.M.H., 617 N.W.2d 55, 58 (Minn.2000). Under Public Law 280, Minnesota has broad criminal and limited civil jurisdiction over all “Indian country” within the state, except for the Red Lake Reservation and the Bois Forte Reservation at Nett Lake. See State v. Stone, 572 N.W.2d 725, 728 & 728 n. 3 (Minn.1997). In we explained the analytical framework for determining whether the state has subject matter jurisdiction in a particular case:

[S]tate law does not generally apply to tribal Indians on their reservation absent express consent from Congress.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
729 N.W.2d 1, 2007 Minn. LEXIS 134, 2007 WL 851645, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jones-minn-2007.